Dallas Reynolds is no stranger to BYU football. The 6-foot-5, 328-lb. senior offensive lineman from Provo has spent countless hours on the field at LaVell Edwards Stadium, at the practice fields, and in the film room – and that’s only as a player.
Dallas was also raised in a family with strong BYU football tradition. His father, Lance, is in his 26th season as an assistant football coach, having served in various positions such as assistant head coach, running backs coach, offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. He played for BYU from 1972-73 and 1976-77 and earned All-Western Athletic Conference, Academic All-WAC and honorable mention All-America honors for the 1977 season.
His older brother, Lance Reynolds, Jr., played center at BYU from 2002-05 and received second-team All-Mountain West Conference honors as a senior while starting every game his junior and senior years. His younger brother, Matt, returned from a mission to Munich, Germany, in June of 2007 and redshirted this past season. The 2005 Parade High School All-American and Utah Gatorade Player of the Year will compete for playing time on the offensive line this season. Houston, the youngest brother, signed a Letter of Intent in 2007 and is currently serving a mission in Frankfurt, Germany. He will return in May of 2009 to continue the long line of Reynolds brothers on the offensive line.
With everyone in the family so deeply rooted in BYU football spirit and tradition, it’s not surprising to see Dallas as a Cougar himself. However, Dallas never felt pressure to go to BYU. Being recruited out of high school by football powerhouses such as Ohio State, Tennessee, Oregon, Stanford and Arizona didn’t necessarily mean that parents Lance and Leslie had to corral Dallas to keep him in Provo.
“My parents were so supportive of me making my own decisions,” Dallas said. “My dad never pressured me to come here even though he was a BYU coach. He knows when to be a parent and when to be a coach. Many times he would sit in when coaches came to visit me and would ask questions like a normal parent would, and afterward he would help me search out my options and support me wherever I decided to go.”
But all along he knew he wanted to be a Cougar.
“I just have so many great memories at LaVell Edwards Stadium,” he said. “I thought about all the games I had been to as a little kid with my dad on the sidelines, about playing football outside the stadium with my friends and the times I rushed the field after big victories. I knew I should be here at BYU.”
One can only imagine the crazy atmosphere that parents Lance and Leslie and daughter Brittany (older sister of the boys) endured while the boys were growing up. While each boy stood out in unique ways, Dallas was always the most adventuresome.
In one instance when Dallas was just a little guy, Lance placed him in the backyard in order to contain the boy’s affinity for running around and getting into things.
“I made sure there were no holes in the fences or anything he could jump onto to hop over the fence to escape,” Lance said. “The gates were locked and everything appeared fine to put him out there. When I went out to check on him a few minutes later, he was gone. To this day, I still don’t know how that boy got out of there.”
Other times, his parents would open the front door to greet a guest and Dallas would sprint out as fast as he could and Lance or Leslie would have to chase him down. When tired, Dallas wouldn’t be crabby but very hyper. To get him to sleep, Leslie would wrap her leg over his legs and her arms over the rest of his body and he’d be out in 10 seconds.
When Dallas was with friends, it was nearly impossible to track him down.
“He would never come home,” Leslie said. “We wouldn’t know where he was and could never find him, and he wouldn’t come back until he was hungry.”
The adventures never stopped. Dallas was once sent home during recess at school for playing in the mud after being warned not to do so. In high school, he once got together with some friends to launch water balloons into the courtyard at Timpview High School from the other side of the building and laugh hysterically when they’d hear couples screaming who were on their way to a dance.
Dallas explains his childhood in simple terms.
“I just loved to have fun,” he said. “I loved being with my brothers and friends playing in irrigation ditches and being all over the place. We still go on trips as brothers. These experiences have molded who I am and my character today.”
He also took advantage of his dad being a collegiate football coach.
“After my games, we would have a coaching session, and he would critique me and show me what I could do differently,” Dallas said. “It was a huge benefit for me.”
After high school, Dallas embarked on his two-year mission to Seattle, Washington, where his father had served 30 years before.
“I learned so much from my mission,” Dallas said. “Everything I learned can be correlated with football. I saw what it means to work hard, achieve goals and find out what I wanted in life along with growing spiritually in the gospel.”
After his mission, he got around to dating and was eventually set up by his older brother Lance with his neighbor’s sister, Suzanne Steele. Lance and his wife would stomp on the ground to alert Suzanne’s brother and wife that Dallas was there, and they would hit the ceiling with a broom. Dallas and Suzanne soon met, and he was given her phone number. After snowmobiling on their first date, they watched the Super Bowl a few days later with the Reynolds family and it was a done deal.
