Gillikin is pulling double duty
NU long snapper also a 1st-year student in medical school
Tyler Gillikin chose a recent medical school project he already is an expert in.
Lack of sleep is an area Gillikin understands deeply.
The Northwestern senior long snapper is also a first-year Feinberg School of Medicine student.
“The last month I was doing a behavioral change project and I was getting 5 hours, 56 minutes (of sleep),” Gillikin said. “By (making changes), I got to about 6:40 or 7 hours of sleep.”
Of course, most of his time is spent on complicated microbiology units, conducting studies in the lab, working out in the athletic facility and competing on the football field.
Gillikin said he usually wakes at 5:30 a.m. and doesn’t leave the workout facility until 10:30 p.m. To find success in two demanding ventures — medicine and football — time management, determination and efficiency are key.
“Even as pre-med, it was always difficult to just make sure you had time to do your labs and get everything done,” he said. “Med school is like steroids. I’d say before you’d still have free time, you’d still have time to hang out.”
Not so much now. Gillikin is heading into what he called “the last two weeks of hell” before an upcoming third and final exam for the fall.
The Wildcats also defeated Nebraska 21-13 on Saturday in Evanston, improving to 3-0 and helping erase the sting of a disappointing2019 in which they finished 3-9 overall and 1-8 in the Big Ten.
“Coming off of last year everyone was really raring to go,” Gillikin said. “I’ve been here five years and thatwas theworst year by far. Therewas a sense fromthe senior class, this is not the way we wanted to go out.”
He thought he might not have a chance.
When the Big Ten announced in August it was delaying the football season because of COVID-19 concerns, Gillikin said he was overcome with emotion. (The conference later reversed course and kicked off its season Oct. 23.)
“Once the season was postponed, there were a number of guys who thought our career was over,” he said. “I remember getting the call and breaking down. For a month I thought I was going to be amedical student only.”
He also thought he might have to be only a football player and then only a medical student. Doing both simultaneously never occurred to him until a conversation with coach Pat Fitzgerald.
Gillikin applied to an early-admission program, expecting to defer medical school for a year if he was accepted so he could finish his football career as a fifth-year senior.
“When Iwas applying for that, I went to talk to Coach Fitz to ask for a letter of recommendation,” Gillikin said. “He said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if youwere able to play football during your first year of medical school? ’Before that, I don’t think I thought about it.”
After Gillikin called his parents to tell them of his acceptance into medical school, he called Fitzgerald.
“He’s always been so supportive of this,” Gillikin said. “I can’t even count the amount of times he’s said, ‘Do whatever you need to do. I trust you to do what you need to do to be successful on the field and successful in the classroom.’ ”
Northwestern has been flexible with Gillikin’s unpredictably busy schedule. His academic work sometimes starts at 8 a.m. and sometimes goes until 4 p.m.
He attends football meetings around 7 a.m., practices at 8 and sometimes can leave after his special teams work is done around 9:30. He often returns at night to put in extra work with punters at the indoor facility.
Gillikin chose Northwestern because of his ability to play football and concentrate on academics.
“I always kind of pictured going to play football somewhere where football would get me into a better school than I’d get into otherwise,” said Gillikin, who is from Georgia. “Northwestern was a great fit. The football team respects and allows people to do more academically than other schools and takes pride in great academics.”