UGA Football: Frierson Chats With Zamir White

10/28/2020

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.

(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.