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Feature Files
Georgia Quarterback JT Daniels Steps Into SEC Network Spotlight, ‘Loves The South’
ATHENS — The JT Daniels hype has begun, albeit with somewhat of a small sample size and a more limited audience than Georgia football is accustomed to having.
The No. 8-ranked Bulldogs (6-2) find themselves on the brink of elimination in the SEC East heading into a 4 p.m. contest with Vanderbilt (0-8) on Senior Day.
The outgoing players have a chance to finish as the program’s winningest team if they can close the regular season with wins over the Commodores and Missouri and then beat a bowl opponent.
Much of the excitement around the program, however, centers around the promising future of the offense now that Daniels has taken over.
Spotlight appearance
The transfer quarterback from USC appeared on the Marty & McGee Show on ESPN this week, introducing himself to many in the SEC’s footprint on the popular show.
Daniels was dressed in all black, sans the mustache that had fans comparing his original Georgia mug shot to Val Kilmer’s Doc Holiday character in the Western movie “Tombstone.”
Alas, Daniels admitted to the show hosts he had never seen the movie, as it was released in 1993, years before he was born.
It wasn’t really what Daniels said, so much as fans seeing how he looked and sounded.
Calm, relaxed, well-spoken and without any hint of “California Surfer Dude” lingo that some incorrectly associate with Los Angeles QB gunslingers.
Daniels revealed he had never gone fishing or hunting before growing up in Los Angeles, and his first trip to a lake was last July.
Strong start
Daniels debuted for Georgia two weeks ago with a 28-of-38 passing performance that netted 401 yards and 4 touchdowns against Mississippi State.
Daniels sounded like the least surprised person in the room in the postgame, to the extent it would be hard to know which team he played on by the tone of his voice in the press conference.
Smart reeled in the UGA pass game last week. It limited Daniels to 10-of-16 passing for 139 yards and 2 touchdowns — another TD pass was dropped — in a 45-16 win in a name-your-score kind of game over the depleted Gamecocks.
Still, Daniels’ QB metrics compare favorably to the SEC’s top players at the position and add credence to Smart hiring noted NFL offensive coordinator Todd Monken to design and call plays for the Bulldogs.
Not everyone is impressed with Daniels.
FoxSports analyst Joe Klatt has loudly questioned Georgia being ranked ahead of BYU in the College Football Playoff standings.
Klatt also said that Kirby Smart would trade Daniels for BYU quarterback Zach Wilson “in a heartbeat.”
Smart probably disagrees, considering he was the one who first texted Daniels leading to the Zoom conversations between the former USC quarterback and Monken.
“I hit the portal and got a text from Coach Smart, and I was like wow, Georgia, it doesn’t get much better than that when you’re talking about places that have a great school, an amazing coaching staff, a great environment and great football,” Daniels said. “They jumped to the top of my board immediately, as soon as I got that text.”
Injury update
Some wondered why Daniels didn’t play sooner this season, but Daniels said he’s still working to get complete strength in his right leg after undergoing ACL surgery in late September of 2019.
“It feels strong enough, I have no concerns that I was ever rushed back out there where I might hurt it because I’m not strong enough,” Daniels said. “The only things we are missing is just a little bit of right leg strength, I think we’re a little bit off there, and it will still get sore and tight in some areas.
“But other than that, we’re pretty close to 100.”
Daniels said it has been a strong team environment in the quarterbacks room this season, sharing how he and Stetson Bennett have supported one another.
“First you have to stay he’s a great player, and his story and his journey are unique,” Daniels said of Bennett’s 3-2 run as the starter. “It was great for me to see it, because he is an amazing person. He’s a really good friend of mine.
Daniels’ team
Co-host Marty Smith said everyone knows it’s now clearly Daniels’ team.
Time will tell on the direction Smart takes the Georgia offense, but at the moment it seems Daniels will be returning to the Bulldogs along with a supporting cast that includes future NFL receivers George Pickens, Jermaine Burton and Kearis Jackson, along with other young talents like Darnell Washington and Arian Smith.
The Georgia defense figures to be in a reload mode with seniors Malik Herring, Monty Rice and Richard LeCounte expected to leave after this season. Junior cornerbacks Tyson Campbell and Eric Stokes will also have decisions, along with junior nosetackle Jordan Davis and redshirt sophomore Azeez Ojulari.
That could mean Smart will lean more heavily on his offense and allow Daniels to push the ball downfield.
Daniels is still in the process of earning the head coach’s trust, having already learned to throw the ball away earlier to avoid big losses and the devastating hits dished out in the SEC.
The former Southern Cal quarterback let it be known there is no place he would rather be.
Georgia Football
Why the University of Georgia Loves Richard LeCounte As Much As He Loves It
Connor Riley, Dawgnation Dec. 1, 2020
It is not yet known if senior defensive back Richard LeCounte will get to play in Sanford Stadium one last time.
The All-SEC defensive back hasn’t played since Oct. 31 due to injuries sustained following a traffic accident. Kirby Smart provided a vague update on LeCounte’s status on Wednesday.
“He’s been out in practice and been able to run and do some things yesterday,” Smart said. “He still has not had contact, but we are working on rehabbing him and getting him back.”
Even if LeCounte were able to play, this is not the ending imagine for a player that has meant so much to the Georgia program.
The Riceboro, Ga., native has been a team captain, a vocal leader and the first recruit to commit Kirby Smart back in December of 2015. He helped lead the Bulldogs to three straight SEC East titles while playing on teams that won the SEC championship and Rose Bowl.
He brought so much to this team, his teammates and the school as a whole.
“He has been so loyal to Georgia in an era when that’s not normal,” Smart said. “It’s normal to de-commit, move here, decide late. He committed early, he was a great player and he stayed an extra year for his senior year.”
Smart still recalls the first time he met LeCounte back when LeCounte was either an eighth or ninth-grader. The latter was on a visit to Alabama with his Liberty County High School teammate Raekwon McMillan. While McMillan, a 5-star linebacker who went on to play at Ohio State and now plays for the Oakland Raiders, was the main priority, Smart pretty quickly picked up on the infectious personality LeCounte had.
LeCounte’s high school coach, Kirk Warner, also noticed LeCounte’s vibe and energy the first time he saw him as well.
“There’s that aura about him and that leadership quality,” Warner said. “He pretty much then backed it up on the football field.”
LeCounte went on to shine on both the football field and basketball court at Liberty County. His future was obviously in football as his athleticism helped him become a 5-star prospect, the first of many Smart landed as Georgia’s head coach.
Before he put on a Georgia jersey, LeCounte helped improve the Georgia program. He was one of the key architects of the 2017 recruiting class that included the likes of D’Andre Swift, Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson. Much like he was on the football field, LeCounte was a vocal leader and recruiter for the class.
LeCounte, on two separate occasions, even donned a Santa suit for commitment videos for Jeremiah Holloman, Malik Herring and Nate McBride.
“He just inspires me to be great,” Herring said of his teammate. “He just brought smiles and laughs to everybody.”
Teammates describe LeCounte as vocal and energetic both on and off the football field. As a safety, those are obviously key traits to have when you have to make sure teammates are lined up properly.
But they’re great qualities to have as well when it comes to interacting with people outside of the game.
LeCounte’s energy even gets the normally reserved Monty Rice to come out of his shell.
“It’s been good to be around him because I know when I first got to Georgia, I didn’t talk to a lot of people at all,” Rice said. “I stick to the people I know. I opened up to Rich and him and Malik (Herring) were kind of like the first people that I meshed with here.
“I’m thankful for him. He’ll be a lifelong friend.”
It wasn’t until LeCounte’s sophomore season that he emerged as a starter for the Georgia secondary. But he got better as a player every year, long ago putting to rest the doubts about his tackling abilities or how he’d manage in coverage.
LeCounte ended his junior season leading the SEC in fumble recoveries and finished second in interceptions. He played the best game of his Georgia career in a Sugar Bowl win over Baylor, as he intercepted two passes in a 28-14 win. It would’ve been easy for him to bounce and head to the NFL as Swift, Thomas and Wilson all did.
But LeCounte felt he had more to accomplish. He wanted to bring a national championship back to Georgia. He ultimately elected to return for his senior season.
He started his senior season much like he ended his junior campaign. He intercepted two passes in the season-opening win over Arkansas and went on to pick off another pass against Alabama. For all the struggles Georgia has had against the Crimson Tide, LeCounte did have an interception in the two games he started against Alabama. At this point in his career, it’s fair to wonder what would’ve happened had he been playing safety in the 2018 National Championship game loss to Alabama.
In a win over Kentucky, he racked up a career-best 13 tackles while also having three pass break-ups and a fumble recovery. He was playing how 5-star safeties and First Team All-SEC players should.
Then came the traffic accident that slammed his —and Georgia’s— season to a halt.
In the hours after returning from the win over Kentucky, LeCounte was riding on a dirt-bike when he struck a car that was turning into a gas station. After making contact with the car, LeCounte was thrown from his dirt bike and hit by a second car.
LeCounte sustained some bruised ribs, a shoulder injury, a concussion as well as some scrapes and bruises. The recovery process hasn’t been speedy but LeCounte is expected to fully recover from those injuries.
“Ever since I’ve been starting in his place, he’s been giving me good tips and things like that,” LeCounte’s replacement Christopher Smith said. “If he sees something, when I come back on the sideline he’s going to give me a pointer. And I’m going to go out and use that to get better on the next drive.”
Prior to the South Carolina win, Smart commented that Georgia really missed the confidence that LeCounte brought to the defense, in addition to his talents as a safety.
Even with LeCounte helping from the sidelines, the Georgia defense just hasn’t been the same. It’s one thing to replace what he does as a player, but what he brought to the team as a person has been far more beneficial to the Georgia program.
“He brings a whole lot of juice to the defense,” safety Lewis Cine said. “For one, I’m really, really waiting for the day that he can come back. Hopefully, that’s very soon. We love Richard, and that’s what we’re missing.”
The coming game against Vanderbilt should in all likelihood be LeCounte’s final game in Sanford Stadium. He has the potential to come back again due to NCAA rule changes, but he’s already put the NFL off once before.
LeCounte’s former coach understands what Saturday figures to be like for the star safety, as Warner was a tight end at Georgia from 1985-89. He knows what it’s like to hear your name over the Sanford Stadium speaks and think back about your Georgia career.
Warner said it’s a happy and sad moment. But for a player like LeCounte, the highs deserve to far outweigh the lows of his Georgia career.
“He’s always represented himself in a class manner,” Warner said of LeCounte. “That’s just the type of kid he is. that’s how his mom and his dad raised him. Just an A1, class-act person.”
