Reece Vander Zee ILL St.

um I just I credit my Lord and Savior Jesus Jesus Christ for just giving me this opportunity um a lot of a lot of things fell fell into place for me to to be here um and and I I just get all my confidence from him uh and yeah I just prayed that he gave me confidence and he I went out there and and I I showed that today so were there any nerves today to be honest not not really um I I kind of never really been a guy to get nervous uh I just kind of trust my preparation and go out there and have fun has this all set in for you yet you know two touchdowns in your first ever college game um not really no I just I just had fun going out there and playing um but um yeah I'm trying to move on the next week and yeah do you think not having a a spring practice spring practices is a disadv you know disadvantageous to you or did that affect you any coming into a fall workouts um yeah it was a little I I was a little behind um I actually came in with the injury um that put my behind too but um no I I was I got caught up to speed pretty fast uh it BL me a buffer a few days and then um was able to get to work and go out there and have fun yeah on the first touchdown you were kind of running an over route with with uh Luke kind of underneath you I mean what was kind of your Vantage Point of that and when you saw the ball you know anything go through your mind at that point yeah no um we ran a play like that earlier in the game um where it was just a little behind me and I knew that was going to be be there again um so I just had to get to my spot and k k threw a good ball and Rec connected so when did it I guess when were you told that you'd be starting in in this game uh not I didn't really know um until well like I I was running with the ones for for about a week and then I kind of um yeah just work my way into it I think what did it feel like out there it was amazing yeah I the atmosphere is is crazy um at first it was a little it was a little daunting I guess but I got over that and um yeah I went out there and yeah me and my teammates we had fun out there I think so was there a moment in the second half where you guys sort of felt things turn and and got the ball rolling for you yeah just coming out of that coming out of halftime we just knew we had to be patient with the game plan um it was all going to fall into place if we just stuck with it and adjusted a few things um but yeah once we once we got that got in the endzone that first time things really started clicking um and you guys could see that as on that uh Second touchdown it was kind of a contested ball I mean and I I could tell if it was you or Luke at first we caught it but what uh kind of take me through that play and then kind of being able to to wrestle it around and and grab it yeah I know clock was whing down he was actually going to switch it to a different play um and that's what I heard and then he kind of just um said all right we we don't got time we got to go to a different uh keep the play on um so yeah I just I just um um went in there is uh play action and uh sneak out a little bit and saw the ball hanging up there I was like all right I'll go get I didn't even know Luke was there but uh I was just going up and get it and do my thing so how long did you play baseball this summer I ended up not playing baseball yep I I got hurt um in track so that cut my track season uh short and then I decided um it was it was it wasn't worth it to try to get injured again during baseball so I I cut that off which was hard for me um um just cuz I've always been a baseball guy but it was it was it was a right decision and um yeah the Lord the Lord provided for me when I came down so do you want have this right or did you not play receiver last year yeah no I played quarterback last year how much I mean but but you switched a quarterback from Receiver right yeah I I always grew up being a quarterback uh and then I switched a receiver because Zack lmer uh who played here as our quarterback um so yeah I I moved back to quarterback my senior year um and but yeah it it was good is this your first game at wide receiver in what like two years then yeah yep was there any kind of learning curve there or um no I don't know just going um I got a lot of reps and practice and it was rough for the first first week or so but I got back into it um just trusting my technique and at the end of the day you just got to go be an athlete and and have fun with it who are some of the teammates that sort of helped get guide you to this spot and you know helped you get back from missing all the of injury yeah I mean everyone um that as I stepped into more a bigger role um everyone kind of came came alongside me and uh helped me through it um so I would just credit all all everyone like defensive guys offensive guys um they're all making sure I'm good um so it's really nice to be surrounded with the I mean the top athletes in the country um supporting you you said fall camp start started a little slow for you when did you when did it kind of Click I mean cuz I mean literally just started the game so you must have made a climb there at some point yeah I mean the first week I was actually I was kind of limited uh just working my way back from injury um and then after that it kind of clicked I just running running my routes and they were coaching me up um and then yeah I kind of clicked after that I would say how much you feel like Northwest Iowa Prep football can have helped you prepare for college football um yeah for sure it's huge uh especially where I'm from uh they they teach toughness and grit and exactly what what they teach here doing the little things right um so yeah Central lion um they prepare me incredibly well for this um two more questions sorry yeah yeah it was great yeah I know this program has a history with players from Northwest Iowa how much pride do you take in that part of the State uh extreme Pride uh yeah I I take extreme Pride from being there uh shaped who I am uh yeah we do we do the things right up there and yeah extreme Pride extremely prideful from being there what did what did leers say to you after the game or during the game I don't know it was just like kind of best friend back in the um High School like just going out there and playing on the biggest stage it was it was pretty pretty crazy then Graham comes up uh Graham Ean comes up to me and he's like yeah I'm so happy for you like it's crazy so um but yeah we we're focused we're ready for the next game and um yeah ready to go Jay Hagen suggested that you get some ice cream as a celebration for this first big game you know how you're going to be celebrating with your family afterwards now yeah yeah for sure how how so um yeah me and my family uh we got a little ice cream business that um we we we sell to around areas around Rock Rapids um so yeah we might might have to bring them down to Iowa City for a few games here all right thank