On whether he remembers watching previous Georgia-Alabama National Championship game and whether he ever imagined he would play for UGA against Alabama one day…
“Yeah, for sure. I sat on my couch and watched it, actually. I never thought about playing for Georgia in the Alabama game but I’m just glad to be here. I know those [UGA-Alabama] games were extremely competitive and exciting to watch, and I can only imagine what it is going to be like playing in it.”
On his transfer to UGA/how his injury during fall camp has affected him this season…
“I was just in the middle of camp and fell on my knee, and I took a somewhat minor knee injury and had to be sidelined for a few weeks. It was definitely hard to sit on the sidelines and watch my guys out there working, especially for the first two games, but definitely super blessed and exciting to be out there this last week and continue to play the rest of the season with my guys.”
On the reason he chose to transfer to Georgia…
“I always liked Georgia growing up [and] took an official here coming out of high school and just wasn’t the time then, but everything happens for a reason. I came into the portal at the beginning of this year and had some great conversations with Coach Smart and Coach Hartley, and I knew Coach Monken was coming in with the NFL style offense, and it was something I wanted to be a part of.”
On what Alabama’s defensive style up front is like…
“Big, athletic guys just like us. They play a physical brand of football. [Georgia and Alabama] are two very similar programs. They get after it, we get after it, so it’ll be fun to see that competition.”
On the environment he expects to encounter Saturday night in Tuscaloosa/what his primary mindset is going to be…
“I think it’ll be a wild environment, even with the stadium restrictions and fan restrictions. I think it’ll still be a wild environment. At Sanford, it’s been a wild environment, so I can only imagine what it’s going to be like at Bryant-Denny, but it’s going to be a fun game. I’m excited for the challenge, to be able to compete against a program like [Alabama] that’s been notoriously good for so long. It’s going to be fun, and it’s going to be a fun environment. I know our guys are hype, they’re ready to go, and we’re ready to compete.”
On what Stetson Bennett is like…
“Stetson is confident. He’s confident in himself, and he’s a competitor. Stets goes out there and gives it everything he’s got every day. He doesn’t like to lose. You can just see that on the job when he came in at Arkansas. He was out there having fun, completing third downs, getting first downs. He was having fun, and he has fun competing. For me, being able to protect a guy like that and to listen to to a guy like that, and look up to a guy like that — there’s nothing more you could want from a quarterback. He’s a guy who doesn’t like to lose. Jake [Fromm] was very similar in that way. They’re both just guys who don’t like to lose. That’s Stetson all day. Stets is going to go out there and compete, and he’s going to give you everything he’s got on every play, and he’s not going to fold on you when things get tough.”
On if the game against Alabama being a regular season makes it easier…
“We are going to treat this like any other game. If it’s the SEC Championship or a regular season game, we just want to go 1-0 every week.”
On how he gets the talk about Alabama out of his head and how they improve…
“We have coach [Dan] Lanning every Monday show us what we can work on. Like today, there’s still a lot of things that we need to do to get better at and improve. We gave up touchdowns and plays throughout the whole game. There are still a lot of little things to work on to be the best team that we can be.”
On if the team he is on now eclipses teams from the past…
“We have a deep unit this year that I absolutely love. I can say that I’m a leader now because last year I always looked to J.R. [Reed]. To be one of the leaders it’s tremendous. Seeing the younger buy into what I do, it just feels different.”
On if he carries any previous moments or memories from the last few meetings with Alabama…
“Alabama is always a tough, challenging game. I always take into consideration on how well they’re coached, how they push and it’s an amazing challenge. Every game is a business trip, so I want to focus on us this week, going to Alabama and doing our thing.”
On his objective every game…
“It’s definitely a ‘do my job’ type thing. I play for the linebackers, I know they’re going to make more plays than I am, so if I can hold up the offensive line the linebackers can eat off me.”
On the feeling in the huddle when the team starts to dominate…
“The last game at halftime we told ourselves to stay positive because we’ve been in this position before. We never wavered, we never fault ourselves, we just wanted to come out strong and make sure we stop them. Obviously, their offense made a lot of plays, but at the end of the day we just wanted to have one more point than they did.”