Georgia vs FAU

Saturday evening was my first time at Sanford Stadium, and it was a treat to experience another SEC venue!  My post game questions were geared towards the offensive explosion UGA had in setting a school record with 713 yards of total offense, led by Aaron Murray who also had a career high 342 yards of total offense (despite sitting out the final 20 minutes of the game). Georgia won 56-20 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, GA

When I asked Aaron about his offensive line, he said, "Those guys deserve a frozen treat, and he will be treating his guys to some Ben and Jerry's Ice cream!"  True to his word, yesterday I saw a picture on instagram of a bunch of grown men eating some ice cream with Aaron Murray!  I just want to know, who had the Superman flavored ice cream?

One of my favorite parts of game preparation is our coaches and player meetings.  Friday, we had the treat of sitting down with both Aaron Murray and Jarvis Jones.  In spite of a dominant defensive performance against Missouri, the coaching staff decided to let the Jones sit out and rest his nagging groin injury on Saturday against FAU.   For a guy who had the greatest game of his career against Missouri with 9 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and his 1st career interception, he told us in that meeting that he HATED football when he was growing up.  Basketball was actually his first love, but during his freshman year of high school the Athletic director and football coach said, "Son, if you want to play basketball you are going to also play football."  So Jarvis reluctantly went to football practice, but would sneak off to the gym to play basketball.  Jones had to have a coach assigned to him to make sure he didn't sneak away!  Fast forward a year later when his coach moved him from Tight End to Defense where he could hit his opponents, and the rest is history!

When it was Aaron's turn to talk, he told us about graduating early and starting his Masters/PhD in Industrial Organizational Psychology.  So what does all of that mean? Well, according to the UGA Department of Psychology website, the graduate program in industrial-organizational psychology “exists to develop, research and apply psychological principles to raise the quality of life for working individuals.”
So essentially, Aaron wants to become an HR director of a big time company!  You guys should have seen the passion in his eyes and the excitement on his face as he told us about his career aspirations.  Aaron loves gathering information and conducting surveys, so he decided to make his own survey to give to all of his teammates to find out what he needs to improve on.  The survey came back and it was unanimous...Aaron Murray is a nice guy, but his teammates said he needed to be more forceful and demanding with them!  Aaron said he loves corrective criticism and that feedback has helped him step up his leadership on and off the field!

This is Abry Jones #93 Defensive End, and he is super proud to be sporting the slogan that members of the football team came up with.  "Our Team Our Time No Regrets."
Abry also told us confidently that the new Mixed Martial Arts training that the football team has implemented, thanks to Mark Richt hiring Justin Lovett, is working for him.  Abry says that it has helped him greatly in using his hands and building stamina on the football field.
Jarvis Jones pulled no punches when saying that with out a doubt he is the best on the team at the MMA practices.  Well, he did say that John Jenkins gives him a run for his money, but he's still the best!

 

So the highlight of my evening was interviewing this stud, Russ aka UGA IX.  We formed quite the bond and have been tweeting each other ever since our special moment!  UGA IX was so excited to take over as the official mascot of the Georgia Bull Dogs and remarked that there was never a doubt in his mind that he would get the nod!  He asked me if I had any advice for him, to which I answered, "UGA, if anyone asks you something you don't know, just don't answer them...And don't get a complex about the brown spots, because it's much better to be looked over than overlooked."

I love sharing my stories from the sidelines each week and look forward to this weekend in Knoxville, TN!  Have a great week everybody!!