Reese back home to help build new group of Packers

Sep. 12—MOULTRIE — Tomarcio Reese's football journey has taken him full circle: from Moultrie to Thatcher, Arizona; to Senatobia, Mississippi; to Statesboro, Georgia; and now back to where it started, on the fields of Colquitt County.

And here he joins a number of former teammates and former coaches in helping to continue Colquitt County's recent football success.

After a season coaching at Valdosta, Reese in back in the Packer fold this year, joining the ninth-grade staff and helping build some future Colquitt County linebackers.

If he can produce some with his talent, grit and determination, Packer football will be well-served.

Fans will remember Reese as a key member of the 2014 undefeated state championship team's defense.

He also was a prime contributor to the 2013 and 2012 teams that reached the state semifinals.

Reese was part of Colquitt County teams that played 43 games from 2012-2014, winning 37.

He grew up playing recreation and Pop Warner football and credits such coaches as Donald Key and Darrell Moore in helping him develop.

Once he reached the varsity, coaches Granger Shook, Shelton Felton and Jeremy Rowell helped turn him into one of the state's top linebackers.

He especially liked playing outside.

"I like being out in space, to set the edge and get that energy going," he said.

As a junior, he was credited with 113 tackles, including 21 for loss and 7.5 sacks.

That was the season the Packers were eliminated in the semifinal at Norcross. The 14-9 loss in the rain still haunts Reese.

"But it also motivated us the next year, put a fear in us," he said. "We didn't want that feeling any more. We remembered seeing how that game affected that (2013) senior group. They were heart-broken."

The Packers came back with a vengeance in 2014.

Reese and fellow linebackers Bull Barge and Quintin Hampton put to use the lessons learned from such former Packers such as John Gray, Sharmaine Washington and Anthony Brumbley.

"We were a brotherhood," he remembers. "We were always rooting for each other."

He had 117 more tackles for the 2014 state champions, including three sacks.

Colquitt won the program's first state championship since 1994 by defeating Archer 28-24 in the Georgia Dome to finish 15-0.

Reese was given a chance to play the next season by the staff at Eastern Arizona College and he responded with 68 tackles, including four sacks as the Monsters went 7-4.

But Arizona is not where he wanted to be and he remembers calling Rowell and asking to help him find a place to play closer to home.

He went to Northwest Mississippi Community College and had breakout year in 2016. He was ranked as the No. 214 national junior college player and the No. 9 outside linebacker.

Troy, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern were interested and he decided to become an Eagle.

"I was glad to be closer to home," he said. "My family has always been there to support me."

He started all 12 games at linebacker as a junior in 2017 and among his highlights was returning a fumble 22 yards for a touchdown against Auburn.

Reese missed one game because of an injury in his senior season in 2018, but started the other 12 and was a team captain.

That was the year Chad Lunsford took over the program and Southern improved from 2-10 to 10-3.

In the Eagles' victory over Eastern Michigan in the Camellia Bowl, Reese had five tackles, including a key sack.

He finished his Southern career with 109 tackles, including four sacks and he credits linebackers coach Travis Cunningham with helping him realize his potential.

Reese got his degree and worked in private business until Felton, who had become Valdosta's head coach, gave him an opportunity to get into coaching last year.

"He had always been a big influence on me," Reese said of Felton. "And I learned a lot there. They have a great tradition there too."

But when the opportunity to came earlier this year to join a staff that includes such former Packers as Bryce Giddens, Quin Roberson, Kiel Pollard, Bull Barge, Patrick Hunter, Cory Harper, Jeremy Rowell, Dextra Polite, John Cooper, Sean Calhoun, Earl Jefferson, Ja'Kobe Shealey and Ian Brinson, he could not pass it up.

Reese and wife Bethia, who have been married for a year and eight months, are pleased to be in Moultrie, where the young coach's goal is clear.

"We just want to develop these guys," he said.