Steve Spurrier (left) alongside John Reaves during their USFL days with the Tampa Bay Bandits.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — John Reaves, who left the University of Florida as the NCAA's all-time leader in passing yards and was a first-round NFL draft pick, died Tuesday at his home in Tampa. Reaves had been dealing with health issues for years and was found by a family member around 2:30 p.m., according to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner.He was 67.Reaves and his class of "Super Sophs" crashed the college football scene in 1969 when the Gators opened the season with six straight wins, including a 59-34 blowout of No. 7 Houston in the season opener. Reaves went on to pass for an NCAA-record 7,581 yards in his career and set a Southeastern Conference mark with 56 career touchdown passes. The Philadelphia Eagles took Reaves with the 14th overall pick in the 1972 NFL Draft.The Gator Nation mourned his loss Wednesday."All of us Gators were sad to hear about the passing of John Reaves," said UF athletics ambassador, who upon returning to his alma mater as head coach in 1990 hired Reaves as an assistant to coach tight ends. "John was one of the all-time best quarterbacks to play here. That '69 Gators team — with John and Carlos Alvarez and Tommy Durrance — that came within one game of winning our first SEC championship was one of the really special teams in the history of our school. … It's sad to see that John has passed on, but we'll celebrate his life down there in Tampa with so many good friends and Gators. His memory will always be with us."Reaves was a three-sport standout at Tampa Robinson High (he once scored 51 points in a basketball game), which he led to the 1967 Class 2A state championship game. He signed with UF and Coach Ray Graves in 1968 and after sitting out his freshman season, per NCAA rules, made a glorious debut on Sept. 20, 1969 (along with Alvarez, his top wideout, and Durrance at tailback) in smashing Houston, which was picked by Playboy Magazine as its preseason No. 1 team in the nation.In that game, Reaves completed 18 of 30 passes for 342 yards and five touchdowns, including a 70-yarder to Alvarez on the game's third play. UF finished with 502 yards of total offense."I was a bit nervous at first," Reaves said that day. "But after that first pass … I just couldn't believe it."That UF team went on to finish 9-1-1. The lone loss came at Auburn, a 38-12 defeat when Reaves threw 66 passes (still a team single-game record) and nine interceptions (still an NCAA single-game record). Florida defeated Tennessee 14-13 in the Gator Bowl to wrap the season, with the ninth win tying for the most in school history. Reaves' final rookie statistics showed 396 attempts, 222 completions, 2,896 yards, 24 touchdowns and 19 interceptions."A lot of people think when I was hired here in 1990 was when the SEC started throwing the ball. That's not true," Spurrier said. "In 1969, when Fred Pancoast was running the offense for Coach Graves, they came out firing against Houston. That was really the coming-out party for John and Carlos and those 'Super Sophs.' "In the '72 draft, Reaves was selected one pick after Pittsburgh took running back Franco Harris. He struggled with both defenses and the NFL lifestyle, battling alcohol and drug addictions during his 10 NFL seasons. He lasted three seasons with the Eagles, then bounced around to three more teams (Cincinnati, Minnesota and Houston) as a journeyman, completing 47 percent of his passes for just over 3,600 yards and twice as many interceptions (34) as touchdowns (17) from '72-81.But just when Florida fans thought they'd seen the last of Reaves throwing the football, he resurfaced — sober and mentally strong, thanks to his newfound devotion to his faith — alongside Spurrier with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the fledgling United States Football League. Reaves' renaissance included a 1984 season when he threw for 4,092 yards, 28 touchdowns and 16 interceptions for one of the league's top offenses."I think those are my favorite memories of John," Spurrier said of their time together in the USFL. "He was a wonderful player to coach and a super teammate. Our second year he threw for more than 4,000 yards and I thought he was easily the best quarterback in the league, but I think Jim Kelly got voted as the All-USFL quarterback. But John was outstanding throwing the ball and directing our team. He was as good a pure dropback passer as I've ever coached."The USFL folded after its third season, but Reaves had one more, albeit brief, go at pro football when he suited up for three games as a replacement player for the 1987 Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the infamous players strike of that season.In 1990, when Spurrier left Duke to become head coach at Florida, Reaves called to express an interest in coaching. Spurrier hired him to the tight ends post, which in that first season produced All-SEC product Kirk Kirkpatrick. Reaves, who often stayed after practices to throw routes to UF receivers, coached at Florida four of the next five seasons before going to South Carolina as co-offensive coordinator from 1995-97.After leaving football, Reaves returned to his roots in Tampa and became a real estate agent.