This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
When the fans of Amite High School are on board with the football team, it's tough to match their passion.
But when the Warriors lose, they can be plenty harsh, too. When Reggie Porter was a senior playing both ways in high school, he lost the second game of the season. His Louisiana town — with a population just over 4,000 — was devastated.
Even when Amite won the next three games with a combined score of 111-0, the stands weren't quite as full as the beginning of the year.
"They take their football real serious in Amite," he said. "They great, and they have your back when you win. But when you lose, they let you know it."
Now a junior cornerback at Utah, Porter consistently generates praise from his coaches. The generally reserved Kyle Whittingham said Porter's play is the most "fantastic" of the corners so far. Position coach Sharrieff Shah is even more effusive.
"He don't say too much, but when it's time to play, he's gonna play like a volcano," Shah said. "He's gonna cover you like hot lava. He's unbelievable."
But what Porter brings to the table for the Utes is the ability to thrive with or without praise. While some wither in the face of criticism, Porter works harder, those close to him say.
He learned that toughness in Amite.
"You have to be able to block stuff out and work through it," he said. "If you can be consistent and focus, then you can win."
Porter is the oldest of three children, named for his father, Reggie Sr. His 184 pounds are packed lean on his 5-foot-11 frame, and on the field, he always seems to be between receivers and the ball.
It comes from growing up in Amite, where his brother Brad Porter (a lineman at Southern University) acknowledges there isn't all that much for kids to do except play football.
"Everybody loves to play sports, especially football," he said. "Me and Reggie and his friends, we were always working out, always going to a friend's house and playing football."
As a kid, Reggie Porter was an unspectacular football player — his brother remembered him as "a chubby kid." But, pushed by his father, a former college football player himself, Porter slimmed down, became faster and more versatile, and surprised many of who watched him in Pop Warner by making the high school team as a sophomore.
Amite City holds the same reverence for Amite football as Catholics hold for Notre Dame: It's a serious tradition. For a small town, it's produced its share of NFL players, including former Baltimore Ravens fullback Alan Ricard.
The Warriors went 32-8 in the three years Porter played for the squad, and as a senior, he led Amite to a 13-2 record and state runner-up as the star quarterback and top corner.
But the losses always seemed to eclipse the success.
"People in Amite expect to win every game," former Amite coach Alden Foster said. "They can turn on you when you lose. Reggie's senior year, we only lost one game in the regular season, and the games had empty seats. The kids saw that. But I think somehow it made our team stronger."
Reggie Porter Sr. isn't the kind of man who lets his children wilt under pressure. His children have all been stand-out athletes, thanks much in part to his rigor as a parent. He went to every one of his sons' football practices and always had something to say afterward — some small detail, some mistake that they overlooked.
"He was kind of expected to be great and excel," Reggie Sr. said of his eldest son. "He's taken that pressure and used it to succeed. And I see how his maturity has rubbed off on my other son and my daughter, and I think Reggie's a great example to them."
Reggie Jr. didn't wilt under physical pain, either. He tore his labrum midway through his junior year at Amite and continued to play quarterback even into the playoffs. He didn't pay much mind to the people who asked him why he wasn't throwing more often.
As a senior, even though Reggie didn't practice with defensive backs, he always covered the other team's best receiver. More often than not, it worked: Amite surrendered an average of 5.9 points per game in 2011.
"There were a couple games when the coaches were saying to each other, 'Reggie, he's going to the league [NFL],' " Foster said. "We could always lean on him."
Porter's high school career ended in the Superdome, but his toughness has carried on in his Utah career.
He was exposed against Oregon State's Brandin Cooks in 2013, when the future Biletnikoff winner rang up 210 yards and three touchdowns against the Utes. Shah attributes many of the struggles of that game to coaching errors, but Porter didn't flinch in the face of criticism — or as he lost his starting role.
He was devastated when he tore his ACL last August, just as it appeared he was in line to start. He called his father from the training table the moment he found out he was done for the season.
"He was clearly depressed; he knew it was going to be a long road," Reggie Sr. said. "But he told me, 'Pops, I'm gonna be down for the year, but I'm going to sharpen up my game mentally.' He was already in the process of recovering at that moment on the training table."
This year, Porter's star is rising. He appears to have safely locked down a starting job, thanks to his competitiveness and instincts. Every day at fall camp, it seems he's in the middle of a deflection or two.
But losing Dominique Hatfield from the team, one of his good friends, has been disappointing. The two planned to take the Pac-12 by storm and lead Utah's secondary. As Hatfield's chances of rejoining the team seem to dwindle with each passing day, Porter has promised his former teammate to take his role as a vocal leader — the antithesis of his quiet personality. And to his credit, his teammates say, he's done that.
Shah is pleased to see how resilient his top corner has been in the face of his challenges.
"You can say whatever you think you want to say to him — you cannot break his spirit," "If you do it wrong here, we're going to show you how to do it right. … That wears on a kid. But Reggie, all it does is make him mentally stronger."
When this praise is echoed back to Porter, he smiles, but also shrugs.
It's something he likes hearing, but in the end, he can also live without it.
Twitter: @kylegoon —
Reggie Porter's small-town origins
• Junior cornerback was born in Louisiana, moved to Amite City (pop: 4,110) at 10 years old
• Played varsity for Amite Warriors for three years, went 32-8 and reached state finals in 2011
• Was all-state cornerback and all-district quarterback and district MVP as a senior