UGA Football: Frierson Chats With Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint
Staff Writer
The Georgia football team’s 15-0 run last season to the College Football Playoff national championship wasn’t wide receiver Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint’s first taste of perfection. But it was his favorite.
As a senior at Florida football powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Rosemy-Jacksaint and the Raiders went 14-0 to capture the Class 7A state championship. In the fourth quarter of their 28-23 win over Edgewater in the title game, Rosemy-Jacksaint caught the go-ahead touchdown, and later sealed the win with an interception.
So which perfect season was better in Rosemy-Jacksaint’s eyes? Which was more meaningful or fun? And what has he done with all of his championship rings?
During a Quick Chat after practice Tuesday, the fourth-year wideout from Pompano Beach, Fla., talked about all of that and more, including why the best play of his career was his 32-yard touchdown catch against Florida as a freshman in 2020. Yes, that’s the same play during which he suffered a gruesome ankle injury.
Here’s some of what he had to say:
Frierson: What have you done with all of your rings? Are they back home? Do you have a big display set up somewhere?
Rosemy-Jacksaint: The first pair (earned during the 2021 season), those are back home with my mom. The second pair (from 2022) is home with me, in Athens.
Frierson: How nice is it to be able to say “first pair” and “second pair” when you’re talking about championship rings? Not a lot of people win anything.
Rosemy-Jacksaint: [Laughs] It’s a blessing. It’s a really humbling feeling to know that you and your teammates, with all of the work that you put in for the whole year, we went out and did something special. And then we went back-to-back. I’m incredibly thankful for it.
To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about any national championships when I thought about going to college. I was just thinking about going to college, getting my degree, playing, and going to the league (NFL). National championships, nattys, they didn’t cross my mind. To be able to accomplish that is crazy.
Frierson: How does that feel now as you guys get ready to try to win another one?
Rosemy-Jacksaint: It’s definitely out there, but it’s dangerous thinking about a three-peat when we haven’t even played a game. We’re not even 1-0, we’re 0-0, so we can’t even think about a three-peat. We’ve got to think about UT-Martin first, the first game. As a matter of fact, we can’t even think about UT-Martin, we’ve got to think about practice tomorrow.
That’s where my head has been at this whole time, really trying to focus on making ourselves better. We don’t think we’re at where we’re supposed to be right now. We have a lot of work to do still, and that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to get better.
Frierson: You went undefeated your senior year of high school, you guys in 2021 won Georgia’s first national championship since 1980, and you went undefeated last season. Did one of those feel better than the other? I know you’re close with the guys on the team here, but you might have been playing at St. Thomas Aquinas with guys you’ve known your whole life, so I could see that potentially being more special.
Rosemy-Jacksaint: They’re all really good, but that first natty one is different. Just the story of Georgia, which hadn’t won a national championship for 40 years, and we beat Alabama, which made it so much sweeter. The natty is definitely better than the high school (title).
Frierson: What was the highlight of your summer?
Rosemy-Jacksaint: I went to Six Flags for the first time [laughs]. I’d never been to Six Flags; it was cool. It’s not like Disney World, but it was cool. … They’ve got this one ride, the Goliath, that thing’s a monster. I love roller-coasters, I love adrenaline, but I don’t like heights.
I don’t like planes; we fly all the time, so whenever we fly, I try to pull my hoodie on, put my headphones in and go to sleep. I can’t look out the window, nothing. I just try to imagine we’re in the car, just driving down the road [laughs].
Frierson: Were you a track guy in high school?
Rosemy-Jacksaint: I did track one year — hated it. Couldn’t stand it; too much running [laughs]. They wanted me to run the 400, the hurdles, the 4×400 (relay), plus I was triple jumping and long jumping.
Frierson: You’re a guy that’s very athletic, I think we can all agree on that, so how were you at the triple jump? Have you ever felt more unathletic in your life than you did while learning how to do the triple?
Rosemy-Jacksaint: When I first tried, it did have me feeling like, wow, I can’t do it [laughs]. It’s a hard jump.
Frierson: On my most athletic day ever, I doubt I could have even made it to the sand.
Rosemy-Jacksaint: It’s so hard. I think I only jumped like 40 feet, and that’s nothing. That’s nothing. State champions are jumping like 52 feet. (According to Wikipedia, the national boys high school triple jump record is 54 feet 10 inches.)
They’ve got 12 (or 14) feet on me — that’s crazy.
Frierson: What is the best athletic moment of your life?
Rosemy-Jacksaint: I think it was my freshman year, when I broke my ankle on that touchdown against Florida. Just because when I was coming into college, I didn’t really think that I was going to play a lot. … When I worked my way up to being second-string, I was like, whoa! Then it was Kentucky week, and George (Pickens) got hurt, and the coaches told me that I was starting. …
The following week was Florida week, and they told me I was starting. And I scored my first touchdown on that play. I feel like that was the best sports moment of my life. It just proved to myself that I was able to get here and play as a freshman, like I said I wanted to. Just I was a little kid, I said I wanted to play as a freshman.
I’ll be honest, I was blown away. But THEN [laughs] …
Frierson: I was watching the play when the touchdown and the bad injury happened, and I haven’t watched it since. I don’t want to see it.
Rosemy-Jacksaint: It was nasty. It was a great play, third down, third-and-8 … and I ran my route, and sure enough, I was wide open. The only thing I was saying was, I hope Stetson (Bennett) sees me. He saw me [laughs].
Frierson: Can you watch that play?
Rosemy-Jacksaint: Oh, yeah, I watch it all the time. Whenever I start to get a big head or start to feel like I’m not being humble, I can go look at that video. It makes me come back down to earth.
(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.