With it being Florida Hate Week, at the midpoint, you’ve probably already seen plenty of storylines surrounding the histories that players like Stetson Bennett and Nolan Smith have with this game. The fact that those two grew up so close to the matchup made it mean all the more to them growing up, and now that they’re the ones on the field, they can dictate their own story and leave their mark and all that jazz. 

That’s all good and great, but the truth is not every player grew up with that kind of attachment to this historic rivalry. 

Third year starting left tackle Broderick Jones admitted yesterday that he didn’t even really get into watching football until his 10th or 11th grade year and that for most of his life he thought he was going to be a basketball player.

“I really wasn’t that big into college football growing up. I’m not even gonna lie, so I was really more of a basketball type of player,” Jones said.

But even though Jones wasn’t made accustomed to the Georgia-Florida rivalry until his late high school/ college days, he definitely understands it now and what it means to his teammates and the fans.

While everyone wants to make it about the opponent right now, Jones assured us that all you have to do is focus on yourself saying, “It’s all really about you though.”

Jones puts trust into his technique to make sure he’s doing his part to help his team execute because at the end of the day physicality and tempo “all starts with the o-line” he said. 

It doesn’t take too much to understand the hatred that these two teams have for each other, and even though Jones was more recently introduced to it, that’s not the route he’s chosen to take going about this rivalry. Much like the mantra we’ve seen from the team as a whole this season, it’s all about focusing on yourself and how you can get better so the team can get better. 

It doesn’t matter what opponent is scheduled that week. Every time the Georgia Bulldogs take the field, they’re prepared to beat themselves and do better than they did last week. Jones’ interview spoke to that yesterday.