UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee ‘blessed’ to star in baseball, football games

As John Rhys Plumlee stood in the outfield at John Euliano Park in the fifth inning of UCF’s baseball game against visiting Memphis Friday night, fans cheered him on from behind the right field wall. At nearby FBC Mortgage Stadium, more Knights faithful waited patiently for the arrival of Plumlee, who was expected to also participate in the spring football game.

Plumlee hoped to accomplish nothing short of a rare physical feat — playing a baseball and football game on the same day — something only associated with the likes of Deion Sanders or Bo Jackson.

“I’m super blessed to have to ability to do what I do,” said Plumlee. “And then to be at a place that offers me the opportunity to do both and for them to follow through and almost jump through hoops to make sure it happens is cool.”

There were concessions from both the baseball and football programs as Plumlee split time between the two sports throughout much of the spring. There would be football practice in the mornings before hustling off to play a baseball game in the afternoon. Even for Friday’s adventure, both programs had to juggle their schedules, with the baseball game set for 5 p.m. and the football game set to kick off at 7:45.

UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee went 10 of 17 (58%) for 236 yards, an interception and two touchdowns: a 70-yard bomb to Kobe Hudson with 5:05 left in the second quarter and a 35-yarder to Javon Baker with 2:25 left in the Knights' spring game Friday night. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)

But a 25-minute rain delay pushed the start of the baseball game to 5:25 p.m., putting Plumlee’s chances of making the start of the spring game in serious doubt.

Plumlee’s first at-bat came in the bottom of the 3rd inning when the redshirt senior roped a pitch into left-center, allowing the speedy center fielder to register a 2-RBI triple. He later scored on an RBI single as UCF built a 5-0 advantage. Plumlee legged out a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning, and in the fifth inning, he was struck by a pitch.

As time ticked away, a fan shouted, “Hurry up QB1, you only have 30 minutes.”

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“I like to be pretty present where my feet are and that’s something that I’ve always tried to do,” Plumlee said. “But when they started playing loud music [at FBC Mortgage Stadium] and everybody started getting pumped up and I’m in center field and I started looking back and they’re about to start getting kicked off over there.”

In the bottom of the seventh, he stroked a base hit into right field before being lifted by coach Greg Lovelady for a pinch runner.

“I knew we had a pretty good handle on the game, so I asked coach Lovelady, ‘What do you think after I bat that I head over since it seemed like the game was pretty in hand?’ He said that’s a pretty good idea and so ultimately, I got a hit which was cool,” Plumlee recalled.

From there, it was a footrace for the 6-foot, 200-pounder who bolted out of the dugout and sprinted up the stairs past several media members shouting, “Let’s play some football,” before jumping into a golf cart that transported him to the stadium. As he made his way into the locker room, the game was underway, with Tommy Castellanos taking the first snap of the evening.

UCF outfielder John Rhys Plumlee prepares to leave John Euliano Park during the seventh inning Friday night and make his way over to FBC Mortgage Stadium to quarterback the Knights in the spring football game. (Matt Murschel)

“I was warming up and then [offensive coordinator] Coach [Darin] Hinshaw came over and said you’re going to have to start because John’s probably not going to make it over [in time],” said Castellanos. “I just got my mindset right and was ready to go.”

At that point, UCF coach Gus Malzahn figured Plumlee wouldn’t make it until later in the game based on the updates he was receiving.

“I felt like he was going to make it in the second quarter anyway,” said Malzhan. “Thomas did a good job when he was in there, so I wasn’t stressed about it.”

Less than 10 minutes later, Plumlee emerged from the tunnel under the stadium and went to the Citronauts sideline.

“Seven minutes [to get dressed]. That’s got to be a world record,” Plumlee joked after the game.

After a few minutes to warm up, he entered the game with a chorus of cheers from the announced 16,712 fans.

“I don’t know if anybody’s ever done that,” said Malzahn. “I mean, that was impressive.”

UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, (10) sets to throw a pass during the Spring football game in Orlando, Fla., Friday, April 14, 2023. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel) (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)

Plumlee went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs in helping the Knights cruise to a 12-3 win over Memphis. He would also go 10 of 17 (58%) for 236 yards with an interception and two touchdowns: a 70-yard bomb to Kobe Hudson with 5:05 left in the second quarter and a 35-yarder to Javon Baker with 2:25 left.

The spring game format was the Knights (defense) against the ‘Nauts (offense), with the teams playing two 12-minute periods in the first half. The Knights were awarded a 21-0 lead at kickoff, with each forced turnover worth 3 points. The ‘Nauts would score points through standard rules. The second half was based on skills competition.

Following the game, Plumlee could finally catch his breath and reflect on the last 12 hours.

“One of the coolest days of my life and I’m probably going to die with it being one of the coolest days of my life,” he said. “This is a movie for me and a dream for me. Second-grade John Rhys cheered about this day for a long time and I’m blessed to be able to live it out.”

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Matt Murschel at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.