Smart gets that too as he was once safety and leader of the Georgia program. LeCounte was the first high school prospect to believe in Smart as a head coach and decided to commit to playing for Smart just days after he became the head coach.
LeCounte helped elevate the Georgia program and left it in a better place than when he arrived in January of 2017.
Through it all, LeCounte has kept that same energy, smile and personality that left an impression on Smart all those years ago.
“He loves the University of Georgia,” Smart said. “That makes somebody special and people will remember that for the rest of his life.”
Georgia Routs Missouri As Its Todd Monken-led Offense Continues to Blossom
By Seth Emerson, The Athletic Dec 12, 2020
Georgia’s offensive explosion, and all the hand-wringing that creates, has bled into the early signing week, so this is worth pointing out: Quarterback JT Daniels, running back Zamir White and receiver George Pickens, the three men passing, running and catching all over Missouri on Saturday, were all five-star recruits. And the man who called the plays, Todd Monken, was regarded as a five-star hire when Georgia got him nearly a year ago.
In the type of season that Georgia was hoping for and had the previous seasons, this would all be cause for excitement about the rest of this season. The potential for winning the SEC championship. The chance to do something big in the College Football Playoff.
But this is not that type of season, so as Georgia’s offense was racking up 615 yards, passing and running away from Missouri, 42-14, there were two natural big-picture reactions: 1. Why couldn’t it have been like this all season, i.e. why couldn’t Daniels have been ready to go sooner? 2. How good will Georgia be next year … if it can keep this group together?
Forgive the question mark and cautious tone on that second point. This is Georgia football, where history tells you to curb your enthusiastic impulses. But if you could allow yourself unbridled enthusiasm, the point is obvious.
Georgia (7-2) has found its offensive identity. It’s found an offense, period. The Monken hire is paying off, albeit too late to pay off this season. But it should mean big things for Georgia next year, whether you believe it was simply the insertion of Daniels at quarterback, or the gradual installation of Monken’s system, or a combination of the two.
“There’s no way I can put a barometer on that, you know,” Kirby Smart said Saturday, when asked whether he attributed this offensive surge to Daniels becoming the starter, or Monken’s system taking hold in a year where there was no spring practice, the expected starting quarterback opted out, and the next-best quarterback wasn’t healthy right away.
“That’s like if I had a crystal ball,” Smart said. “There’s two combinations. JT is throwing the ball and throwing it accurately, he’s healthy. … (And) everyone is playing in coach Monken’s system for what, the ninth game? The freshmen are growing up.”
For all the criticism — almost all deserved — Smart and the Bulldogs have taken for the offense this season, take some perspective to realize how well they’ve actually progressed.
Let’s say you went back to January and were told that: 1) A new offensive coordinator would be hired and would not have spring practice to install his system, and in fact, would have two months of only coaching his players over zoom and FaceTime. 2) The starting quarterback would turn pro and a grad transfer would be brought in as the replacement only to opt out midway through preseason. 3) You were already replacing four offensive line starters, the star tailback and several other key skill position players.
That was all a formula for, well, exactly what happened.
But ever since Daniels was installed as the starter three games ago, things have taken off. Both phases of the game, though not in the same game until Missouri, as Daniels pointed out.
“It was what we’ve been looking for the last couple weeks. I would say it was our first real complete game,” Daniels said. “Mississippi State, great throwing, didn’t run it like we wanted to. South Carolina, more of a statement game (where) we came out and tried to run it. Today we threw when the look said to throw and we ran when the look said to run.”
You may argue the competition. Missouri (5-4) came in with the SEC’s eighth-ranked defense in yards per play, fourth in total yards and seventh in scoring defense. So, middle of the road. And when you can put 42 on a mid-tier SEC defense, that’s very good.
Smart also pointed this out: Missouri had the best third-down defense in the SEC, stopping opponents a league-low 35 percent of the time.
Daniels and Georgia converted 62 percent of the time — 8 for 13.
It helped to have Pickens, the 6-foot-5 wonder of a receiver who Daniels (299 passing yards, 3 TDs) basically credited for his own performance.
“I’ll never overthrow George,” Daniels said. “I’ll always throw it up to him and you know a 50-50 ball with George is an 80-20 ball. Probably the most important thing he does, and I talk about it with him at least once a week, I’ll tell him: I’ll throw it to you every single time as long as you make sure it’ll never gets picked if it’s not the right throw. That’s Georgia: One-on-one, throw it up to him.” White (126 rushing yards) is now coming into his own as well, after a slow start to his first season as the starter. But he wasn’t alone, with four Georgia running backs — four! — scoring a touchdown Saturday. James Cook also caught a touchdown pass, with Monken seeming to finally unlock the mystery (it shouldn’t have been a mystery) on how to use the dynamic junior. It was the well-oiled machine that Georgia fans have been demanding, and Smart has been trying to deliver, even if he never issued a grand proclamation about opening up the offense. “I have said repeatedly, JT is doing a tremendous job, I’m not going to take anything away from him,” Smart said. “But I’m also going to recognize George Pickens being healthy, Warren McClendon being an older tackle, Jermaine Burton growing up, Darnell Washington growing up. There are so many factors. They are hearing plays and concepts for the 50th time instead of the fifth time. So, where that falls, who gets the credit? It really doesn’t matter. What matters is we’re playing better, and we still haven’t reached our peak.”
Smart, who has faced more criticism this year than in any other since he became his alma mater’s head coach, isn’t discounting that criticism. At least the big-picture part. Georgia lost to Alabama and Florida, and convincingly, in its two biggest games of the season, and those two teams will meet in the SEC championship while Georgia plays out the string.
But Georgia, to its credit, isn’t playing like it it’s just going through the motions. Players are not opting out, injured players are working to finish strong (Jordan Davis returned on Saturday, Richard LeCounte and Trey Hill are trying to do so). Georgia is finishing the season better than it started.
“They got reason to question,” Smart said of Georgia’s critics. “In the two biggest games we didn’t play our best game. So it doesn’t matter who’s saying it. Everybody’s got their opinion, they can say what they want. It’s our job to control the narrative by how we play. And we do the best job we can of that.”
They are right now. And the best thing Georgia can do between now and August is hold onto everybody: Pickens, the mercurial but spectacular talent. Daniels, the new but draft-eligible quarterback. Monken, the accomplished play-caller who, if his agent’s phone rings, Georgia needs to make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.
This offense doesn’t need any changing. It just needs continuity.ergy, smile and personality that left an impression on Smart all those years ago.
‘Nobody plays harder’: How Azeez Ojulari Utilizes a Quiet Persona to Lead Georgia Football
By Gillian McIntyre, Red & Black Oct. 30, 2020
Georgia’s front seven has been the Bulldogs’ main strength this season. Redshirt sophomore outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari is arguably the unit’s most impactful piece.
Richard Morgan, Ojulari’s head coach at Marietta High School, said his quiet persona allows his game to speak for itself and his leadership to show through production.
After recovering from an ACL injury suffered during his senior season at Marietta, Ojulari’s career at Georgia began to emerge as a redshirt freshman in 2019. He was Georgia’s first freshman to be named team captain since Kirby Smart became head coach, and he finished his freshman campaign with 36 tackles and a team-leading 5.5 sacks.
Through Georgia’s first four games of this season, Ojulari is on track to surpass 2019’s totals with 15 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 3 sacks and 13 quarterback hurries. He’s turning heads as an established veteran who’s consistently having his way against opposing SEC offenses.
Morgan recognized Ojulari’s potential at Marietta and immediately knew he would become special. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound outside linebacker has clear physical gifts that point to his ability, but Morgan said Ojulari’s intrinsic demeanor sets him apart.
Ojulari visited his coach at Marietta during Georgia’s bye week following its 41-24 loss to Alabama. Morgan said Ojulari hasn’t changed and is still the humble person he’s always been.
In a virtual press conference on Oct. 20, Ojulari diverted acknowledging his personal improvement. He instead noted that his development is a product of those around him.
While Ojulari remains the same, Morgan has also watched him grow from afar. He said he has seen Ojulari encompass a more vocal role among his teammates.
“I think every kid goes through that where they worry about, ‘Should I say this?’ Or, ‘Is anybody going to listen if I say this or say that?’” Morgan said. “I think as his stature has grown on the football field, the way other people see him, they put him highly rated now, and I think now he feels like he can say a few more things.”
Ojulari may not be the loudest in the room, but he leads by example. Georgia’s front seven executes even with frequent rotation, and Morgan said this group’s high-level performance begins with Ojulari.
Ojulari has been instrumental in Georgia’s pursuit to garner sacks and turnovers. Despite Georgia’s loss at Alabama, his quarterback pressure on the opening play allowed safety Richard LeCounte to pick off a pass from Alabama’s Mac Jones. Against Tennessee in Week 3, Ojulari recorded two sacks and recovered one of his two forced fumbles to earn SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors.
Now, if Ojulari has something to say, his game defends his advice, and people will listen.
“Nobody plays harder than him, so everybody respects his game. They respect him as a person,” Morgan said. “So now he’s able to speak about things more and have an even greater impact. I think everybody just kind of funnels in and says, ‘Look, I want to play at that high level, too.’ I’m just proud that Azeez is one of the leaders making all that happen.” Beyond his play, Morgan believes
Ojulari’s character stems from how his parents and culture raised him. Morgan said his family, including his brother BJ
Ojulari, who’s a freshman defensive end at LSU, and his two sisters “live the right way.” Ojulari’s grandfather, Prince Twins
Seven-Seven, was a Nigerian prince and prominent artist. His daughter, Bolanle
Ojulari, met Azeez’s father, Monsuru Ojulari, after moving to the United States. The
Ojulari’s worked to implement a foundation for their children to live by — one built upon discipline, focus and respect. He said his son applies these values on and off the football field. “You know, this society is different from where we came from,” Monsuru Ojulari said. “The foundation of life that we had, we hold onto it, and it’s the life we are living. So, we pass it onto them, too. Family comes first, respect every individual, you need to be disciplined, you have to know when to say no, you have to do the right thing … and give it all your best. God will take care of the rest. Just keep working hard.” Monsuru Ojulari said he tries to attend his son’s games every Saturday. Other than that, he and his wife don’t check on their son too often. They know he’s tough, focused and making the right decisions on his own. Morgan said Ojulari’s character and leadership abilities combined with his athletic ability is the exact formula for a special player. Yet Morgan is just as impressed by Ojulari outside of football.
Despite his bright future ahead, Morgan said Ojulari only thinks about setting goals for the next week and focusing on each trial as it comes.
“I think it’s important for the Georgia coaching staff and team to know that one of the guys that’s a real leader is bought in and focused on ‘We’re going to get this thing right, we’re going to win the rest of our games and we’re going to do this,’” Morgan said.
