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Hard to imagine, but BYU's All-American offensive tackle, Matt Reynolds, was teased a lot as a kid. He was bigger and taller than everyone else his age, and a bit awkward and gangly.

To make matters worse, he hated sports -- a pairing of attributes that brought a lot of derision for the son of a college football coach and former NFL player. It didn't help that his two older brothers, Lance Jr. and Dallas, were starting to excel at sports as well.

"Up until halfway through elementary school, I didn't want to play any sports," Matt says. "Sports didn't look all that fun to me."

Around that time, BYU assistant head coach Lance Reynolds Sr. took his son aside and told Matt that one day his size and burgeoning athleticism would make him happy -- and perhaps even rich.

That day has come.

About to embark on his junior year at BYU, Matt Reynolds is a 6-foot-6, 325-pound mountain of a man who some experts say could be a first-round pick next April -- if he chooses to forego his senior season and enter the NFL Draft. But he's not even thinking about that right now, he says.

"That's still something that I will have to answer after the season. For me right now, it is one practice at a time, and then it will be one game at a time. That's just how I am going to go about it."

Reynolds will have to make that decision in mid-January. A month before his wife, Brianna, is expected to deliver the couple's first child, a daughter.

The expectant mother will graduate soon from the Art Institute of Salt Lake City and already works as a pastry chef in Orem, in addition to having a cake decorating business on the side. Matt jokes that he won't have any trouble keeping his weight up. He can afford to laugh now, because he's on track to be remembered, whether it is this year or next, as one of the top offensive linemen in BYU history, according to Cougars line coach Mark Weber.

"There have been a lot of really great linemen that I have seen here," said Weber, a 32-year coaching veteran who joined the BYU staff in 2007. "He could be very, very good if he keeps pushing himself and keeps improving. He has all of the skill set to be a great one. ... As long as he continues to improve, he will rank up there with all those great ones."

Weber coached Outland Trophy winner Kris Farris at UCLA and NFL first-round pick Logan Mankins at Fresno State.

"Matt is already better than [Farris] was," Weber said. "He has the potential to be as good as Mankins," who is now a New England Patriots guard, but in a contract dispute with the club.

Reynolds is good because he combines great size, strength, arm length and athleticism with what Weber calls "the ability to sink his hips."

"He has great balance, and it is hard to get off him when he run-blocks you," Weber said. "Pass blocking, his technique is getting better, and he is so athletic and big, it is hard to get around him. So he can change direction; he can keep his pads down and gain leverage on a defender, and he can run block. He also plays with a great base."

Yes, the kid who was teased in the fourth grade for being uncoordinated is now praised for his athleticism. After last year's Florida State-BYU game, a member of the FSU coaching staff sought out Reynolds and told him he was the best offensive lineman the Seminoles had faced in at least five years.

Lance Reynolds Sr., BYU's running backs coach, is not surprised. When Matt was 13 or 14, he began dominating opponents -- not just in football, but in basketball too.

He received a scholarship offer from then-BYU coach Gary Crowton when he was a freshman at nearby Timpview High, and later became a two-year starter on the Thunderbirds' basketball team. He even got some scholarship offers to play college basketball.

"When he was a freshman in high school, I started to realize that he had some talent to go with that size," Lance Sr. said. "He has got some unique gifts, or whatever you want to call them."

And a big decision to make -- when that time comes.

Reynolds on the verge of greatness

Honors pouring in for BYU's Reynolds

» Named to Freshman All-America team by Football Writers Association of America

» Earned All-MWC first-team honors as a sophomore

» Named to College Football News All-Sophomore First Team

» Named Preseason All-American in 2010 by Playboy Magazine, Consensus Draft Services and Lindy's College Football Annual, among others

» Named to the 2010 Outland Trophy Preseason Watch List

» Preseason All-MWC first-team selection for 2010

Season opener

Washington at BYU

Sept. 4, 5 p.m.

TV » CBS College Sports