Randy Russell Named to 2020 SEC Football Community Service Team
Randy Russell was named to the 2020 Southeastern Conference Football Community Service Team, the conference announced on Thursday.
The SEC names a Community Service Team for each of its 21-league sponsored sports, looking to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to his community through superior service efforts.
Russell arrived in Gainesville in 2018, but never played a down for the Florida Gators Football team. Doctors at Florida found something in Russell’s pre-participation exam and they needed to run more tests on the freshman.
Russell has served more than 30 hours in the summer and fall of 2020 in both community service and leadership roles, while also continuing to work with the football program in various capacities.
He played a part in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Drive-Thru Food Drive where Russell and fellow student-athletes collected over 200 pounds of food. The food that was collected was sorted and then donated to the Field and Fork Pantry on campus that supports UF students, faculty, and staff.
Russell also read a children’s book for a video that will be sent to the UFHealth pediatric units and the Alachua County School Board. The idea is to encourage students to keep reading by having athletes read books.
Additionally, Russell participated in the student-athlete portion of the #GatorsVote campaign. He met with the student-athlete leads to develop his portion of a video that would encourage student-athletes and the public to complete their civic duty by voting in the primary and general election.
He is also one of the founding members of the Black Student-Athlete Council and sits on E-board as the Historian for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
It’s a testament to Russell’s character that he has stayed in Gainesville, despite not being able to play football as he originally planned, and is not only on pace to graduate with a degree, but that he continues to be a part of the community.