Georgia’s Nakobe Dean Lives Up To Local Legend Status With Breakout Sophomore Season
By William Newlin, Red & Black Nov. 4, 2020
It was a warm November night in Horn Lake, Mississippi, and Neketta Dean couldn’t sleep. She was too excited. The next day, her son Nakobe and the 2018 Horn Lake Eagles were headed to the first football state championship in school history.
That year, the Eagles were not a Cinderella team. They dominated their opponents in Mississippi’s 6A region all season, outscoring them 473-120 over an undefeated 11-game regular season.
Future Georgia linebacking force Nakobe Dean presided over the historic run. A sophomore with the Bulldogs this season, Dean leads the SEC’s top-ranked scoring defense in tackles. He recorded 14 against Kentucky last Saturday, by far a career single-game high, and the 19-year-old is on pace to nearly triple his total production from 2019.
Georgia brings an ailing defense to Jacksonville, Florida, this weekend. Dean, who said he felt he stepped into more of a leadership role this summer, will need to be active again to both rally the troops and keep the pressure on the Gators’ offense.
But two years before being considered a difference-maker in a top 10 SEC matchup, Dean was the best player on the best team in his hometown’s memory. The 2018 championship appearance was the crowning achievement for a team that changed what Friday nights meant in Horn Lake, a team that changed what it meant to wear the school’s maroon and white. A day after Neketta Dean’s sleepless night, the Eagles took home the trophy that cemented their legacy.
Horn Lake 2.0
It seemed like a switch flipped during Dean’s sophomore season in 2016, when Horn Lake notched its first winning season in more than a decade. The Eagles went 9-3 that year, and in case people thought it was a fluke, they followed it up with another 9-3 stretch in 2017.
Things were different at Horn Lake, which is exactly what then-head coach Brad Boyette had intended when he took over ahead of the 2012 season.
But it took time for the results to appear. Through her younger son’s freshman season in which the team finished 2-10, Neketta Dean described the atmosphere around Horn Lake football as almost apathetic. The Eagles were perennial no-names languishing at the bottom of their division. With as much as her sons put into the program, they weren’t getting the full experience.
By 2016, however, the Eagles had an entirely new team than when Boyette started. His philosophy of positive thinking — you have to believe you’re a winning team to be a winning team — had trickled down to middle school ball, and the first class of kids to come up through the new coach’s culture shift was Dean’s. They had bought in.
Dustin Hectorne, Horn Lake’s linebacker coach starting in 2016, called it a perfect storm of talent, mindset and circumstance.
Part of what made the 2016-2018 teams so great was that they’d played together for a long time. Described as a “transit town” by Hectorne and a “transient school” by Boyette, Horn Lake and its high school regularly saw people, and football talent, come and go. But they said Dean’s class was more stable, building momentum toward its state championship run over years of mounting cohesion.
Another key part of Horn Lake’s successful 2016-18 stretch was fielding the
No. 1 linebacker recruit in Mississippi. Dean was the epitome of what his coaches had tried to inject into the team.
It also didn’t hurt that Dean had a 40inch vertical jump and could run a 20yard shuttle in four seconds flat. He was Horn Lake’s superstar, confirmed by his 147-tackle junior season — 25 for a loss — that attracted college recruiters like a moth to a flame.
On the cusp
2017 ended in disappointment for the Eagles. Despite its second straight 9-3 finish, Horn Lake fell in the second round of the playoffs to Starkville High School. Yet with their first taste of the postseason since 2003, the Eagles would be back for more.“They took that frustration, that anger … and they turned it into all the right motivation,” Boyette said. “We had a great offseason.”
Boyette said he erected a mural in the team’s locker room that read “1-0.” The plan was to take the season one game at a time without a thought toward playoff redemption, let alone a state championship. It worked. Horn Lake cruised through the regular season, pummeling every challenger along the way. The Eagles’ closest game was a 28-17 victory over Oxford High School in October. Meanwhile, the town went along for the ride. “Not only did [the season] change the culture of the school, it changed the culture of the community,” Neketta Dean said. “It afforded us the opportunity to bring the community together.” Dean said enthusiasm exploded for the team in 2018. The booster club brought in more money and business support, local restaurants bought team meals and even the police department offered security for away games. Rather than hosting scattered fans weary of another in-division blowout loss, the home field stands were packed with Eagles’ faithful cheering on their emerging hometown heroes.
“All the things that give you a chance to have the resources to continue a successful program really all can be attributed to that group of kids,” Boyette said.
Bringing it home
Horn Lake got off to a hot start in the 2018 playoffs. A shutout victory in the first round set up a second-round rematch against their 2017 spoilers from Starkville. The Eagles won 35-14, which Hectorne said was the moment they started to feel invincible.
Next up and next down was Madison Central High School. On a rain-soaked field, Horn Lake made a fourth quarter comeback to eek out the 16-7 win and earn its first-ever championship bid.
The final obstacle to a title was Oak Grove High School, which was led by current Ole Miss quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. Boyette said the Warriors were a run-first team. On Nov. 30, 2018, it was all Plumlee.
Plumlee put up 348 yards through the air — almost 160 more than his season average — and four touchdowns. It was back and forth throughout until Horn Lake took a 31-27 lead with seven minutes left in the game. A subsequent interception killed Oak Grove’s last chance to win.
Dean had six tackles in the game and no takeaways, but Hectorne credits his lead-by-example attitude throughout the season with cultivating what it took to win.Along with the trophy, Boyette was named Mississippi’s high school coach of the year. Dean, who’d committed to Georgia 11 days before the state championship, won the Butkus Award after the season. He was officially the best high school linebacker in the country.
Dean still talks with current Horn Lake players via Twitter and phone conversations. His mom said she takes questions from parents about both football and academics, which have remained equal priorities for Dean in his pursuit of both a mechanical engineering degree and a national championship in Athens.
The Eagles are 4-4 this season. Boyette flew the coup after 2019, but Hectorne is still coaching linebackers and monitoring the lasting effects of Dean’s exceptional class on the program.
George Pickens made a lot of highlight-reel plays during his freshman season on the Georgia football team. The talented wide receiver put on a show the last time we saw him, in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day — which feels like ages ago now — when he caught 12 passes for 175 yards in the Bulldogs’ win over Baylor, earning MVP honors.
The 6-foot-3 and 200-pound Pickens, from Hoover, Ala., has been making big plays as long as he’s been playing sports, including, he told me during a Quick Chat after practice Friday, dunking a basketball for the first time in sixth grade. Pickens and the Bulldogs will start making plays again Saturday, at long last, when they open their 2020 season at Arkansas.
During our Chat, Pickens also talked about life during quarantine, his favorite meal, that first dunk, skydiving, and much more. Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: How did you fill all the downtime and free time that you had during the months of quarantine? Pickens: I went back to my old ways, what I used to do in high school; in high school, I used to have a lot of time on my hands just like quarantine, so I was just going to the field every day and working. I kind of figured that we were going to have a season even though people were saying no at the time. I was just working out every day. Frierson: Being back home, did you almost feel like you were in high school again, sleeping in your bedroom and doing schoolwork during the day? Pickens: Yeah, it was exactly how you said it. It was like high school all over again but I’m a little older. I still had Zoom calls, still had football, I still worked out at the same time every day. It was a lot like high school. Frierson: What was your favorite toy when you were a kid? Pickens: I’ve always been an Optimus Prime guy. I don’t know, I’ve always liked the bad guys. Even if they don’t win, they have the coolest things in the movie. I’ve always been a Transformers guy. Frierson: What did you make of the new uniforms that Georgia announced recently, particularly the throwback to the 1980 season with the white top and the red pants? Pickens: I feel like that’s a great thing. I feel like you play teams every year and they have this expectation, like, all right, we’re playing Georgia and we know what they like to do. I feel like with the new uniforms, you never know what’s going to happen because you’ve never seen us like this before. I feel like that’s a good thing. Frierson: What’s something you could eat every day and never get tired of it? Pickens: Shrimp alfredo. I can make it, and I’ve always been a noodle guy, so ramen noodles is another thing. If you ask anybody around here, in the facility, ramen noodles is probably the go-to for me, or pasta. Frierson: When you think of home, what comes to mind? Pickens: I play for Georgia and when I go home it’s all Auburn and Alabama — that’s all I hear all the time. When I’m there I just kind of ignore it. That’s the only they know. Frierson: You probably know a bunch of people at those schools so I’m guessing there’s a good amount of trash-talking happening. Pickens: Oh yeah, I know everybody on each roster, Auburn and Alabama. Frierson: What was your best play in high school? Is there one that stands out above the rest? Pickens: You can actually look it up on YouTube, on one of my highlights. We played Brookwood, out of Georgia, at Troy University, and I ran a 12-yard curl and I literally went through the whole team (defense). If you look at it on YouTube, it’s like, whoa. Frierson: Did you play any other sports? Pickens: I played basketball and I used to play baseball, and I ran track for like a year. Frierson: Do you remember your first dunk? I always ask because I never came anywhere close to touching the rim.
Pickens: My first dunk was in sixth grade.
Frierson: What?
Pickens: Yeah [laughs]. I dunked in a game, my first dunk was in a game in sixth grade.
My parents were shocked that I did it.
Frierson: I’m shocked hearing about it. How tall were you in sixth grade?
Pickens: I was like 6-foot.
Pickens: Probably skydiving.
Frierson: Where did that answer come from?
Pickens: That’s kind of just like how my brain works. Anybody that knows me, I’ve always been a guy that wants to risk it all.
Deep-sea diving or going into a cage to look at sharks. I’d want to get great at that or flying or skydiving, just to see if I could do it.
Frierson: That was a very unexpected answer.
Have you done anything like that or are you waiting until after you’re done with football so you don’t risk anything?
Pickens: I’ll probably wait until my football days are done, but I’m most definitely going to do it. Frierson: There’s a lot of new on Georgia’s offense this year — a new coordinator, a new starting quarterback, new starting running backs and offensive linemen — so what is it like being one of the veteran guys this season? Pickens: The one thing that I’ve learned with me coming back as a veteran and me last year not being a veteran, is like, I see that the younger the players are, you actually have more depth. They’re young so they can kind of go all day — they can run all day and catch all day. We may not have the veterans but we have a lot of depth because of all the young guys and they can just run all day. I feel like that’s a good thing. Frierson: You obviously had an amazing game in the Sugar Bowl, so how much have you watched those highlights and how much does a game like that help you going into this season? Pickens: I kind of go back to that game every now and then just to watch my game play, to see what I did that game. At the time, I’m in a little zone and I just lock in, and that’s when you see the stuff that happened. When I go back and watch the game, I see like, what did I do and what did I change? That was a good game, so whatever I did, I don’t need to change it. Frierson: So much has happened in the world since then, does it feel like that game was two or three years ago? Pickens: Yeah, it feels like a year or two ago with the whole COVID thing. I feel like the COVID thing is going to be a decade thing, like people aren’t going to forget this for a long time.