“I loved being around her,” Dallas said. “I felt like I could be myself just teasing and joking around with her. When I saw how well she got along with my family, I knew she was the one. I never questioned the relationship, and it just felt right to be with her.”
They dated for a few months and started the talks about where they wanted to go with the relationship. Dallas was coming out of surgery one day when Suzanne surprised him with a pillow, balloons and teddy bear at his apartment. That night they had a discussion about their future and established that they liked where things were going and didn’t want to date others.
“I wanted to give him some time to see if he remembered what we had discussed,” Suzanne said. “Coming out of surgery and being on drugs that day, I wasn’t sure if he’d remember what we were talking about.”
He apparently did remember, and a few months later they were engaged and set to be married the weekend after the 2006 season.
“I really wanted to beat Utah,” Suzanne said. “Luckily we did so we were able to have a smooth wedding without him being upset.”
Dallas loves her constant support and care.
“She is amazing,” he said. “She helps me reach my goals and does whatever she can to help me be successful. She will cook certain meals according to my diet, massage my back, knee and ankle or wherever I’m sore and do all the little things to help me progress.”
Suzanne is equally appreciative of Dallas.
“I just love being around him,” she said. “I feel so lucky to be married to him. Wherever he is, at practice or at the games, I want to be there to support him.”
Leslie knew Suzanne was the perfect match for her son.
“She’s so like him that it’s almost too good to be true,” she said. “She just adores him and always wants to be with him. They are so good to each other, and she helps him to be better.”
With much power comes much responsibility. Entering his senior season, Dallas has earned plenty of preseason accolades. He has been named to Phil Steele’s Preseason All-America Fourth Team and Preseason All-MWC First Team Offense. He was also named to the NationalChamps.net Preseason All-America Second Team and is a candidate for the Outland and Rotary Lombardi trophies. Instead of boasting in preseason fame, Dallas takes the nominations in stride.
“It’s cool to be recognized, but I take the perspective that I need to perform on the field and ignore the hype,” he said. “The accolades don’t change what I need to do to be ready for the upcoming season. There’s a lot of hope and potential for us, and I just focus on what I need to do to be ready.”
Dallas has been healthy enough to start 38 straight games on the line entering the 2008 season.
“I’ve had my share of bumps and bruises and surgeries, but it’s wanting to be with my teammates and friends on the field that helps me play through the pain,” he said. “I love being a lineman where there are five of us working together as a group pushing people around in the trenches. It’s fun to be with them on and off the field.”
Having Dallas as a son on the offensive line doesn’t change Lance’s expectations of him.
“We’ve always told the boys that if they’re going to play, they better play their best and exercise leadership in their own realm and push themselves to be better,” Lance said.
Dallas not only wants to lead his teammates, but also his brother, Matt.
“My brother, Lance, was a big emotional support to me and would yell out instructions to help me out,” he said. “I hope I can return the favor to my brother and my teammates.”
Offensive line coach Mark Weber only wants the best from Dallas.
“Dallas is a very good athlete with great leadership abilities and provides stability to our line,” he said. “I know he will continue to improve fundamentally and take his game to another level.”
Leslie and Brittany Reynolds:
Behind the Scenes
When Cougar fans hear the last name ‘Reynolds,’ they often think about Coach Lance Reynolds who has been around the football program for a quarter of a century, or the boys Lance, Dallas, Matt or Houston, who have donned Cougar blue or are currently listed on the roster.
Yet there are missing pieces to the puzzle that hold them all together. Those pieces would be Coach Reynolds’ wife Leslie and daughter Brittany.
Whenever Coach Reynolds was on the sidelines or one of the boys was out on the football field, basketball court, or baseball diamond, it was a guarantee that Leslie and Brittany would be there as well watching from the stands.
Leslie Reynolds grew up in the same stake in Salt Lake City as Lance did, and the two started dating while Lance was playing football at BYU. A cheerleader at
Murray High School, Leslie grew up with a love for sports, which would turn out to be essential as a future mother of four multiple-sport athletes.
“She was always the spearhead behind it all,” Lance said. “She would take care of the boys when they were sore, take them to their 6 a.m. workouts and help them with their homework after all of their evening practices. She is very loyal and supportive and always taught that grades and life are more important than football.”
Brittany was always there alongside Leslie.
“Brittany was like a second mother,” Lance said. “I don’t think she missed a single game. When I’d be on the road for an away game, she would call or text me to tell me how the boys were doing in their games.”
“She was my best friend at the games,” Leslie said. “We lived for the games. It was our escape to sit together, talk and watch the boys. It was all we ever knew.”