A Florida offensive lineman will be taking advantage of the NCAA’s “free year” due to COVID to play a sixth season of college football.

Starting right guard Stewart Reese is returning to UF for the 2021 season, his mother told G. Allan Taylor of The Athletic. After four seasons at Mississippi State (2016-19), Reese reunited with his former head coach, Dan Mullen, and offensive line coach, John Hevesy, by transferring to Florida in May of 2020.

From Fort Pierce, Florida, Reese was a 3-star prospect in the class of 2016. He redshirted his first year in Starkville and has since recorded 46 starts in his college football career with the Bulldogs and the Gators.

Two Gator starting linemen who were seniors in 2020, Stone Forsythe and Brett Heggie, have signed with agents as they prepare for the NFL Draft.

Florida fans will be hoping that Reese’s play benefits from a full offseason in Gainesville receiving instruction from Hevesy and strength coach Nick Savage. His younger brother, linebacker David Reese, inked with UF in 2018 out of high school as part of the Mullen staff’s transition signing class.