Georgia Football Georgia’s Kearis Jackson Displays Career-Long Resiliency As 2020 Reception Leader
By Griffin Callaghan, Red & Black Nov. 6, 2020
A broken tibia and fibula put an end to Kearis Jackson’s freshman football season at Peach County High School. It was the first of three major injuries Jackson suffered in high school, which he used as a springboard for improvement instead of disappointment.
Jackson rehabbed multiple injuries throughout high school and the beginning of his college career, all of which culminated in a breakout 2020 season. Jackson has quickly become one of Georgia’s most dangerous targets in the passing game.
He played in only four games and caught five passes for 79 yards in 2019 after suffering a broken hand in the season opener against Vanderbilt. Through five games this season, Jackson leads Georgia with 24 receptions for 348 yards and a touchdown.
Chad Campbell, Jackson’s former head coach at Peach County High School, said his breakout is not an accident. Natural born talent and character are just a few of Jackson’s traits that stood out early.
Bounce back
Fearless was a word both Campbell and Peach County assistant coach Todd Cooper used to describe their former standout receiver. Jackson was never afraid to push himself in the weight room, return punts and even fight through injury to finish a play.
In his sophomore year at Peach County, Jackson tore the tendon off the bone in his hip after catching a pass. He was injured nearly 25 yards out of the end zone, but still managed to limp in to score a touchdown.
Jackson worked his way back from injury time and time again. He suffered the broken leg in the playoffs his freshman season at Peach County, and missed the remainder of that year. Jackson also broke his hand in the state championship game his senior season.
Jackson is healthy now and able to show off his unique combination of speed and strength. Quarterback Stetson Bennett has already placed his trust in the now-healthy receiver for game changing pass plays and third down conversions.
Campbell is confident that as long as Jackson stays healthy, he will continue to improve as both a player and leader.
On track
Jackson’s second love was running, a trait not uncommon for speedy wide receivers. He started out as a sprinter, running 100 and 400-meter relay races. Jackson’s relay team broke the state record in the 4x100-meter race, setting them up as a No. 1 seed going into the final meet.
Following his injury as a high school freshman, Jackson was unable to run track in the spring. He did, however, still need to satisfy his need to compete. Jackson picked up throwing events that year, including the shot put and discus, two events requiring an immensely strong athlete.
He fell in love with throwing, stoked by finding himself in yet another competitive environment. Jackson quickly rose to the top in the shot put and discus, winning a state title in the shot put his junior season and coming close to the same feat in the discus. Campbell said he would have won if not for simply a bad day. Strength is a valuable asset for a fast receiver like Jackson. Cooper remembered the receiver’s power and physicality while blocking in the run game. Jackson was between 180 and 190 pounds in high school but still out-performed the 300-pound shot put and discus specialists. “I think you guys have seen how strong he is, Cooper said. “A lot of wideouts, you can tell they do not lift, but [Jackson] has never been shy in the weight room.”
Back home
Being from the small town of Fort
Valley, Georgia, Jackson carries an extra chip on his shoulder to prove himself at a major program like Georgia. He wants to set an example for both his hometown and the coming generation.
Jackson always makes a point to visit his high school and speak to its current players on his off time. He takes pride in being a role model for athletes younger than him, and what he called a “neighborhood hero.”
Jackson makes frequent visits back to his roots, whether his elementary school, or Peach County High, even offering pregame speeches at Peach County’s weekend matchups. He knows how those younger players look at him, but said at the same time, he wants them to be even better.
“It is such a big deal because we can say everything we can to these kids, and we can tell them and we can show them, but sometimes our voice only carries so much weight,” Cooper said.
Jackson’s mother, Kimberly McGhee, has been another motivating force from his small town upbringing outside of his former school. But besides finding motivation, resiliency and the ability to bounce back have defined Jackson’s career to this point. His breakout under new offensive coordinator Todd Monken is proving sustainable, as long as Jackson can stay healthy.
Tyson Campbell didn’t grow up following the Georgia-Florida rivalry very closely. The junior cornerback is from Plantation, Fla., near Miami, but the annual football showdown between the Bulldogs and Gators, which will resume Saturday in Jacksonville, wasn’t really on his radar.
Campbell was a star player at American Heritage School, as were former Bulldogs Sony Michel and Isaiah McKenzie. Campbell won two state championships in high school and went 50-5 during his career. He knows a thing or two about winning, for sure.
During a Quick Chat after practice Monday, Campbell talked about home, winning, Halloween, music and much more. Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: It’s Georgia-Florida week so let’s start with the most important question, what is your favorite Halloween candy? Campbell: Probably Snickers or Sour Punch Straws. I don’t really like sour candy but I like those in particular. Frierson: Did you have a favorite Halloween costume when you were a kid? Campbell: I didn’t really dress up that much. I remember when I was little I was Scooby-Doo one time. Frierson: What is it like growing up in Plantation, in South Florida? Campbell: It was cool; I didn’t grow up by the beach or anything, but it was nice because most of my family is always there and so it always felt like home. And sports-wise, you’ve got a bunch of talent around. Most of your friends are talented in football so it just makes the competitive nature of the game so much better. Frierson: You won two state titles at American Heritage and your teams went 50-5 during your four years, so what is it like being a part of that kind of winning? What does that teach you? Campbell: It teaches you that in order to win those games you need everybody to be on board with the team and you need everybody to have a strong work ethic. You have to have that ambitiousness to keep pushing through adversity and when you’re on the top as well, just to keep maintaining that top mentality when everybody’s trying to come for you and give you that first “L” of the season or that first “L” to stop a large winnings streak. Frierson: How much does playing in a super-successful program with a bunch of guys that are going on to major colleges train you for a place like Georgia where you know the expectations are really high and you know that you’ve got to put in a lot of work? Campbell: It’s just like anybody else making that transition from high school to college, but it also gives you that inspiration that kids coming from your high school have come here and did what they dreamed of, and now they’re living the dream of playing in the NFL. It was definitely motivating. Frierson: Was Georgia-Florida a big deal when you were young? Was this a game that you paid much attention to? Campbell: No, not really. Frierson: So what’s it like coming into it as someone mostly unfamiliar with the rivalry? Campbell: It’s pretty cool just being able to be a part of history and being able to a part of one of the biggest rivalries in college football. It’s exciting and this is always one of the biggest games of the season for us every year. Frierson: Do you have a creative side? Is there anything creative you do or wish you could do? Campbell: I do like music, but I can’t draw or anything. I’m really like a fan of old-school type music and I listen to modern music, R&B, like ‘90s R&B, pop, and all that kind of stuff. Frierson: What do you listen to before a game? Do you have a regular playlist or do you mix it up all the time? Campbell: I’ll mix it up but it’s usually rap. As far as the artists, I’ll mix it up. Sometimes it will be Rick Ross, Future, Kodak Black, YoungBoy, mainly those people. Frierson: What other sports did you play growing up? Campbell: I played baseball for a little bit, then I moved to basketball, I was pretty good at basketball, and then I played football. In about seventh grade I also started running track. Frierson: What was your favorite among the other sports? Campbell: It’s got to be a tie between track and basketball. Frierson: Do you remember your first dunk? Campbell: My first dunk was in ninth grade. I was just playing around with friends when I did it. I remember in middle school everybody was trying to see who could touch the rim or touch the net, but I dunked in ninth grade. It was cool, it was like a “wow” experience, like, wow, I really just did that. Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be? Campbell: Drawing, I think. I just think it’s amazing how some people can draw or paint certain pictures and stuff like that. I think that’s pretty cool. Frierson: If you could travel anywhere in the world on somebody else’s dime, where would you like to go and who would you take with you? Campbell: I would go to Bora Bora and I would take my girlfriend. I just think it seems really peaceful and a place where you can free your mind, no distractions, you’re by the water, the nature, the sand and the trees and the flowers — it just seems really peaceful. It looks like a place where you can be yourself and free your mind.
Georgia Football So Far, So Good for Georgia Special Teams
And the Scott Cochran Experiment
By Seth Emerson, The Athletic Dec. 1, 2020
ATHENS, Ga. — The mask, or the job, may have dulled the Scott Cochran effect on Georgia’s sideline. There have been no viral moments where Cochran jumps or screams or bounces around.
And yet is the very unexpected hiring of Cochran as special teams coordinator — a move that seemed unprecedented in major college football — paying off for Georgia?
Yeah.
Georgia has the best special teams in the SEC, at least going by the special teams efficiency rankings at both ESPN and FootballOutsiders.com. Three of Georgia’s special teams units rank in the top 10 nationally — punting, kickoff returns and punt coverage — and three more rank in the top 30.
When Smart hired Cochran earlier this year, it came out of nowhere. Cochran was nationally known as Alabama’s strength and conditioning coordinator, doing television commercials with Nick Saban. So when Smart gave him the special teams job it surprised most everybody. Yes, Cochran brought personality that would help behind the scenes and translate to the recruiting trail. But was Smart taking too much of a risk with the onfield product?
Smart looked at it differently. He knew that specials teams coaching isn’t done by one man. It’s a staff-wide effort. It’s not like offense or defense where you have two units on different sides of the field. Since special teams draws from offense and defense, practice is stopped for special teams practice and almost every coach participates.
Off the field, Cochran also has plenty of help in preparation: Greg Meyer has been at Georgia since 2018 as a special teams analyst and has extensive experience in special teams. A former college punter, Meyer was Eastern Kentucky’s special teams coordinator (2016-17), a quality control coach for special teams at Tennessee (2013-15) and Cincinnati (2012), as well as a graduate assistant for special teams at Mississippi State (2010-11).
Todd Hartley, Georgia’s tight ends coach, was Miami’s special teams coordinator from 2016-18.
It also helps to just have good players. Punter Jake Camarda has been really good, save for a couple shanks. Placekicker Jack Podlesny, a walk-on who beat out a scholarship freshman, has made 77 percent of his tries. Kick returner Kearis Jackson has done everything except score a touchdown.
But there are 11 players on the field for every special teams play, and the results have been good: • Punting: fourth nationally, first in the SEC, 47.8 yards per punt. • Kickoff returns: fifth nationally, second in the SEC, with 31.9 yards per return. • Punt coverage: 10th nationally (tied with five other teams), second in the SEC, 1.0 yards per return on only two punt returns. • Kickoff coverage: 18th nationally, second in the SEC, opponents averaging 16.8 yards per return • Punt returns: 29th nationally, third in the SEC, with 11.0 yards per return. • Kickoffs: 24th nationally, sixth in the SEC, 63.6 yards per kickoff (touchback percentage ranks 11th nationally).
