UGA Football: Frierson Chats With Funniest Man on the Team – Jordan Davis

As we sat for an interview in the Georgia offense’s team meeting room after practice Tuesday, senior nose tackle Jordan Davis, sporting some gym shorts from his days at Mallard Creek High School in Charlotte, N.C., looked happy and at ease. As he revealed during our Quick Chat, he is.

Davis is a 6-foot-6 and 340-pound irresistible object and unstoppable force — and that’s just his engaging personality. Whenever his playing days are done, Davis could go on to a great career talking football on television. Or maybe he could wind up on “Saturday Night Live.” Always regarded by his teammates as one of the funniest Bulldogs, Davis said he was more interested in sketch comedy than trying stand-up.

The preseason All-American is one of the leaders of the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs’ defense, a unit that didn’t give up a touchdown until last Saturday against South Carolina, in the 12th quarter of the season. When Georgia opened the season by beating Clemson 10-3 in the Dukes Mayo Classic in Charlotte, it was a very special experience for the hometown kid, a three-star recruit who has gone on to become one of the best defensive players in the country.

During our Quick Chat, Davis talked about playing in his hometown, being funny, appreciating the small things in life, and much more. Here’s some of what he had to say:

Frierson: You were a three-star recruit coming out of high school, you come to Georgia, and four years later you were one of the best players on the field in your hometown as the defense led the Bulldogs to a win over Clemson. Now that it’s been a few weeks, how does it feel when you look back on that?

Davis: It was amazing, honestly. Going home, even beforehand, the anticipation, it was exciting. Just going home with my team and being there with my teammates was fun. Just being there was really special.

It was one of those games where you couldn’t go home and lose — I couldn’t go home and lose — so I just wanted to put everything I could out there. Having my team and the defense play light-out, I was like, whoa. It was surreal, crazy, and it’s crazy to think about even after the fact. I definitely had a ton of fun playing that game and a ton of fun playing these games since.

Frierson: You strike me as someone that’s going to find a way to have a ton of fun doing just about anything. Have you always been that way?

Davis: I would say since middle school. In middle school I went through a little rough patch — you’re growing up and you have growing pains — but I’d say around eighth or ninth grade is when something clicked. I was like, you know what, let me find the joy in the little things.

I always say “small victories.” Every day is not going to be your best day so you have to find those small victories, whether that’s talking to a friend or giving a compliment. I’m a believer in good karma so I try to do good things, and hopefully good things return to me. That’s pretty much my mindset on life. I try to take things day by day and try to enjoy the little moments, because you never know when it’s going to be gone.

Frierson: When I do these with your teammates I always ask who the funniest guy on the team is, and most of them say that you are. So I’ll ask you, who do you think is the funniest guy on the team?

Davis: I don’t know, that’s a hard question.

Frierson: Are you the funniest guy on the team?

Davis: I don’t want to say myself [laughs]. I think I’m the funniest person ever but I have to choose someone else. Micah is funny, Micah Morris, he’s a funny guy. He did a little skit about me at the freshman thing and it was unbelievable.

Micah’s definitely one of my personal favorites. Jalen Carter’s one of my personal favorites. Vonte (Devonte Wyatt) is also really funny.

Frierson: More than one of your teammates has said they thought you could be a stand-up comedian. Has that ever crossed your mind?

Davis: I wouldn’t say stand-up, I’m more of a sketch comedy kind of guy. I could try my hand at it, I wouldn’t mind.

Frierson: Would you want to take some of those improv classes?

Davis: I think I’m a good improv guy but I do think sketch comedy is more my kind of speed. I don’t even think I’m funny, I just say stuff that comes to my mind. It’s just one of those things that people find funny.

Frierson: I have no doubt that you’d be good on TV talking about football when you’re playing days are over, so is that something you’re already thinking about a little?

Davis: I wouldn’t mind that, at all. I just have to apply myself.

Frierson: You’d be a natural.

