UGA Football: Frierson Chats With Channing Tindall

Channing Tindall has an energy about him. When he walks in the room, you immediately get the sense that he’s happy to be there and happy to talk about anything and everything.

Tindall, a senior inside linebacker from Columbia, S.C., and the rest of the No. 2-ranked Georgia football team were certainly happy after last Saturday’s season-opening 10-3 win over then-No. 3 Clemson in the Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charlotte, N.C. The defense held the Tigers without a touchdown and to just 2 rushing yards. Tindall had three tackles in the win.

By Monday, of course, Georgia had turned its attention to Saturday’s home opener against UAB. During a Quick Chat after practice Tuesday, Tindall talked about moving on mentally to the next game, his mom’s cooking, attending Georgia after growing up in Gamecocks country, and much more. Here’s some of what he had to say:

Frierson: How long does the good feeling of a win over a team like Clemson stick around?

Tindall: That night and that Sunday, it’s really good. But as soon as Monday comes around, it’s time for the new opponent, it’s time to get ready. You transfer your head — we went over a lot of UAB on Monday, so it’s time to get on to the next team. You can’t soak in the moment, that’s when things start to go wrong.

Frierson: What’s something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?

Tindall: My mother’s Beaufort, S.C., and we are a heavy seafood family, so crab legs, calamari, any type of oyster, any type of seafood. I love fried shrimp and calamari, I could eat that every day.

One of my favorites that’s not seafood is Outback’s Kookaburra wings with some bleu cheese. I ask Miss Collier (Director of Football Performance Nutrition Collier Madaleno) every time we cater that food if we can please have some Kookaburra wings with bleu cheese.

Frierson: How are you in the kitchen? Can you cook?

Tindall: I cook a little bit, a man’s meal, pasta [laughs]. I love that spaghetti, meatloaf, some rice, love beans, but nothing too huge. I’m still learning.

Frierson: When did you know that football was for you and that you had a future in it beyond being a good high school player?

Tindall: I want to say that when I was around 6 years old, my father took me out to the football field. They just wanted me to do extracurricular activities so I wouldn’t just stay at home, and I was like, no, I just want to stay home, why are you making me do this?

I went out there and I tried it, and I actually didn’t like it. After a couple of days I was like, I’m going to just stick with it and see if I like it. Then the games start coming around and I was an offensive lineman back then, so it wasn’t as enjoyable for me. But then I moved to defense and I played defensive end. That’s when I was like, OK, this is something I could start doing. That’s when the change happened for me.

Doing from Pop Warner to middle school, I was like, what do I have to do to make this team? I’m willing to do anything. My dad used to take me out to North Springs Park, close to my area in Columbia, and we used to practice constantly, every day. It stuck with me all the way through high school and it helped get me to this point.

Frierson: What other sports did you play growing up?

Tindall: People tried me at everything just to see what I like so I’ve done swimming, tennis, soccer, track and field. One of my favorites outside of football was track and field, doing the shot put and discus, and I liked tennis. I might play tennis during the offseason; my dad and my grandfather were big recreational tennis players.

Frierson: Who is the funniest guy on the team? And maybe I need to adjust that to, who is the funniest guy on the team besides Jordan Davis?

Tindall: Ahh, that’s who I was going to pick [laughs]. JD is definitely No. 1 but if I had to choose outside of JD, this is going to be biased but I’m going to say (fellow inside linebacker) Rian Davis. He is hilarious to me. We’re very close and spend a lot of time together in the inside linebacker room, and being funny just comes naturally to him. It’s not anything he has to think about, he’s just funny.

Frierson: Do you have a play that stands out in your mind, from any sport, as the best play or favorite play you’ve ever made?

Tindall: A big play that sticks out in my mind when you first asked me that was my freshman year when we played Alabama. They put me in the game and I got a sack against Tua (Tagovailoa). That really stuck out to me because during my freshman year I was really trying to work hard, and I finally felt like I got my opportunity and helped the team out.

Frierson: When you grow up in an SEC city and you go to another SEC school, is there blowback from your decision? Did you hear about it a lot from people around Columbia?

Tindall: I hear it from people to this day. We just went against Clemson and it was like, “Good luck tonight but I’m going for Clemson,” so it’s not just Columbia, it was Clemson too.

I feel like you’re going to get that everywhere, going from school to school, but it’s nothing I’m worried about. I made the decision I thought was best for me. I didn’t want to stay home; I felt like I’d been in Columbia and wanted to see and experience something else.

(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He’s also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.