David Reese made the decision early on to graduate high school early and go to college to begin his life as a student-athlete early. He thought, however, that he would be spending it close to home at the University of Michigan. When Michigan didn’t have room for Reese to enroll early he chose the University of Florida and the Florida Gators rushed to get Reese up to speed.
“Reese has come a long way. From where he was at first to where he is now is unbelievable,” Florida linebackers coach Randy Shannon said of the freshman back in March during spring camp. “He had an unbelievable scrimmage last week, we put him in with the ones last week just to see what he can do and he didn’t go berserk on us. He called the defense, made them line up and made some plays.”
The Gators knew what they had coming back at the position. Alex Anzalone and Jarrad Davis are, or were before their injuries, the best linebacker duo in the country. The two have accounted 109 tackles this season leading the defense. Anzalone wasn’t just the Gators’ second leading tackler (53) but he was also the quarterback of the defense. Anzalone received the defensive play calls from the sideline, relaying them to the other 10 players on the field and then made sure the whole unit knew what they were doing and were lined up correctly.
Anzalone has battled injuries throughout his career and the Gators knew they would need to get Reese ready to play in case of an emergency. A broken arm suffered in the Arkansas game resulted in Monday surgery effectively ending Anzalone’s season and Jarrad Davis was a no-go for Tuesday’s practice after re-injuring his ankle, an injury he had played with for the past three games.
“It’s going to be difficult at first. You know, JD (Jarrad Davis) is the heart of the defense. Alex, he’s had an unbelievable year. It’s definitely a kick to the defense, but we’ve got some younger guys who are very talented,” senior defensive tackle Joey Ivie said. “I truly believe if they practice hard and we have a great week of practice and we all come together, I believe that our defense will be OK.”
That means Reese will be sliding in for Anzalone as the voice of the defense and redshirt freshman Kylan Johnson will take Davis’ place if the senior cannot go and Reese will be the one tasked with making the calls. Senior safety Marcus Maye has faith that the young freshman is up to the challenge.
Reese’s first extended playing time came at home against Missouri. The freshman replaced Davis after his ankle injury and finished the contest with six tackles.
“David came in and, he’s a guy that, when he’s come in, he’s showed up. He showed up on the stat line, he shows up,” McElwain said of Reese following the Missouri game. “Obviously, missing Jarrad is huge. Here’s your team leader and a guy who has played so many snaps. And yet, here’s the great thing I think when you look at that unit. There wasn’t a panic. You know, it wasn’t like, oh, here we go. David came in and I thought played with great energy, attention to detail and made a couple really good inside tackles for us.”
Reese was once again called to action against Arkansas and he complied six more tackles. This week will be an entirely new challenge. Reese won’t be coming in late to the game fresh, playing against players who have been playing all afternoon. He’ll need to start the game. At only 18 years old he’ll need to find his voice, step into a leadership role, command respect and direct players two and three years his elder.
It helps that they already believe in Reese based on what he’s shown since arriving on campus in the spring.
“His ability to pick up on the plays, he can tackle, he can run east, west very well, just like Jarrad and Anzalone,” Maye said of Reese. “So with him being a young guy, he’s definitely excited.”