By Roscoe Nance 

At weakside linebacker for the North Carolina A&T State Aggies, No. 44 from Wilmington, N.C., Dr. J.
           
Not that Dr. J – the basketball Hall of Famer. That would be Julius Erving. The Aggies’ Dr. J would be Julius Reynolds.
 
Reynolds isn’t actually a doctor. But he plans to be someday, and given his resume, odds are in his favor that he will. He graduated magna cum laude last December with a Bachelor’s degree in biology (pre-med) and is playing his redshirt senior season as a graduate student after taking the MCAT. He is waiting for calls back for interviews and campus visits after applying to seven medical schools.
 
“The field of medicine is wide open,” he said. “I think it would be a perfect fit for an individual like me because I’m willing to get my hands dirty and go in there and work at it.”
 
In the meantime, Reynolds is a Teacher’s Assistant in the biology department; he teaches three classes two days a week when he isn’t knocking heads on the football field.
 
Reynolds’ desire to become a doctor stems from a love of science that he developed at a young age. As he delved into science, he was drawn to biology because of his fascination with the human anatomy.
 
“The body is a fascinating organism that works in perfect harmony at all times,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. It can be so delicate and so sturdy at the same time.”
 
Reynolds started thinking about how he could combine his passion for biology and the human anatomy into a career and while helping others and impacting people’s lives. It came to him that there was no better way to do those things than becoming a doctor. Then he factored in his love for sports and thought maybe he would become a sports doctor. Next, he asked himself, “What kind of doctors do sports?”
 
At that point he said, “I’m either going to go big or go home. I’m going to be an orthopedic surgeon. That way, I can have a true impact on athletes who are injured and want to get back on the field ... not only help them get back on the field, but be able to help them reach and surpass their past potential.”
 
Reynolds has dreamed big since he was a child and announced that he wanted to be scientist and graduate from Harvard, even though he knew nothing about science or Harvard. And so it is with his dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
 
“I want to be revolutionary in the field of medicine,” he said. “I want to be somebody they call from across the country, from across the world to come work on their athletes because I am so good at it.”
 
New York University is high on his list of preferred medical schools, because of its no-tuition policy, and so is the University of South Florida because of its location. He grew up in the Tampa Bay area when his father was playing cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
 
“South Florida would be an opportunity to return home,” he said. “It’s right down the street. I’m a hometown kid. I love the campus. I love the culture down there. If I got a chance to go back home and study medicine, that would be an outstanding opportunity for me. If I got a chance to go to NYU, that would be a good opportunity with free tuition. But I’m not so much hung up on where I go to medical school. I’m just excited to learn about medicine and get into the field of medicine, do the work that I want to do and enjoy the work that I’ll do. Whichever school I get into, I know I’ll be happy.”
 
For now, Reynolds, whose father Derrick Reynolds played cornerback for 10 seasons in the NFL with Tampa Bay and New England, is pulling double duty at North Carolina A&T State as a football player and Teacher’s Assistant. He got the latter position quite by chance; he had gone to the Biology Department about another matter when the head of the department asked him if he would like to teach a class. He was incredulous.
 
His response was, “Teach a class? I’m not qualified to teach a class.”
 
The department had a thorough scouting report on Reynolds and sold him on the idea.
 
“It’s an opportunity to diversify my skill set and inspire kids who are non-biology majors to really find the importance of biology” he said, “And to teach something that I really love and am well-versed in. I really enjoy biology. I enjoy what I teach. When I got the opportunity to use the skill set I have as far as being a good communicator, a good explainer, and talking to other individuals, I said ‘why not?’ I have the skills to that.”
 
Teaching, playing football and being a student makes for a pretty busy schedule. But Reynolds manages it with aplomb.
 
“I adjusted my schedule well enough to have time to relax as well as do my own studies and be able to meet practice standards and all that good stuff,” he said.
 
On Wednesdays, he has a class from 8-9:50 a.m. and he teaches biology classes from 10-11:50 a.m. and 1-2:50 p.m. That gives him 10 minutes to get to the football complex for pre-practice meetings at 3 p.m. He teaches a biology class from 8-9:50 a.m. on Fridays; the Aggies usually travel on Friday afternoons, so things slow down a bit for him.
 
“When I first came to college, it was really difficult trying to juggle all the different things I was trying to do,” he said. “But as I matured, it became a regular part of my daily schedule. I learned how to do a lot of things and still be on the top of my game. That’s who I am, and if feel that’s what makes me a good fit for the job as well as what I’m trying to do in life as far as being able to handle a lot of different tasks and responsibilities at one time. I take a lot of pride in that. I do my best to make sure I’m ahead of the curve.”
 
Reynolds’ class includes three of his teammates. He had told them prior to the first time the class met that he was going to teach and they sort of shrugged it off.
 
“They were like, ‘you’re teaching a class?’  I said, ‘yes, I do I teach a class.‘ When I walked in the class the first day, those guys were in there, and they were like, ‘you’re really the teacher of this class.’"
 
Reynolds says his teammates don’t give him a hard time about being their instructor in the classroom or in the locker room.
 
“The way they look at it is they’re more in awe of it,” he said. “Seeing someone actually doing the things they say they’re going to do and doing so many things well, it’s like, 'Wow, he’s really doing it.’ You see a lot of people saying what they’re going to do, but you don’t see a lot of people doing what they say they’re going to do.”
 
The other students in Reynolds’ class recognize him from being on the football team. From time to time, they compliment him for having played a good game. But for the most part, his gridiron exploits are no big deal to them.
 
“They understand I play football and I’m also a student here at A&T,” he said. “For the most part, I tell them I’m just a regular guy like you guys. I’m trying to teach you guys and make sure you have the utmost knowledge coming from this class. They aren’t too interested in football part of my life. They’re more interested in me as a teacher because they want to make sure I’m getting their work done and getting their grades in.”
 
Reynolds is believed to be the first North Carolina A&T State student-athlete to be a Teacher’s Assistant.
 
First-year North Carolina A&T State head coach Sam Washington was the Aggies’ defensive coordinator when Reynolds signed; it was Washington who recruited Reynolds, an undersized 5-9, 230-pound linebacker with 4.65 high school GPA who didn’t have any other full scholarship offers but was “very physical and very intelligent.”
 
Washington’s reaction when Reynolds told him he would be teaching a class was, “Are you serious?”
 
 But after the idea marinated in Washington’s mind, it made sense to him.
 
“I was not surprised,” Washington said. That’s just who he is as a person. He is one of those people always willing to help.”
 
After all, that’s what doctors do.