Field Street Forum

By John Frierson
Staff Writer

Warren Ericson did not disappoint in his first career start on Georgia’s offensive line, lining up at right guard in the Bulldogs’ Sugar Bowl win over Baylor. The redshirt sophomore also didn’t disappoint during a Quick Chat after practice Wednesday.

The 6-foot-4 and 305-pound Ericson, from Suwanee, Ga., covered a lot of ground in a nine-minute phone interview. He talked about fishing on the Chattahoochee River, his days playing soccer (his brother Peyton played at South Carolina) and lacrosse — which may explain his good footwork — and when asked what kind of meal he’d cook for some teammates, Ericson gave a delicious and highly-detailed answer.

Here’s some of what he had to say:

Frierson: Have you done anything new or interesting over the past five months?

Ericson: Obviously, being quarantined, it’s a little bit tough to get out and be with friends, which is something I like to do. I would definitely say that getting to spend some good time with my family was really nice. I also got to go and experience a little bit of the outdoors — I live right next to the Chattahoochee River, so I got to fish a little bit there.

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Georgia players Kearis Jackson and Warren Ericson spoke with media Wednesday afternoon. They offered the following comments.

#10 Kearis Jackson | Redshirt Sophomore | WR
On how he feels going into camp…
“So far I know coming into camp, I was dealing with a few injuries and stuff but now I’m healthy, I’m 100 percent. My main goal coming into camp was to be a leader and just pull guys with me along because I know myself, and I know how it feels to be brought down. I want guys to be able to come in and work hard, play hard and play fast. This fall so far we’ve been doing that on offense and everything has gone pretty smooth.”

On how learning the offense has gone over zoom…
“Well we started the zoom meetings in like February or January, I can’t remember, but I must say the offense, the receivers, the quarterbacks, running backs and linemen have all done a great job up to this point learning the offense. Guys are now playing fast, we have guys in the right positions to make place and Coach Monken, I love the way he’s bringing in the offense. He loves to see guys make plays and if you can make plays you can play for him. So far the whole offense has done a great job. It’s day three of practice and we’ve been doing a great job, especially with the volume of new offense we have that’s new to us. We’ve taken it pretty well by coming in and wanting to learn and wanting to get better. We’ve faced a little adversity by missing spring but now since we have it in front of us, it’s go time. It hasn’t been too much of a situation that’s become a big deal. Like I said though, we’ve done a great job in fall camp.”

On what he thinks it will be like playing in a stadium with limited capacity…
“We have to control what we can control. We have to bring our own energy. I know the stadium won’t be as full but, like I said, we have to bring our own energy. The fans aren’t there, like at practice, so we have to bring our own energy. On gameday, there won’t be any fans there, but we’re there. We’re focused on the game and yes we love the fans but we have to control what we can control.”

#50 Warren Ericson | Redshirt Sophomore | OL
On what it is like having a new quarterback voice in the huddle…
“We have a lot of talent. All of our quarterbacks are great leaders and they’re all stepping up to the plate. Each person is different and it doesn’t take too much adjustment. We just have to do what we do as an offensive line and just keep them off their backs.”

On what he took away from his opportunity to compete in the Sugar Bowl to bring into this upcoming season…
“I honestly took it as a learning experience. It was a great opportunity and I loved every single second of it. It was definitely a learning experience. Some say I played well and I thank them for that, but I want to focus on the things I did not do well and I want to improve on those. Hopefully the things that I can improve on can be translated to this upcoming season. I want to play fast and I want to continue to just get my fits right. Playing low, leverage, getting my feet right. I just want to get my technique as crisp as possible.”

On if anything changes for the offensive line when a new offensive coordinator comes in…
“I wouldn’t say that it’s too much different for me. Football is football in my view. As far as pass blocking and the techniques, we’ve been able to adjust to them and his offense and he’s done a great job of coming in and teaching his offense and getting in our brains. We just have to go out there and execute.”

The following are supplemental comments from J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Greg McGarity and senior deputy athletic director Josh Brooks as follow up to stadium capacity and ticket distribution.

On whether the decision to allow tailgating has been decided/if not, when the public can expect that decision…
“Well, we outline in our note to our donors that we’ll make that decision a little bit later. I know Alabama has already come out and said no tailgating— Arkansas has, as well— but we’re going to wait and see. We don’t have to make that decision right now but certainly as we near the first game, we’ll make those decisions about tailgating. We will just wait and make that decision a little bit later.”

On what the status is of the Dawg Walk and whether that will take place…
“We don’t know yet. To practice social distancing, that’s not really conducive to the Dawg Walk, as we know it today. It’s really the only way our team can get into the stadium now, so I’m sure that will be modified in some degree. We just haven’t zeroed in on those plans for when we start in October.”

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