The meeting that pointed Sammis Reyes toward NFL history wasn’t a meeting at all, but rather an impromptu Italian feast in Manhattan between friends after a Wu-Tang Clan concert.
The party of four packed into a corner table at Serafina on Broadway in January 2020. They ordered pasta and pizza, then recapped the show—a 25th-anniversary celebration for Loud Records at Radio City Music Hall. Reyes sat between his girlfriend, Nicole Kotler, and his best friend, Alex Rifkind. They were joined by Christian Dawkins, best known as the middleman at the center of the FBI’s investigation into college basketball recruiting.