Something else that’s helped Georgia’s special teams: Minimizing virus problems. For all that hasn’t gone right this season, that’s one thing that has, at least so far. That’s most important to the health and safety of each player and staff member, obviously, and on the field it’s meant that Georgia has continued to be closer to full strength than most teams. That manifests itself on special teams, where the Bulldogs are still fielding top reserves, five-star freshmen or even starters. Put another way: The units are very much in sync for a number of reasons. Before the season began, Cochran talked about the transition to special teams coaching, pointing out that it wasn’t totally new to him: He was a graduate assistant who “fell in love” with special teams and strength coaching, and ended up going with the latter. Now he was circling back to the beginning, so he had familiarity with the concepts. Plus he helped with Alabama’s scout team on special teams over the years. But it was still a challenge, Cochran acknowledged. “I feel like I have to be detailed, and
I have to be very specific in my goals on who I am trying to reach, what players I’m trying to reach to do a better job — whether it be on kickoff or kick return,” Cochran said. “So, it’s very similar, but I feel like, because of the weight room, now I have to be way more detailed, and kind of planned on what I’m going to say.”
But ultimately the reason Smart hired Cochran wasn’t because he expected him to be the Erk Russell of special teams coaching. Smart wanted Cochran, the same guy who built the “Coach Yeah” reputation, a positive and inspiring force around the team. That, and not on-field coaching, is where Cochran has made his greatest impact, according to Smart.
“And I knew that when I wanted to hire him,” Smart said. “The greatest impact he has is on the young men that are in the organization in terms of daily impact, life skills, support. During the COVID time, the 2020 time, which is very different — I think it has been an exponentially even better hire because he is tremendous at his relationships with the players. He’s played a large part in our leadership group, which has been a tremendous help to me in terms of being able to spend time with those guys and talk to guys.”
Georgia safety Christopher Smith was asked this week if Cochran’s voice has been heard any less this year because of masking and other protocols. Smith let out a wry smile and shook his head.
Quick Chat: Jamaree Salyer
Jamaree Salyer, astronaut. That has a nice ring to it.
The 6-foot-4 and 325-pound Georgia offensive lineman said during a Quick Chat after practice Wednesday that he would love to go into space for a day, “just to see what’s out there.”
During our Chat, Salyer, a junior from Atlanta, also talked about opening the season Saturday at Arkansas, and facing former Georgia offensive line coach Sam Pittman, now the Razorbacks’ head coach. Other topics included video games and being a veteran on a Bulldog offense with a lot of new pieces this season. Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: To be this close to finally playing a game again, are you about as excited as you’ve ever been for a football game? Salyer: Yeah, it’s really exciting. You know, the butterflies are there and you’ve got that first-game feeling, to get out there in a new environment, really. It’s really cool, I’ve never been to Arkansas before, never been to Fayetteville, so it’s going to be exciting. Of course, this game has extra meaning for the offensive lineman, and it’s going to be fun. Frierson: What’s it going to be like to see Coach Pittman again, only this time he’s the head coach of the other team? Salyer: He poured a lot into me while I was here, I was one of the Sam Pittman guys, and I really enjoyed my time with him here. He was great to me, treated me with respect, pushed me hard and I got a lot better under his wing. I’m excited to compete against him — it’s kind of crazy. Frierson: What do you think of the 1980-themed uniforms you’re going to be wearing on Saturday? Salyer: It will be pretty cool to be able to go out there in something new. We wear the red (jerseys) and silver britches every home game and we wear the white and silver britches every away game, so it’s nice for a little changeup and it’s nice to be able to commemorate the 1980 team. They did something really special, one of the only teams to do it, so it’s nice to start a season off that way, commemorating a great team. Frierson: Do you normally pay much attention to uniforms or is that more of a thing that fans care a lot more about than players typically do? Salyer: Not really, I don’t really care how they look I just want them to fit good so that I can go do what I’ve got to do. Frierson: You’re now one of the veteran guys on this offense, an offense that has a new coordinator, a new quarterback, new lineman, new lead running backs — do you feel like an old man around all these new people in prominent positions? Salyer: It’s different, but I wouldn’t necessarily say I feel like the old man because we’ve got some fifth-year guys and we’ve got some other old guys on this team. I feel like I’ve kind of turned the tide, I’m not a young guy anymore, I’m a veteran, an older guy that people look up to. I’ve had to step into that leadership role this year and I’m really excited for it. The guys look up to me because I’m a guy that’s going to do the right thing, and I’m excited to be that guy that people can come to and ask for advice, and just coach the younger guys up and show them how we play football. Frierson: Does that come naturally to you, being a vocal leader? Salyer: I was kind of the leadership guy even from a young age. From my sophomore year in high school I always kind of had that leadership role and I think it does come naturally to me. It’s hard sometimes, and in college the stakes are higher, and this year they’re higher than ever before with guys going in and out and just having younger guys ready to play, and the leadership role on this team and any college team is bigger because the stakes are really high. I just try to make sure I do the right thing and encourage the young guys to wear their masks and social distance and just be a good role model on and off the field. Frierson: When I talked to Eric Stokes yesterday, he talked about learning how to swim during the quarantine. Did you learn how to do anything new or pick up any hobbies or new interests during the spring and summer when you weren’t as busy as you’d normally be? Salyer: I didn’t really pick up any new hobbies, but I’m a big video game guy so I played video games mostly during quarantine. I just tried to stay to myself, really; I actually stayed in Athens for most of the quarantine, I went home once or twice, but I stayed here and stayed inside playing video games when I wasn’t working out. It was pretty simple: work out, play video games, eat, sleep. It was great for the small stint that it lasted. Frierson: Was there one video game that you took a really deep dive into? Salyer: I played a lot of Call of Duty: Warzone. It’s still pretty hot now, the new one, and I just played a lot of Call of Duty. I was just trying to get good at it, and I’m still working on it. I’m pretty persistent, I still wouldn’t say I’m great at it, but I’ve probably won it three times out of all this time playing it. I don’t have the time now to just sit down and play the game like people do. Some people are really elite at the game, but I’m all right. I just go play for fun — my and my roommates will sit around and play just to pass the time after practice or something. Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be? Salyer: I’d be an astronaut, honestly, just to be able to see what’s out there. A lot of people talk about what’s out there, and some people have their conspiracy theories, but I really want to see what’s up there. I’d love to be a man on the space shuttle and take my crew up there, just to go see what’s really out there.
Everybody has their different theories, that we live in a simulation, that nobody went to the moon, and I really want to see what’s up there. If I could just go for a day and then come back, I would definitely do that. Frierson: Are you a guy that questions things like whether we’ve landed on the moon? Do you pay attention to the conspiracy theories that are out there? Salyer: I’d rather just see it for myself. I try not to make too much of anything. I want to see it for myself. I trust what science says, I trust what history says, so I’m not too much of a conspiracy theorist unless it makes too much sense and then I’ll give it some thought. Other than that, I’d rather see it for myself. Frierson: How are you in the kitchen? Have you learned to cook pretty well? Salyer: I can get by, my mom didn’t send me off to college not knowing how to fend for myself. I can get by, probably not with the healthiest of things. If I had to survive for a long time, I could make a meal as long as I had the money to go to the grocery store. Frierson: If you were inviting some friends over, what would you make them? Do you have something you’re best at? Salyer: Shoot, this weekend me and my girlfriend just experimented with some Rotel dip, and it was pretty good. I feel like if I had friends over I would make some of that.
Georgia Football Quick Chat: Ben Cleveland
Before Georgia redshirt senior offensive lineman Ben Cleveland went over to Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall on Monday to do some interviews, he was on his phone checking Instagram. There, he said, he saw that exactly 5 years before, he and Jacob Eason were in Athens taking their official visits.
Both Cleveland and Eason not only signed with the Bulldogs but enrolled that spring. While Eason, the quarterback, later transferred after the 2017 season, the 6-foot6 and 335-pound Cleveland, from Toccoa, Ga., has been here the whole time, starting off and on at right guard throughout his career.
The Bulldogs were scheduled to host Vanderbilt on Saturday in their pandemic-delayed home finale, when they would get a chance to hold their Senior Day celebrations, but that game was canceled because of squad size issues at Vanderbilt. During our Quick Chat on Monday, Cleveland talked about the holidays, bowfishing, making time for some peaceful moments, and much more. Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: We’ve got the holidays coming up, so what is the best present you’ve ever received? Cleveland: Honestly, I don’t think I’ve really asked for anything specific for Christmas in probably the last five or six years. It’s hard to pick one present. I remember a couple of years ago, Santa Claus just wrapped up a couple of hundred-dollar bills and stick them under the tree.
The most enjoyable would be when I got a new dirt bike when I was probably 5 or 6, and then probably my first deer rifle that I got one year for my birthday. Frierson: What is it like to get a dirt bike at such a young age? I was always kind of intimidated by those things but I’m guessing you never were. Cleveland: We’d grown up riding 4-wheelers and things like that, so my brother and I, we both got dirt bikes for Christmas one year. We had a little track around the house that we’d ride on. It wasn’t anything too big, it was just one of those things that you get on and go. Yeah, you’d fall off a few times, scrape your leg up, but it was still fun. Frierson: What is a Cleveland family Christmas meal like? Do you all have any specific traditions? Cleveland: We kind of switch it up every year, it’s not the traditional meal that’s basically the same thing as Thanksgiving. I think last year dad cooked some ribs and deer meat and stuff. Basically, any kind of wild game we’ve got in the freezer, that’ll get thrown on the smoker, thrown on the grill, or something like that. It just depends from year to year. Frierson: Which wild game is your favorite to eat? Cleveland: I would say elk steaks are at the top of the list. Frierson: Can you cook? Are you good in the kitchen? Cleveland: Oh, yeah, I love to cook. Jamaree (Salyer) sometimes comes over, Jamaree and I live in the same apartment complex, and any time I cook for me and my fiancée, I’ll invite him to come over to make sure he’s fed.
Cooking is my getaway when I’m in Athens. I love to turn the smoker on, sit on the back porch and just hang out, just listen to the animals outside. I’ll have my dog out there running around the yard. It’s just one of those very enjoyable, peaceful moments. Frierson: Have you gotten better at finding those moments during your time at Georgia? Do you need to get away more and find that quiet time? Cleveland: I’ve made those moments happen regardless. Any chance that I get, whether it’s a half-a-day trip here or there, just to get away, clear my mind and just relax and enjoy being outside. This is a full-time thing and we all love what we do, but everybody has to have what brings them back and what resets them. Mine is just getting away, cooking, sitting outside and really enjoying it. Frierson: I know you’re into bowfishing, how did you get started doing that? Cleveland: I have friends that are into all different areas of the outdoors. I’ve got my friends that we deer-hunt with, I’ve got my group that we bowfish with, and it’s basically just knowing different people and trying new things.
