Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images
UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee went right from the diamond to the gridiron on Friday night
It was quite the Friday night for UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee.
Plumlee is an outfielder for UCF’s baseball team, who had a home game Friday night for Memphis.
Plumlee is also the team’s starting quarterback, and as the scheduling gods would have it, UCF’s Spring Game was scheduled for Friday night as well.
That made for quite the busy night for the athlete.
Plumlee was in the starting lineup for the Knights, getting the start in center field and batting ninth in the lineup. He opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning, when his triple to left-center field knocked in Cole Russo and Drew Faurot to give the Knights an early 2-0 lead:
It was the first triple of his college baseball career.
Plumlee would score moments later on a single from catcher Ben McCabe as part of a five-run inning that gave UCF a 5-0 lead into the fourth.
Plumlee exited the game in the later innings, because it was time to strap on the pads:
Plumlee missed the start of the game, but put up some big numbers from the pocket as well. The QB hit on 10 of his 17 passes for 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including this deep shot to Kobe Hudson:
After the pair of games, Plumlee talked about the experience:
“It’s something that I’ll never forget,” Plumlee said. “Coach Malzahn, I remember being on the phone with him when I was in the transfer portal and telling him, ‘Hey, coach, I want to play football but I also want to play baseball.’ He gave me his word. For him to follow through with that, and to go through the lengths he’s gone through — and (UCF baseball coach Greg) Lovelady, too — to give me the opportunity to do what I love to do is really special.”
Plumlee also shared this on social media, which put his night into perspective:
How impressive was his performance? It caught the attention of one of the most notable two-sport athletes in MLB and NFL history, none other than Deion Sanders:
Not a bad night at all for a college athlete.
And probably a busier night than you had.
