Patience. It's what led Reid Sinnett to join the San Diego football team. It's also what kept him from leaving.
The redshirt senior quarterback bided his time behind four-year starter and the Pioneer Football League's all-time leading passer Anthony Lawrence from 2015-2018. The wait has paid off as Sinnett has taken the reigns of the offense and is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the FCS.
The road to this point wasn't easy. But thanks to some key conversations and patience, Sinnett is content with how everything turned out.
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From Johnston, Iowa, Sinnett's recruiting experience saw a lot of interest from Ivy League schools. He took an official visit to Penn, but due to some coaching changes and other recruits committing before him, he realized that wasn't going to be his destination.
Jon McLaughlin, Penn's offensive coordinator at the time, told Sinnett to give then-USD OC Tanner Engstrand a call. After 4-5 unsuccessful tries with no calls back, Sinnett was ready to move on. But his dad, Kurt, told him to try just one more time. Sinnett did and got ahold of Engstrand, who told Sinnett he watched his film and was meaning to call him back.
Sinnett was invited to take a visit. His choice came down to USD or walking on at Kansas, where his parents attended and his dad played basketball. He chose the Toreros and redshirted in 2015, which was the first season of Lawrence's record-breaking career at USD.
For the next three seasons, Sinnett was on the sidelines and saw limited game reps. He attempted 17 passes during his redshirt freshman season in 2016, 24 passes in 2017 and seven passes last year.
"It was really challenging and I learned a lot about myself and who I could be as a person," Sinnett told HERO Sports. "I did my best to support Anthony, and he and I are really close, which is something that made it better. It was fun to watch him be successful."
He did have his doubts, though.
The word transfer is so common in the college football dictionary in recent years. And Sinnett wasn't immune to the thought of transferring.
"After my first semester of my freshman year, I was going to go back to Kansas and see about the walk-on process," he said. "And I had actually gone on a transfer visit around Thanksgiving or Christmas time during my freshman year. I was really contemplating that, and it had more to do with school and not liking everything that was going on in San Diego rather than football."
After talking with head coach Dale Lindsey and a couple of members of the athletic department and hearing the positive messages they had, Sinnett decided to stay. Fast forward a few years later, and his decision and patience has paid off.
Sinnett, who is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, has led the Toreros to a 3-2 start. Two of those losses came to Big Sky Conference teams, one being a tough 38-35 loss to then-No. 5 UC Davis.
Through the first five games, Sinnett has gone 117-163 passing for 1,738 yards, 17 touchdowns and five interceptions. He has thrown for 300+ yards in four of the five games with the other being a 239-yard performance against UC Davis. Sinnett leads the FCS with 358.6 yards of total offense per game and his 189.60 passing efficiency ranks second.
Q4 | Sinnett ➡️ Armstead for 2⃣3⃣!
USD | 21
MAR | 7#GoToreros pic.twitter.com/rKzTFaPOZE— San Diego Football (@USDFootball) October 5, 2019
"I was 100 percent confident in him," USD preseason All-American wide receiver Michael Bandy told HERO Sports. "We've been throwing all summer, and he's been here for four years so I've been taking throws from him for the last couple of years and so I'm definitely used to him. I had no doubts."
Bandy, who has 32 receptions for 509 yards and five touchdowns this year, is roommates with Sinnett and has seen firsthand how patient, but hungry he has been.
Now that's coming to fruition after many years of waiting.
"It's been everything," Sinnett said. "Getting a chance to play with as many talented skilled players as we have right now. I think this is going to be one of the most talented teams I've been a part of at USD. It's encouraging to see what our offense has been able to do against teams we've historically struggled against. And realistically, if you look at those first two games against Cal Poly and UC Davis, they can go a lot differently based on a few plays that I made … We have confidence that we can compete with just about anybody and our defense has gotten better. Our coaches do such a good job with the scheme and the way we prepare each week that I think there's not going to be a team that we see that we won't be able to compete with."
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