That one’s not as relaxing. That one’s a little on the stressful side because it can get a little hectic from time to time. It’s almost more enjoyable than sitting there with a regular rod and reel. You’ve got action all the time; you’re sitting there constantly looking for fish. It’s a lot more difficult than just sitting there on the edge of the boat, throwing one in the water. Frierson: It seems like it would be a lot more challenging. What’s it called, refraction, with water and light, where what you see isn’t exactly as things are? Cleveland: I always tell myself, when I think I’m aiming low enough, aim a little bit lower. Once you get it figured out, it’s a lot of fun. Frierson: Is bowfishing something you’d like to do in a more exotic place, as well? Cleveland: We’ve talked about going out to Texas and shooting some alligator gar and stuff like that. It helps our lakes out around here, shooting carp and gar, because they really do no good. Gar eat all the gamefish that people fish for in bass tournaments and stuff like that. Carp, they’re an invasive species, so it’s trying to help clean up our lakes around here, too. I think I would enjoy going out to Texas or somewhere like that and shooting a big ole 200-pound alligator gar. Frierson: What is it like to be at this point in your redshirt senior season? I’m sure in some ways it feels like you’ve been at Georgia for a very long time. Cleveland: It’s kind of weird. I was actually checking Instagram before I came over here and 5 years ago today, Jacob Eason and I, we were on our official visits up here. Man, kind of standing back and looking at it, it seems like a long, long time ago. But then you look at it from the reality of things and it’s just like the snap of a finger. You blink and all of a sudden it’s been 5 years.
I’ve seen a lot of people come and go through this place and made a lot of good friends. It’s crazy to think that I’ve been here for 5 whole years, but there’s definitely been a lot of good memories made and a lot of people who will still be my good friends in the long run. Frierson: How have you changed the most as a person in all that time? Cleveland: I think I had to mature really fast. I started appreciating the little things in life, as we were talking about, just finding that escape and getting away. I started to appreciate what little time I get with my family, stuff like that. I really started taking more advantage of that than I have in the past, because you realize it doesn’t last forever. I think that’s been the biggest lesson that I’ve learned, just take advantage of the little things in life. Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be? Cleveland: Singing — I was actually talking to my fiancée about that last night, I want to be able to sing. Frierson: Is there one song that you wish you could do to perfection? Cleveland: That’s a good question. I don’t know, I’m very bouncy with my music, I kind of go off the wall with everything. I think I sound good when I sing in the truck but I know people listening to me don’t like it.
It would be hard to pick out a song. I would say, I don’t know, “Freebird” or some kind of Lynyrd Skynyrd some maybe.
With the Georgia football team having an unexpected off weekend following the postponement of the Bulldogs’ game at Missouri, defensive lineman Malik Herring went home to Forsyth, Ga. Last Friday, the senior went to watch his old high school team, Mary Persons, play against its rival Crisp County.
It was a tough night for Mary Persons, a 38-7 loss, and the 6-foot-3 and 280-pound Herring said he wished he could have suited up one more time for his alma mater. Along with making about a million great defensive plays in high school, Herring was highly efficient on offense, scoring five touchdowns on six receptions in his final two seasons.
During a Quick Chat before practice Monday, as the Bulldogs get set to host Mississippi State this week, Herring talked about his days on offense, his favorite Thanksgiving dish, dunking in sixth grade and much more. Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: How did you spend your unexpected weekend off? Did you do anything fun? Herring: I went to my high school football game and I’d say that’s fun but we lost, so it didn’t turn out fun. It was a rivalry game, too, and they lost. It was their first loss to them in seven or eight years. Frierson: What is it like going back to watch your old team play? Does it feel different? Herring: Yes, it definitely feels different. When I was out there, I wanted to take one of them boy’s pads off and jump in so fast, but I couldn’t. Frierson: I was looking back at your stats from your high school days and I saw where you only had six catches in your last two years, but five of those went for touchdowns. That’s a pretty good efficiency rate. Herring: [Laughs] I appreciate it. Frierson: You obviously made a ton of plays on defense, but what do you remember about your days on offense? Herring: My days on offense were fun, I miss them, really. I tell Tre’ McKitty, I’m going to take his spot at tight end, but he doesn’t believe me. Frierson: What other sports did you play growing up? Herring: I played basketball, I’m the baby LeBron James at basketball. I also played baseball, I played first base and third, and a little bit at pitcher. I also did a little bit of catching in one game, too. I got too hot so I couldn’t do it any more. I about passed out with all of that equipment on in the summer. Frierson: I always ask this of the men’s basketball players that I talk to, do you remember your first dunk? Herring: My first dunk, I was in the sixth grade. On Sundays I would always go play with the older people, so I go in there, we’re hooping, and I was always touching the rim, touching the rim. One day I just did a little baby dunk and they were all like, oh, that boy just dunked. And I was like, yeah, I’m fixing to turn it up now.
I tried to dunk every time I got in the gym after that. Frierson: How tall were you in sixth grade? Herring: I think I was like 6-foot or 5-11, one of those. Frierson: We’ve got Thanksgiving coming up, so what is your favorite Thanksgiving dish? Herring: The dressing is my favorite. I go home — Walter Grant came with me last Thanksgiving — and I had a half plate of dressing and a half plate of macaroni. He was like, “Bro, where’s your meat at?” And I was like, “I eat this every time.” Frierson: What is it about the dressing that’s so special? Herring: I think it’s that gravy that my auntie puts in it, but then the cranberry sauce makes it pop. Frierson: How are you in the kitchen? Herring: I cook some fish, fry some fish, bake some fish — that’s about it, though, I don’t really try to do anything else. Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be? Herring: Man, that’s tough. I think I’d want to be one of the top sprinters, like Usain Bolt. I just want to see how it feels to be fast like that — super fast, scary fast, lightning fast. Frierson: Did you ever do track and field? I would guess you had some coaches wanting you to do the shot put. Herring: I did the shot put and discus. I used to ask my coach to let my run with the sprinters so I could see if I was fast or not, but he wouldn’t let me run with the sprinters. Frierson: Do you have a creative side? Is there anything creative you do or wish you could do? Herring: I wish I could sing. There’s not one song I wish I could sing but I’ll be listening to Rod Wave and all them, and they’re singing and I’m singing along with them thinking I sound just like them. Then my homeboy’s like, “You need to stop.” Frierson: Who is the funniest guy on the team? Herring: Probably Mark Webb. He’s just goofy and his voice travels. Actually, Mark and Jordan Davis. J.D.’s just a big, goofy teddy bear and Mark is just funny all over.
Nolan Smith is a builder and a creator. The Georgia outside linebacker was pretty much obsessed with Legos when he was young, which led to a passion for engineering. Smith can also create in the kitchen, and while he can cook the turkey for Thanksgiving, don’t expect him to eat any of it.
A 6-foot-3, 235-pound sophomore from Savannah, Smith heads into Saturday’s game against Missouri with 17 tackles and 1.5 sacks, and his 12 quarterback pressures rank fourth on the team. During a Quick Chat after practice Tuesday, Smith talked about engineering, good food, his start in football and much more.
Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: What do you remember about your very first year playing football? Is there one memory that stands out from those early days? Smith: I remember my first Oklahoma drill, and when I first hit somebody I said, I love this sport, this is the type of sport I want to be a part of. I was 4, I’ve been playing football since I was 4 years old. Frierson: Did you play a bunch of other sports growing up, as well? Smith: I played basketball and I was a really good baseball player. I played center field and I played second base and catcher. I loved playing baseball, it was my second-favorite sport after football. I probably played baseball all the way up to my sophomore year, before I went to IMG (Academy). Frierson: When did you know you were good at football? Was there a turning point or specific moment when you realized you had a bright future in it beyond high school? Smith: I don’t know, maybe not until I signed my letter-of-intent, really. All that could be taken away, you could tear your ACL, knock on wood, or anything can happen, so I was just trying to work every day like I never had any offers. Frierson: I read where you were majoring in Biochemical Engineering, so how did you get interested in that? And can you explain exactly what that is? Smith: I changed my major just because I had too many labs, but I did it for about a year and a half. Biochemical engineering is for people that work with the body and make medical devices that help, like prosthetic legs and prosthetic arms and stuff like that. It’s about engineering and your body mechanics and fluids all working together as one.
I’m now majoring in civil engineering. Frierson: Obviously engineering is something you’re really into, so when did that begin? Smith: I love building things. I do a lot with my hands. Even my room back home, I ordered the parts and I built the whole room myself.
I used to have one of the greatest Lego collections ever. I used to have 1,000-piece Legos, like rocket ships and spaceships and things that I just pieced and put together myself. Frierson: Do you still do any of that stuff now just to relax? Smith: I don’t do it now but we do it for projects (in class). I’ll build a small-scale Talmadge Bridge in Savannah, and then I’ll have to draw it to scale and stuff like that. Frierson: After football, what do you envision yourself doing? Smith: I want to open up my own engineering firm. Go somewhere and help the roads; I don’t know, be a part of the community, be a small piece and try to take care of something in the world. Frierson: Speaking of Savannah, when you think of home what comes to mind? Smith: Good food. I mean Savannah food is some of the best. I’d say Savannah and Atlanta have the best food in Georgia. Frierson: Is there one dish that comes to mind? Smith: I love going to Chive and getting the calamari. Frierson: How are you in the kitchen? Smith: I’m a really good cook. I grew up with my grandmom and my grandfather, so I do a lot of cooking and a lot of hands-on handyman work.
Smith: My favorite dish is ham. I don’t eat turkey but I cook all the turkey for my Thanksgiving, and I’ll carve it. I’ll do a fried turkey and a baked turkey but I don’t eat it — I just know how to cook it and carve. I can’t even taste it to tell you if it’s so good because it’s so dry to me.
Frierson: Why don’t you eat turkey?
Smith: I don’t know, it’s dry and nasty [laughs].
Frierson: You’ve sort of already answered this but I’ll ask it anyway, do you have a creative side? Is there anything creative you do or wish you could do?
