When Stewart Reese made the decision to come to Florida as a graduate transfer out of Mississippi State, he wanted a return to normalcy. After two coaching changes in his four years in Starkville, he found comfort in reuniting with Dan Mullen and the staff he started his career with.
That was the only normal thing that happened over the year to come.
He was on spring break during his final semester at Mississippi State when COVID-19 hit. Then, spring break got extended by a week. Then, college campuses shut down for the remainder of the semester.
After spending months back home, he finally got to Florida for what would have been his final season and immediately stepped in as a starter on the offensive line.
When the NCAA announced the extra year of eligibility for all student-athletes, Reese immediately knew taking advantage of it was in his best interest. Not only to continue his development on the football field, but to finish what he started in the classroom.
“Football is not going to last forever,” Reese said. “One of the things that I love that my parents taught me early on was to get your grades and education, because you never know, tomorrow could be your last play. For me, being able to get my Masters while I’m here is one of my goals.”
Reese has plans laid out to get into medical school and study anesthesiology once he finishes his graduate program. Not too many college football players aspire to be doctors, but Reese found a passion for medicine as a child.
He watched a show on TLC that followed stories of labor and delivery. He said he would wake up early in the mornings, fix his bowl of cereal and sit in front of the TV watching it for hours.
On top of the influence of reality television, Reese’s older brother is a paramedic in Las Vegas, so he inspired him to get into the medical field as well.
“I’ve always been infatuated with the medical field,” he said. “So growing up, I decided that I wanted to be a doctor. Originally, I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon, but I switched over to anesthesiologist. I couldn’t see myself standing and operating on people, so I decided to just sit behind the scenes and put people to sleep.”
He still has a few years before he can claim that doctor title, but playing offensive line under John Hevesy is already preparing him for the constant stress of medical school.
While Hevesy takes a lot of knocks from the outside, Reese praised him for preparing his players for games better than any coach he’s ever had.
“He’s in your ear, down your throat,” Reese said. “He just makes practices as hard as possible so when you get into the game, it’s like clockwork. You fall in place and execute plays.”
And in his true final season with the Gators, Reese is ready and willing to play anywhere his coaching staff needs him. He locked down the right guard position in 2020 and should end up there once again, but he has experience across the line and could slide over if needed down the road.
“I get in where I fit in,” he said. “Basically that’s it. You know, coach tells me, ‘I need you here.’ Hey, okay. One of the biggest things Coach Hevesy and Coach Mullen always preaches is versatility and being able to move around and being able to play multiple positions. So for me it’s just, you know, add more to the arsenal.”
Reese said he would even play slot receiver if that’s what Mullen wanted him to do. The offense is undergoing some major reconstruction this offseason, but probably not that major.
Whatever Reese’s role ends up being in 2021, the added year of eligibility will benefit him and Florida in more ways than one.
Here’s to hoping his sixth season isn’t quite so eventful.