Davis: Yeah, but I heard it’s not as easy as just talking. I guess I’d have a little bit more experience to see if that’s something I’d want to do. It seems like something fun when my playing days are over.

Frierson: During your appearance at SEC Media Days you talked about eating better and adjusting your diet. I’ve also talked with you in the past about your love of Swedish Fish. So what is your diet like here in the heart of the season? Are you just trying to maintain your weight at this point?

Davis: I’m trying to maintain. I’m always trying to lean out, I do want to get a six-pack at some point, but I still love Swedish Fish. I always have some on game days. I feel like that’s my little good-luck charm, a little boost-me-up. But I’ll tell you one thing, Nerds Gummy Clusters, they’re new but they’re getting up there now. The Very Berry flavor. Swedish Fish has my heart, always, but there’s a new challenger approaching.

Frierson: Do you have a creative side? Is there anything creative you do or wish you could do?

Davis: I’m trying to get into the music scene, trying my hand at that. Shout out to Bill Norton, he put me on that. Just making beats and making music. I was actually talking to him about getting a microphone because I want to start putting lyrics down.

I don’t want to make music, per se, but I do want to produce and engineer and do all the stuff behind the scenes. It’s definitely something productive and it keeps me away from football and not doing anything, just sitting there playing video games. It’s something I enjoy doing when I take the time to unwind.

Frierson: You strike me as a guy that has interesting tastes, so is there an artist or a type of music you listen to that would surprise people?

Davis: I would say The Neighbourhood. It’s kind of like a pop band but it’s fresh, it’s nice. I try to listen to music from all genres — if it’s good I’ll listen to it. I try to expand my horizons and not just listen to one or two genres, I want to explore a lot.

There’s a sub-genre that I listen to called post-punk. It’s like a grimy feel, like a grunge type of punk song. There’s a dude in Russia that had a song that blew up on TikTok and it was pretty interesting. That’s something that I’m trying to dive deeper into. I’m definitely not limited to rap or pop or country. I like digging into the not-so-talked-about genres of music.

Frierson: If you’ve got 20 minutes to kill before a meeting or whatever, what are you going to do to pass the time? Are you on your phone or catching a quick nap?

Davis: It depends if I’m tired or not. If I’m tired, I’ll try to take a quick nap. The thing for me is, it’s hard for me to fall asleep quickly, but once I’m out, I’m out. I’ll probably be on my phone, talk with teammates, just chill, watch TikToks. TikTok is a big thing that I do — I can spend hours on it, honestly, because it’s never-ending.

Talking with teammates is cool, too. I’ll talk with Kendall (Milton), Rian Davis, all the other players on my row (in the locker room), just talking about life and whatever’s going on, whatever’s funny. Any given day it could be something different.

Frierson: That leads to me this, you seem to be someone that really loves a lot of the college experience. Did you expect that when you came to college or has this been way more fun and fulfilling than you expected?

Davis: I came to college scared. I was like, man, I don’t know what to expect. Everything seems so new and I’ve never been away from my mom for this long. The longest time I’d ever been away from my mom was probably a week, so being here you get homesick and everything. But then you start finding your way, start finding friends, my roommates at the time, and you start getting comfortable.

The experiences I shared with guys like Channing Tindall and Tommy Bush and Adam Anderson, those are golden. You can’t replace that. No matter where we go, we’ll always be connected and we’ll always have love for each other. It’s just one of those things where you’re super grateful. I’m super grateful for the experiences that I never expected — I never expected it to be like this.

Somebody asked me: is your life looking like how you thought it was going to look in sixth grade? If sixth grade me saw me right now, he would be like, bro, I can’t believe it. I don’t have everything in the world, but I’m really content, like really content with my life right now.

Some days are good and some days are bad, but I wouldn’t trade it, I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything. I’m just super grateful, super grateful to even be in this position and to even be at this place at this time. It’s amazing. It’s crazy to think about even now — like, wow.

(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.