Smith: I’m probably going to sit down and teach myself how to play the piano sooner or later. I did it when I was a little kid, I was in music, and I played the saxophone a little bit but I never took it very seriously. Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be? Smith: Being a great person, just walking around being happy. That’s what I try to do now, but imagine you’re seeing a person walking down the street and he’s happy and he hasn’t got a care in the world. He’s one of those genuinely happy people — he’s not happy because he’s rich or anything, he’s just living the good life and he’s happy. I’d love to live that life. Frierson: You strike me as someone that’s kind of doing that already. Smith: I hope, I try, I try to strive every day. Frierson: Jordan Davis also strikes me as one of those guys. Smith: Yeah, I love J.D. Me and J.D. have very similar personalities. Frierson: If you could travel anywhere in the world on somebody else’s dime, where would you like to go and who would you take with you? Smith: I’d go to Spain and I’d probably take my girlfriend, my grandmom and my mom — 100 percent of the special ladies in my life. We’d go out to Spain, and the thing about Spain is, I know a lot about it. They do a lot of fresh markets and they have some of the best food.
Those European countries have some of the best food in the world because they catch it fresh every day and then they sell it the same day at the market, so that’s what makes it so special.
Quick Chat: Zamir White
You hope to learn something new every day, right? Georgia running back Zamir White introduced me to something new during our Quick Chat on Monday, though it may not be something I’ll be first in line to eat.
When asked what meal he always looks forward to eating when he goes home, the redshirt sophomore from Laurinburg, N.C., a town of about 15,000 located 90 miles or so east of Charlotte, included “hog maws” in his answer. In 48 years of living around the South, I’d never heard of hog maws.
During our Chat, White, who leads the fifth-ranked Bulldogs with 266 yards rushing and five touchdowns on 64 carries heading into Saturday’s game at Kentucky, also talked about taking it easy at home last weekend, when he knew he might have a bright future in football and much more. Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: How did you spend your off weekend and how happy were you to get a break after four games? White: It was great, just to be able to go home and just relax with my family and eat good and relax and take a little break. Frierson: When it comes to going home and eating good food, what’s the one meal that you always look forward to when you go home? White: My momma made me some hog maws and rice. It’s either that or some macaroni and cheese or grilled food — we cook out a lot. Or it’s just any soul food; I just like to eat. Frierson: I’ve never heard of hog maws. White: [Laughs] They’re basically like chitlins but they don’t stink like chitlins [laughs]. Frierson: How are you in the kitchen? White: Growing up where I’m from, the deep country life, you’ve got to know how to cook and work. Frierson: If you were having a couple of teammates over for dinner, what would you make them? White: I would move them some chicken or something like that, some fried chicken and macaroni. Frierson: We’ve got Halloween coming up, so what is your favorite candy? White: I would say Twix, probably. I love candy. Frierson: How old were you when you first got started in football? Did you play a bunch of different sports when you were young? White: I started playing flag football at 7, and I played several different sports. My middle school coach made the whole football team play soccer, so I played football, baseball, soccer and basketball. Frierson: How did you like soccer? With your speed, you could have been a really dangerous forward. White: It was fun but it wasn’t for me, though [laughs]. Frierson: Who was your favorite player growing up? Was there somebody you looked up to and wanted to be like? White: It was a guy that played at my high school and now he plays for the (Detroit) Lions, Tony McRae. Growing up, he played running back; he’s a corner now but back in high school he was a crazy good running back. Frierson: Is it surprising that your high school, Scotland High, has produced some guys that are playing big-time football? White: Yes, sir, because not many people have made it this far. Frierson: When did you know you had a chance to play at a school like Georgia? When did you know, without patting yourself on the back, that you were good? White: I would probably say the middle of my 10th-grade year when I started getting a lot of offers. I was locked in on being the best player and student that I can be, just focusing on school and my SATs and all that to get to college. I was just locked in on that type of stuff and I was ready. Frierson: If you could travel anywhere in the world on somebody else’s dime, where would you like to go and who would you take with you? White: I would like to go to Africa, just to see the history and the land and the animals and all that stuff. And I would probably take my mother with me. Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be? White: I think I’d want to be the President, probably. Or maybe a billionaire [laughs]. Frierson: It’s fair to say that 2020 has been a pretty rough year in a lot of different ways but is there something that has inspired you or brought you a lot of hope and optimism? White: Just seeing how strong we were together, just going through everything together. We were there for each other through it all, like the virus and all that. This team came together and we did it. We’re not perfect but we did a good job with it. I’m proud of us.
Quick Chat: Mark Webb
Mark Webb always has something interesting to say. The Georgia defensive back is among the most chatty players on the team, and he’s been that way throughout his Bulldog career. His teammates frequently mention him, along with Richard LeCounte, when asked about the funniest guys on the squad.
Webb, a senior from Philadelphia, spent the previous three seasons playing alongside his cousin, running back D’Andre Swift, who is now in the NFL. While Swift is a rookie with the Detroit Lions, Webb is still a Bulldog and still making plays, like his first career interception last Saturday in Georgia’s win over Auburn.
During a Quick Chat after practice Tuesday, Webb talked about his first pick, what he did during quarantine, growing up in Philadelphia, and much more. Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: What was it like to be back playing a game in Sanford Stadium on Saturday? Webb: It was amazing, the atmosphere was definitely amazing. Even though we can’t have all the fans in the stadium, it was definitely amazing to be back between the hedges. Just running out on the field, that never gets old. Frierson: How good did it feel to get that first interception? Webb: That felt great. I’ve been waiting for it, asking God for it, and just for it to finally come when my mom and dad were in the stands, it doesn’t get any better than that. I couldn’t ask for much more, I was definitely thankful for it. Frierson: How did you spend your free time over the shutdown this spring and summer? Webb: During the quarantine I usually just spent my time bettering myself and bettering my craft. When gyms and things shut down, I had to be able to motivate myself and put myself in a position to work out and find things like technology that could help me at the house. I did a lot of running, training and going to fields, just training and working on a lot of things that I’ve made mistakes on before. Frierson: Is it a little weird not having D’Andre as a teammate this season? Webb: It is weird because we always talked every day, and with him being here I’d always see him around. Sometimes it made things easier, he’d always remind me of stuff. It’s a huge difference now and I definitely feel it, but it’s just how it is now. Frierson: Halloween is only a few weeks away, so what’s your favorite Halloween candy? Webb: It’s definitely going to be Twizzlers all the way. The red ones — I don’t know about the black ones, I can’t do the black ones. Frierson: What was your best Halloween costume? Webb: I had a throwback, a 2003 rapper outfit that I put on. That was probably my best outfit and I wore that last year. Frierson: What’s the best meal you’ve ever had? Is there one dining experience that stands out above the rest? Webb: I’ve had a couple of different meals, but I’d say the best meal was on Christmas, with my mom and my uncle Darren, D’Andre’s dad, they put out a meal that is definitely top-notch on Christmas and Thanksgiving. It’s some of the best food you’ll have, by far. Frierson: If you could travel anywhere in the world on somebody else’s dime, where would you like to go and who would you take with you? Webb: The first place I would go is Brazil. I would take all my brothers, or the people I call my brother. I can’t just take one — if I take one I have to take all of them. Frierson: What is it about Brazil? Webb: I feel like it’s just nice over there. I realize that a lot of people don’t go there or talk about it that much, and I know it’s nice weather over there. I just don’t want to be where everybody else is at. Frierson: I know you’re a great athlete and a sharp individual, but is there something you’ve tried to get good at and just never did? Herring: I would have to say Madden (the NFL video game). I haven’t played in so long but it seemed like every time I picked up that controller to play Madden, I’d always get beat bad. Frierson: How competitive are you when it comes to things like that? Do you let it get to you or are you able to not really care because it’s only a video game? Webb: I’m very competitive in probably everything I do, so I try to stay away from it just because of that. I know how mad I get about things, and I know so many losses are going to get to me after a while. Frierson: What was your favorite toy when you were a kid? Webb: I really didn’t have a favorite toy. I just liked playing basketball. I always had a basketball court, like a Fischer-Price basketball goal, and that was probably my favorite thing. Frierson: What was it like growing up in Philadelphia? Do you look back fondly on your childhood in Philadelphia? Webb: It was definitely a growing experience. There are a lot of things that go on in Philly, tough people, tough times, and things like that made me who I am today. I wouldn’t change it for nothing because some of the things made me tougher. Coming to college and being in the real world now, Philadelphia groomed me to be able to handle those things today.
Kenny McIntosh grew up in a football family. The Georgia sophomore running back from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has two older brothers that play and their dad was a good high school player.
One of McIntosh’s older brothers, RJ, a defensive lineman, played at Miami and is now in his third season with the New York Giants. The other, Deon, is a running back at Washington State after starting his collegiate career at Notre Dame. You can imagine the level of competition around the McIntosh house when they were all young.
Heading into Saturday’s big game between No. 3 Georgia and No. 2 Alabama, McIntosh has 17 carries for 80 yards, four receptions for 51 yards and he’s been very good returning kickoffs, averaging 42.8 yards on his four attempts. During a Quick Chat after practice Wednesday, McIntosh talked family, football and more. Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: It’s obviously a big week for you guys, playing at Alabama, so how do you keep out the distractions that come with maybe the biggest college football game of the season? McIntosh: I don’t engage with the outside world. I’ve been doing this all my life and Georgia going against Bama, that’s a big-time deal, everybody talks about it, but for me it’s just another game on the schedule. It’s just another time for me to go out there and compete and show my talent. Frierson: What was the most important thing you learned from having older brothers that were very good players and playing big-time football ahead of you? McIntosh: Just having older brothers and being able to look up to them growing up, it’s every little boy’s dream. My brothers, they just guided me. One brother played the same position as me, so me and him talk a lot. They just guided me and helped me coming up, like when I first got to college they were telling me what I should expect and things to look out for, and just to keep grinding. My dad really put that in our heads at a young age — competing, that’s all we did since I was young. I give that to my father, my father put that in us. Frierson: Was your dad a really good player, really good athlete, too? You all had to get this ability from somewhere. McIntosh: We definitely got it from my dad. He played running back at Dillard High School down in Fort Lauderdale, and he was a great running back, but unfortunately he didn’t make it in college. Frierson: We’ve got Halloween coming up, so what’s your favorite Halloween candy? McIntosh: I’d say Reese’s. Frierson: The Pieces, the Peanut Butter Cups, what are we talking about? McIntosh: It doesn’t really matter, whichever one is available. Frierson: Did you have a favorite Halloween costume when you were a kid? McIntosh: I’d say my Spiderman costume, I was real into Spiderman when I was a kid. Frierson: Do you have any gameday superstitions or rituals? Is there something specific you do before every game? McIntosh: I really just listen to music and get into my game mode, get my mind right, clear my mind, and go out there and do what I’ve got to do. I’ll put on whatever song I’m feeling at that moment, it just depends on how I’m feeling in the locker room. Frierson: Do you have a creative side? Is there anything creative you do or wish you could do? McIntosh: I wish I could sing. I’ve got a little vocal ability [laughs], but I wish I could sing, I wish I could dance. I used to dance a lot. Frierson: Who’s the best dancer on the team? McIntosh: It used to be my boy Divaad (Wilson), but on the team right now? That’s a tough one — I’d have to give it to J.D. (Jordan Davis). If you know J.D., you know J.D.’s always dancing, in the locker room, when we’re outside of the facility, he’s going to dance. Frierson: What other sports did you play growing up? McIntosh: I also played basketball and I ran a little track in middle school. My dad always wanted to get me into baseball, but I didn’t really like it much. Frierson: Do you remember your first dunk? McIntosh: Yes, I do remember my first dunk. It was never in a game, it was right after a game. I think it was like our homecoming or something like that, so we had all the fans there after the game. We just started doing a little dunk contest and I ended up getting it in there. Frierson: Do you regret not ever getting one in a game? McIntosh: Oh, yeah, definitely, I definitely regret that. Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be? McIntosh: Let me say being a champion because I haven’t won anything in college football yet. Being a champion for one day and seeing how it feels, getting the taste of it, I’m always going to want to taste it again.
