When one player is late to a Howard practice, each of the Hustlin’ Tigers pays the price with several extra post-practice laps or sprints.

“That’s the way it is. If one person is late, the team pays for it,” Howard senior Jahron “Quick” Reynolds said. “Coach is big on the team thing and doing things right. He’s hard on the field, but he’s a great coach to be around. He is there for you all the time.”

Although Howard has yet to win a championship, the Hustlin’ Tigers have become a major player in the outcome of Region 3-3A.

“We’re planning on winning all our games, but we really want that region (championship) and then get what we can after that,” Reynolds said.

In head coach Alvin Tarver’s three seasons on Market Street, the Tigers moved from 5-5 in 2005 to 7-4 in 2006 and 8-3 a year ago. Their lone region loss in 2007 was in their final regular-season game by a single point to region champ McMinn Central.

And if they’re looking for team goals, a winning season this year would mark the first time since 1983-86 that Howard has put together four consecutive seasons of .500 or better.

“We hope to do better than last year so we can make it past the first round of the playoffs,” Reynolds said. “Last year was a disappointment, but some of our main people got hurt.”

One of those who got hurt was Tremaine Hudson, the departed senior running back whose season ended early in the McMinn Central game. Another was Reynolds.

“You don’t replace a Tremaine Hudson. You just hope the guys you have available will step up and do the job they’re supposed to do,” Tarver said. “But next to Tremaine, Quick was probably our best player.”

It’s hard to believe that Howard, a school that has produced NFL linemen such as Reggie White and Terdell Sands, would pin its hopes on a 5-foot-6, 135-pound receiver and return specialist, but Reynolds’ returns were pivotal in at least two of the Tigers’ victories last year.

“He might weigh 135 soaking wet, but he has the best hands on the team without a doubt,” Tarver said. “He’s a threat whenever he touches the ball to take it all the way. I know for sure against East Ridge that we would have lost if not for his returns on special teams.”

For all of his speed — Reynolds says he clocked a 4.4 40-yard dash as a freshman — his talent is still deceptive.

“He’s a complete athlete,” Taver said. “I would have guessed a 4.5, but he’s quick and he’s fast. His speed is very deceptive. He glides, but he’s moving.”

Tarver only hopes that Reynolds’ feet will keep him out of harm’s way.

“A lot of times when he gets hit I cringe, but he’s such a competitor. I have told him to fall if he can’t get out of bounds,” Tarver said.

Reynolds will leave the cringing to his coach on the sideline. Hitting, or getting hit, is no big deal. He got clothes-lined on a return in the Tigers’ first game last year at Brainerd. He remembers the hit, but he also remembers bouncing up after the tackle.

“Hitting isn’t anything to me. That’s what we do in practice every day,” he said.

Reynolds, the Tigers’ point guard in basketball, wants to continue athletics at the next level. He even looks for the small guys when watching college football and recalled LSU’s Trindon Holliday, a 5-6 running back.

“He’s a really good player and a good student,” Tarver said of Reynolds, “and I just hope the college scouts come around to take a real look at him, because once they see his size their first inclination would be to pass him by.”