There was a time when Whitley Reed had never thought of playing football.

Now, more than ever, he needs to play the game again.

On Aug. 13, Reed and his older brother, Bryan Meche, were trying to erect a homemade flagpole. Their younger brother Colin Reed, who like Whitley plays football for the Normangee Panthers, saw the pole was coming too close to power lines.

It was too late.

Meche, a 23-year-old Iraq veteran and Iowa, La., police officer, was killed.

The injured Whitley was flown to Dallas. He was in Parkland Hospital's burn unit when his football coach, Brian Mullinnix, came to visit.

"We had to scrub up, put on a mask, a hairnet and gloves just to get into the burn unit," said the Normangee coach.

From his hospital bed, one of the first things Reed told Mullinnix was: "Coach, I'll be back in two weeks."

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Less than a week earlier, Reed had been preparing for Normangee's team photos, joking with teammates as he tried on his new Panthers' football jersey.

He moved with an easy confidence around the weight room, the walk that all-state players often possess. He earned that honor from the Associated Press last season when he had 68 tackles, seven interceptions and three fumbles recoveries.

"It was fun," said Reed of the statewide honor. "It's my third year playing on varsity and I'm pretty lucky to have it."

Honored for his defense, Reed was also an outstanding offensive player. He caught 38 passes for 684 yards with nine touchdowns.

As an eighth-grader in Sulphur, La., football hadn't even been on his radar. That all changed when a hurricane appeared on the radar.

"It was Hurricane Rita in 2005," said Reed, whose hometown was near Lake Charles. "We lost our house, and pretty much everything. We got 10 feet of water in our house and a tornado hit it, so it just took it all away."

The family came to Normangee ahead of the approaching storm, and stayed.

"We moved here because my aunt lived here," said Reed. "She let us stay with her until we got back up on our feet. She let us stay there until everything cleared up, but it was all gone, so we decided to stay here."

Until this week, they only went back to Louisiana to visit family.

"Our school was smaller than Normangee, and we didn't have football there," said Reed of the school in the Calcasieu Parish of southwest Louisiana. "The first time ever playing was in the eighth grade, and we just went from there."

"I played basketball all of my life, and when we were running track the coaches saw that I was fast. They asked me if I'd come out for football and I said 'Sure, yeah."

He started at running back and eventually became a receiver and defensive back. And then kicker.

"I found out I was a lot better at kicking than I thought I would be, because I had never kicked a ball in my life," said Reed. "They told me to try to kick it. I did and it went real far."

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Colin Reed was unhurt in the accident. A linebacker who played as a freshman in Normangee, he made a call to his coach from a neighbor's house shortly afterward.

"He wanted to let me know that they were missing practices and games," said Mullinnix.

For many reasons, his head coach was the right person to call. Two years ago, Mullinnix's youngest son, Mark, then age 12, needed brain surgery to remove a malignant tumor in order to live. The surgery was successful and Mark is still recovering.

Mullinnix offered words of encouragement to the father of the boys, James Reed. The coach's own experience gave the words strength.

"I told him if a horrible thing happened, that he was in the best place that he could be, in the community of Normangee. When Mark was sick, this community took care of us. Just wait. This community will take care of you. "

Mullinnix never doubted his assertion,

"He told me 'You were right. When I got back from Madisonville, the entire community of Normangee was in my front yard.'

"They won't do it just a day or two, either," Brian Mullinnix said. "I can speak firsthand about that. I had dads who were mad at me because their son didn't carry the ball enough, but they were at the benefit for Mark, raising what the could to help us."

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If the Panthers replace Whitley Reed in the lineup, Normangee needs a top-notch safety and wide receiver, part-time quarterback and offensive playmaker. They also need a punter and kicker.

Still, the Normangee coach told his all-state player that he didn't need to worry about football.

"We're just concerned that you are still alive," Mullinnix told Whitley Reed. "The good Lord gave you a second chance."

Reed insisted he would return.

"It's very important to him," said Mullinnix, who knows that two weeks to recover is optimistic. "You can cut your foot and be out two or three weeks. Whitley had his toe almost blown off. [The electrical charge] came out of the right side of his right foot."

Still, there is reason for optimism, according to Jordan Mullinnix, who has talked with and texted Reed before he returned to Louisiana for his brother's funeral.

"One of his hands was burned and there was a small hole in the end of one of his toes," said Jordan Mullinnix, the former Normangee running back who was Reed's teammate. "But he was out of the hospital in two days."

No one doubts the comeback ability of Whitley Reed or his family. They have the support of a town that destiny seems to have made their home.

And they have overcome tragedy before.