Report: Mississippi State OL Stewart Reese Will Transfer to Florida
A familiar face for Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators offensive coaching staff, Mississippi State offensive lineman Stewart Reese will transfer to Florida according to Graham Hall of the Gainesville Sun. He will be immediately eligible to play as a graduate transfer.
247Sports initially reported that Reese had entered the NCAA transfer portal on May 14th.
The 6-5, 345 lb. right guard spent two seasons under Mullen and offensive line coach John Hevesy at Mississippi State after being recruited by now-Gators' wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales out of Fort Pierce Central High School (Fort Pierce, Fla.). Reese went on to start 37 games for the Bulldogs, primarily at right tackle but recently spending time at right guard.
Reese improved quite a bit as a pass blocker in 2019 compared to his first two seasons, allowing a quarterback pressure on 3.6% of his 222 pass-blocking snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. From 2017-18, Reese allowed a quarterback pressure on 5.8% of his 743 pass protection snaps.
AllGators will be completing a scouting report on Reese's game in the coming days.
Beyond Reese's experience playing for Mullen and Hevesy, he is also the brother of redshirt freshman linebacker David Reese. Not to be confused with recently graduated linebacker David Reese II, the younger Reese missed the 2019 season with a torn Achilles.
In landing Reese's services, the Gators can feel much better about their offensive line depth entering the 2020 season - whenever that may begin given the coronavirus.
Florida lost incoming freshman offensive tackle Issiah Walker to the transfer portal on May 4th, and he has since transferred to Miami. Starting center Nick Buchanan also graduated following the 2019 season.
In order to return to the running game success seen during Mullen's first year as Florida's head coach, the run blocking unit will be expected to step up next year. Reese can push starting right tackle Jean Delance or for the right guard spot, which was manned by Christopher Bleich, Brett Heggie, and Ethan White in 2019. Bleich transferred to Syracuse in the middle of the season.