Warren McClendon has deep Georgia football roots. The redshirt freshman right tackle is the nephew of Willie McClendon, the great tailback from 1976-78, and he’s the cousin of former Georgia receiver and later assistant coach Bryan McClendon, now at Oregon.
At 6-foot-4 and 320 pounds, McClendon, from Brunswick, Ga., doesn’t have the body to play receiver or running back — he went from quarterback to lineman when he was young —but as he’s shown this season, starting the past seven games, he can get the job done at right tackle.
During a Quick Chat after practice Wednesday, McClendon talked about his Georgia roots, getting big and moving from QB to the line, golf, and much more. Here’s some of what he had to say: Frierson: Obviously you’re trying to forge your own path, but how much does it mean to you to continue the McClendon tradition at Georgia? McClendon: It’s a big deal — to my family it’s a huge deal. It’s not as big to me as it is to them just because I didn’t get to see my uncle and my cousin play. They’re just happy for me to be here and they just love that I’m here. Frierson: Your uncle was a running back and your cousin was a wide receiver, so when did you know that those positions weren’t for you and that being a very good lineman was in your future? McClendon: It was probably fifth grade when I started gaining a bunch of weight, so I went from quarterback to offensive line [laughs]. Frierson: What was that transition like? Was it disappointing because quarterback is the most high-profile position or did you realize that the offensive line was the best spot for you? McClendon: I knew that was the best spot for me. I was just a little kid out there having fun. Frierson: What’s something you could eat every day and never get tired of it? McClendon: Steak, definitely steak. I’ll have it with a loaded baked potato with cheese, bacon, and sour cream. Frierson: ow are you in the kitchen? Can you cook? McClendon: I can cook a little bit. I can cook a steak. Frierson: When you were home during quarantine, did you do much cooking then? Did you get better in the kitchen during that time? McClendon: My mom, she took care of the cooking. When I’m home, she cooks, she doesn’t want me in the kitchen. She says I’ll mess it up. Frierson: Do you have a favorite dish that she makes? McClendon: It’s probably a steak, but she also makes a good chicken alfredo. And sometimes she’ll do this roast that’s really good, I love that. Frierson: What was your favorite toy when you were a kid? McClendon: That was probably my golf club set, my little plastic golf club set. Frierson: Who is the funniest guy on the team? McClendon: That’s hard because we’ve got a bunch of funny people. I think Ben Cleveland’s pretty funny. I talk to him every day and he’s pretty funny. Frierson: What is it like playing next to Ben (Cleveland), a guy that’s been here for so long and has so much experience? How much has he helped you become the player you are today? McClendon: It’s definitely good having a veteran player playing next to me. He’s seen and played a lot of football, so he definitely helps me out when we’re on the field. If I don’t understand something, he’ll help explain it to me. Frierson: When did you know you were good? Was there a turning point or a specific moment? McClendon: It was probably my freshman year of high school, that’s when I started getting big-time offers. Frierson: Was it like to go through that at such a young age? McClendon: It was a good experience. Freshman and sophomore year were good, and then junior year it just got to the point where I was doing interviews every day and had coaches talking to me — it just got to the point where it was getting stressful. That was when I went ahead and committed to Georgia. Frierson: If you could travel anywhere in the world on somebody else’s dime, where would you like to go and who would you take with you? McClendon: I’ve always wanted to go to Dubai. I’d go to Dubai and I’d take my family, my parents and my sister. Dubai seems like a nice place to go and I’ve always wanted to go there since I was a little kid. Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be? McClendon: I would want to be great at golf, because me and my dad play golf all the time when I’m home and he beats me every time, and it just makes me mad. I started playing around eighth or ninth grade, and at that age I just tried to kill the ball and I’d end up slicing it and end up in the woods.
feature stories McGarity Went From ‘Hanging Around’ To Leading The Way
NOTE: As announced on Nov. 30, Greg McGarity will retire on Dec. 31, 2020, as the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics at UGA.
When Georgia men’s tennis coach Manuel Diaz arrived in Athens as a freshman in the fall of 1971, having flown from Puerto Rico to Atlanta and then taken a bus the rest of the way to his new home, there to pick him up at the old Greyhound bus station downtown, in a Volkswagen Bug, was a teenager he’d come to know well.
Long before Greg McGarity, Georgia’s J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics, spent the past decade in a corner office on the top floor of Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall, the Athens native was a high school kid working in numerous capacities for men’s tennis coach and sports information director Dan Magill.
“I got here and guess who picked me up at the bus station? Little Greg McGarity,” Diaz said with a laugh Tuesday.
“Coach Magill was busy with sports information because football season was about to start, so Greg ran to the Greyhound station to pick me up and brought me to McWhorter Hall to register my freshman year.”
It was the beginning of a long friendship and working relationship. While Diaz went on to a great All-American career on the court before becoming one of collegiate tennis’ best coaches of all time, McGarity went from working for Coach Magill as a high school and college student, to serving as Georgia’s women’s tennis coach, to a great career in athletic administration.
After 10 years as Georgia’s Director of Athletics, McGarity announced Monday that he was retiring at the end of December.
“It certainly has been great seeing him grow up and now grow a little bit old,” joked Diaz, who took over for Coach Magill as head coach in the fall of 1988 and has won four NCAA team titles and 28 SEC championships.
For many years, Coach Magill was the men’s tennis coach, sports information director and secretary of the Georgia Bulldog Club. McGarity said he used to hang around Georgia’s tennis courts when he was young, along with his brother, Stu, and Mick Basinger, brother of the Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger. It was through them that he met Coach Magill and started a life-changing relationship with one of the most important and influential people he’s ever known.
“He was my mentor,” McGarity said Tuesday. “As we all know, he worked seven days a week. And to be exposed to that type of work ethic and at the same time have so much fun doing it, it was modeling the way to say, I’d love to do this.
“I think his ability to juggle three jobs, to work in an office environment with three other people in the same room, and to be able to be ultra-successful in everything he did, I can’t think of a better example to have for a professional life.”
In Magill’s book “Match Pointers,” about his lifetime in collegiate tennis and his 34 years coaching the Bulldogs, he described McGarity as “my prize protégé” in the section on Georgia women’s tennis great Lisa Spain Short.
McGarity said he was very grateful that his parents “embraced that relationship” at such a young age. “Before I was able to drive, if my parents hadn’t have been open to the idea of taxiing me around, I would have never been there,” he said.
An avid tennis player growing up, McGarity spent time on the Bulldogs’ squad and lettered in 1973. He was teammates with the likes of Diaz and Gordon Smith, but McGarity said the letter he was awarded by Magill was “generous” given that he was more like a manager than one of Georgia’s players.
“Just to be around those guys like Gordon and Manny, and just to be hanging out with them was just so much fun,” McGarity said. “But there’s Coach Magill letting me be around. He could have easily said, ‘Hey, Greg, you just need to move on and do other things because I just don’t have time for you.’ But it was the direct opposite: ‘Can you be here on Sunday? Can you be here Saturday?’”
McGarity was always there, always eager to help.
“Greg was a go-getter and he was always well-grounded,” Diaz said of the McGarity he knew when they were young. “He was one of these kids that never got in trouble and always did the right things. He was very disciplined and that obviously paid off for him.”
During his four seasons as the women’s tennis coach, from 1978-81, McGarity’s teams posted a record of 51-44. His first season was the fifth in the program’s history, and McGarity signed and coached for one year the program’s first NCAA champion, Lisa Spain Short. “We had some good times. When I was a freshman and he would come up to the fence (at the McWhorter Courts), I was just as wild as I could be and he didn’t know what else to say,” Short recalled earlier this year. “He would always come up to the fence and say, ‘How you feeling, Lisa? How you feeling? Everything OK? Can I get you some water?’ And I would be like, ‘No! Don’t get me anything!’ “I think he aspired to greater things but he was good at that job, too.” That wild freshman matured into a stellar senior that captured the NCAA singles title in 1984, and earlier this year she became the first Georgia player to be voted into the ITA Women’s Tennis Hall of Fame. “Coaches never bat a thousand but every now and then you make a really good decision that turns into obviously one of the greatest players in Georgia women’s tennis history and our first NCAA champion for women,” McGarity said after Short made the Hall of Fame.
After leaving his coaching position to work in athletic administration, McGarity rose higher and higher in Georgia’s athletic department. Then, while out for a run during a convention in South Florida, he passed then Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley. They spoke briefly, later had lunch and in 1992 McGarity joined Foley’s staff in Gainesville.
Eighteen years later, in August 2010, he returned home, taking over Georgia’s athletic department. Timing is everything, McGarity said. If he hadn’t been tagging along with his brother and some friends back when he was a kid, he might not have wound up working for and with Coach Magill for all those years. And if he hadn’t been out for a jog that day, he might not have met Foley and spent all those great years at Florida.
“I was just fortunate to be at the right place at the right time, and the stars aligned,” he said.
Anyone that knew Coach Magill, who died in 2014, knew that while he loved to laugh and tell stories, he also worked incredibly hard — and he expected the same of you. McGarity might have been in the right place at the right time, but he had to deliver and produce day after day after day.
McGarity has done that throughout his long and distinguished career, one that surely made his longtime friend and mentor proud.
“I think he’d be happy, I hope he’d be proud, and I hope he would understand that he’s really the reason I am where I am today in the world of college athletics,” McGarity said, “because of his generosity and his open-armed approach to letting me just kind of hang around.”
The kid that hung around, that would work in Magill’s garden or drive to the bus station to pick up a new player, he went on to run the whole show one day. It’s a great story that on Dec. 31 will come to a very happy ending.
