At this time last year, Duluth, Georgia running back Kennard Reeves was getting set to begin making the rounds at various college football camps, hoping to find the school for him.

And though the 6-foot, 185 pound prospect would find the school for him, early on in his camp tour, it would take him a while to get there.

Reeves went to camps at Georgia, Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Georgia Tech and came away from the experience liking one school in particular, in Vanderbilt.

In the summer, Reeves was rated as one of Vanderbilt's top running back prospects, but the Commodore coaches were not sure if they were going to take more than one tailback, and they had already received a commitment from Riverdale (TN) running back/offensive specialist Gaston Miller.

As time went on, Reeves would look at other schools and eventually make a commitment to the Pirates of East Carolina in December. But the Commodores never quite went away from his mindset.

In mid-January, a situation occured where the Commodores did feel they needed to sign another running back and Reeves was the first one they called just weeks before National Signing Day.

Reeves would take a official visit to the Vanderbilt campus, on the last weekend of the official visit period, and would switch his commitment to the SEC soon after.

"Vandy was my first choice originally, but then they didn't have another spot available," Reeves told Rivals.com's Mike Farrell on January 26th. "Just a bit ago they did and I was the first player they came to and decided to accept. I really like the coaches a lot there too. They are all really straight forward and honest. They are the kind of coaches that push you hard, but also have love for you."

Recently, Reeves spoke with VandySports.com for the first time, and again reflected on his decision.

"I was committed to East Carolina," says Reeves. "I liked a couple of coaches, it seemed like a good fit for me and maybe a program on the rise, but the Vanderbilt offer was just too much to pass up."

"It just came down to the degree that Vanderbilt offers, the opportunity to play in the SEC, a program that's up and coming, more television time, and they were originally my first choice anyways," says Reeves.

"As much as I liked ECU, I just got to go VU"

With his decision just a short time before signing day, Reeves says that once he made his decision, he had the support of those around him and it was an exciting time on signing day.

"Everyone was excited," says Reeves. "It had much more of a buzz during the signing. We had it in a meeting room at school, and everyone was there. It was Vanderbilt, it was SEC football, it was Jay Cutler and the success they had last year, it was playing Georgia and Florida on TV."

"Coach Johnson, Coach Cain, and the running back coach, Coach Carter all came down to see me the night before actually," says Reeves. "All of us went over to Coach Rogers house. Coach Rogers knows Coach Johnson and Coach Cain real well, so we went over there. They were all talking about the decision and were excited to have me join them."

A couple of months later, Reeves would visit the Vanderbilt campus again, to take in the Commodores Black and Gold spring scrimmage on April 1st.

Most of the 2006 signees and their families would make the trip for a team picnic as well as to see how the current team's spring practice session was progressing.

"It looked like I could fit in real well with the offense," says Reeves. "They really like to make the cuts I like to make and they ran a lot of shotgun and option stuff, which is what I'm used. The "D" looked really good, they did really well. Especially guys like Jonathan Goff and Josh Allen."

"I got to meet a lot of the guys from my class while I was there," says Reeves. "I already knew Greg Billinger of course, but I also got to meet Reilly Lauer, Justin Green, Kikko Logan, and quarterback Jared Funk."

"I also got to see Brett Upson again," says Reeves. "He took his official visit when I did in January. I also got to see Gaston Miller again, which was cool. I hadn't seen him since the camp at Vandy. I finally met Alan Strong, who I've known about but never actually met even though we're both from Atlanta."

"I also met the New Jersey quarterback Turner Wimberly and offensive lineman Adam Smotherman," says Reeves. "I met Jonathan Massey and some other guys as well."

"I had a pretty good vibe from all the guys," says Reeves. "Everyone seems motivated and pumped that our class is being talked about as being one of the best recently and I think everyone is anxious to get here and prove it."

"We even seemed to have like a offensive and defensive rivalry already" Reeves says with a laugh. "Me and Gaston on the offensive side, and Kikko and Alan on the defensive side."

Reeves says that Coach Cain recently contacted him and he's ready to report early to campus.

"Coach Cain called and said everything was worked out," says Reeves. "I'm going to come on June 4th, register, enroll, take some classes and begin working out with the team this summer."

"I'll either hopefully be able to play this year or help out as a redshirt," says Reeves. "I'm okay with either, but if I got to play, I would be one of the youngest players in college football possibly. I won't be 18 until September 25th, which we would be on our fourth or fifth game by then."

This spring, Reeves has been finishing off his track career, where he runs the 100 meter and 200 meter dash. Because of his track season, Reeves has had to do only some of Vanderbilt's workout plan, but plans to do more of it now that his season is over.

"They sent it to me and I've done some of it, but some I wasn't able to do because of track," says Reeves. "I mean, I couldn't squat heavy on Friday and have a meet on Saturday. But now that the season is over, I will definitely be doing more now that I have a lot more free time."

"Also, soccer is now over so the field will be avaliable now," says Reeves. "Some of the stuff in the workout require a field, so I've had to wait on that."

In his past two seasons on Duluth's football team, Reeves ran for over 1,500 yards and 12 touchdowns on about 220 carries. Last season, Reeves was named all-state honorable mention and first team all-region. He was also named the Gwinnett County Touchdown Club's "Team First Award" and was named the Duluth MVP.

"I'd say I'm a slasher type," says Reeves. "I will lower my head if there's no cuts to make though. I will definitely lower my shoulder when I have to. I've had people compare my running style to Eric Dickerson and my route running to Marcus Allen, with how I catch balls out of the backfield."

Last year, Reeves also caught 13 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. On the National Signing Day press conference at Vanderbilt, the media was allowed to get clips of all the signees and VandySports.com was able to see Reeves on film for the first time. His style is definitely like Dickerson's, or say a more current version like the Titans Chris Brown or you may even compare him to current Commodore running back Cassen Jackson-Garrison. He showed good vision and toughness on his runs and found lanes and read blocks real well.

When Reeves signed, Vanderbilt's opener was scheduled to be against Sun Belt foe Middle Tennessee State. However, not too soon after, Vanderbilt replaced that game with a date at the "Big House" in a game against the Michigan Wolverines on ESPN.

Reeves says that that game has already given some of the guys more motivation to get to work.

"It was definitely something that has the guys excited and looking forward to it," says Reeves.

Kennard Reeves says he's looking to major in economics and finance, as well as maybe taking some communications at Vanderbilt.

As far as football goes though, he's just looking forward to getting in and getting started as is most of his classmates.

"I really can't wait and my class is really anxious," says Reeves. "They were close last year and we want to come in, work, and help take Vanderbilt over the top."