189. TE Lawson Luckie: From Late-Bloomer to University of Georgia Star

Welcome to the Pure Athlete Podcast, where we sit down with notable athletes, top coaches, and leading experts to share valuable insights, advice, and inspiring stories. Whether you're a parent, coach, or a young athlete, our goal is to help you thrive in the rewarding and often challenging world of youth sports. Enjoy the show! Hey, this is Brit and don't skip through this ad because we've got something special coming to the Pure Athlete Podcast that I want to tell you about. Have you ever listened to a topic on this podcast and thought, "Well, that's great information, but I sure wish I could talk directly with you guys about the real situation I'm going through with my kid, or maybe with another parent or even a coach." Well, now you can on the Pure Athlete call-in show. Yep, you heard it right. We're going to start taking calls from some of you to talk about real situations, you're going through, and to talk not just about the problems, but also to discuss solutions. We think these conversations are going to be super beneficial to sports parents and coaches everywhere, and we can't wait to get started. If you're interested in talking to us on air, go to pureathlete.com/call to learn more about how to connect. That's pureathlete.com/call. We can't wait to hear from you. Hey guys, Jeff here. From the first days of youth baseball to the college recruiting process, there's a lot for baseball players, coaches, and parents to figure out along the way. That's why we created Pure Athlete Baseball, your youth baseball masterclass. Pureathlete Baseball gives you access to hundreds of micro lessons from an extensive lineup of current and former MLB stars, like Bobbywood Jr., Chipper Jones, and Chris Sale, along with the top college coaches like Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin, Georgia Tech's James Ramsey, and Auburn's Butch Thompson. Plus, you'll get insights and advice from experts in recruiting, mental performance, arm care, player development, and much more. With new content added every month, learn from people who know what it takes to succeed in every area of the baseball journey, all for just $9.99 a month or less than $100 a year. That's less than the cost of one hitting or pitching lesson. To join or learn more, head to pureathlete.com/baseball. Again, that's pureathlete.com/baseball. I promise you'll be glad you did. Welcome back to the Pureathlete podcast. I'm Britt. I'm here with Brad. Man, we've had kind of a cool week. Well, first of all, Jeff's missing. So we got to acknowledge the fact that. Do we really need to? You think people notice? He's going to know. He's going to know, he's going to mention that he's not here, I guess. Yeah, he had actually his son's birthday, and they're having an extravaganza today. Of course they are. And that couldn't be with us. Our audience will learn who our guest is in just a moment, and we were kind of limited on when we could get him. Yeah, so for good reason. So we're playing next man up, right? The JV's here, I guess, maybe. Yeah. So we had a cool week this week. There was a cool week, man. Spent a couple of days in New York at the ESPN headquarters at the Take Back Youth Sports Summit, and we were just, we were joking at launch, man, four years ago filmed our first episode here in the basement of Britt's house, the studio, and kind of the humble beginnings, and who would have thought four years later we'd be one of the keynote panelists at an ESPN summit, and it was really, really great experience. They treated us really, really well, and I thought it was awesome. Yeah, we were really blessed to be there in large part because of the folks who are tuning in. Exactly. In our audience. So thanks so much for spreading the word about pure athlete, and there's a lot to unpack from that summit that we want to talk about, but we'll do that next week when we're all three together. And with that, because we've got a great guest today, we want to jump right in, and we have a guy who is playing at the pinnacle of college football right now, and we're super excited that he's actually in an off week, which is the only way we got him in here, and he's in studio because he lives right around the corner from where we do. So we just want to introduce Lawson Lucky, and welcome you to the show. Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm glad we could make this work. Same, same. For those of you who don't know, Lawson plays for the University of Georgia, and tight in there, and all kind of accolades, scored a had to touchdown catch last week. Yeah. Against Auburn, we'll get into that a little bit. Probably probably a good memory in the midst of not a great memory, and we'll get into that just a little bit. But there's so much we want to talk to you about Lawson. But first of all, I think you had a birthday this week from when I did big 22. Yeah, was that good to have it during an off week? It really, it falls on it every year for the Florida game. So like it's always good to look forward to, but getting up there, man. Yeah, you look really aging. All the kids on the team, like I said, how old are you, Vanley, like 2021, like 22, bro? Did you guys support guys on the team, though, probably right? Not really like how it used to be. Not a ton of seniors, and only like two or three, 50 years. It's a few amount of us left. Those guys were wise. Yeah. Well, so you had, you know, we won't go delve too much into last week. But one thing that that I think our fans always, our fans, your fans, not our fans want to know in terms of how do you deal with a loss? I mean, how hard is it to get over a regular season loss? Obviously, if it's a playoff loss, it's more like, you know, you play on a Saturday, and he has obviously a great game, tough, tough way to lose. But like, how do you process it? How quickly can you get over it? Is it really kind of the coaches or pushing you to kind of move on to the next game? How do y'all do that? We, first of all, for your answer, we probably should be asking somebody who loses a lot. I know. Yeah, I know. He didn't have a lot of experience with it. Yeah, the one time of year you lose, how do you process it? Well, it's, it's, I was on both sides of it. So it's so different now, in college football, compared to the four team playoff, first to 12 teams. Like, I remember my freshman year, Georgia, we backed up, coming off back to back NADDs, undefeated regular season, we go on the SCC championship and like, the way I've seen Georgia in the past couple of years, like Georgia doesn't lose. And then the Alabama game, when we lost SCC championship, like, it doesn't feel real. That was like earth shattering. And we got left out of the playoffs and like, that's really tough to deal with. Yeah, honestly. But like, now, like, it's, it's a different state of college football. And um, it's getting closer to the NFL every year. And you just got to be able to handle those losses better than other people, because no one's really coming out of this thing undefeated, especially in the SCC. I know Indiana did it last year, but the regular season is a little bit different down where we play at. It's so much parity. We know it's so many one-score games, and like, we just happened to come out on the wrong side of one this time. We was talking in the media last week, and it was like, we've escaped these so many times. It's like, it's gonna bite us in the butt eventually. Yeah. And it did. So like, the biggest thing is just not changing the process. Yeah. And just coming back to it and like, being like the same leader you would as a, in a loss, as opposed to you would be in a win, like, you can't switch up. And the worst thing you can do is just start that internal fighting, you know, like we need to lead as the band together. And we honestly have done a great job of that. So I'm not worried about this team at all. Yeah, I was going to ask you, you just brought up the word leader. And you said you're one of the oldest guys on the team. You've been around for a while now. So what, you know, how do you take that upon yourself to shepherd some of the younger guys in a situation like this? Yeah. I mean, I think it's a great compliment, honestly being able to do so. And I take it upon myself to really connect with the guys. I think that's a huge thing. But like, I've also had leaders come before me that showed a great job. And I feel like that's a little bit of my job to show the younger guys too, what it takes to keep this thing going on. Cause like, I love the University of Georgia. I want to keep thriving years and years after I'm gone. I feel like it's my job a little bit to also bring the team along as far as I can with there's a lot of guys doing what I do on the team. There's some great leaders, but like I owe it to the young guys too to show them the way because we need them to contribute for us this year and in the years following. How is the team like you said, it's changed a little bit because you had COVID, you had so many guys staying longer. Does it feel different now? Like in terms of like the team makeup, you said it's a lot younger, but is college football feel different? Is it because like for a while you had guys staying for five and six years and things like that? Or is it about the same as what was me first came into it? It's fairly similar. I mean, the age thing is different, but I think Kirby does such a good job of not letting. I wouldn't say the disease of NIO, but it's infected a lot of locker rooms across the country and a lot of players. And I think Kirby does a great job of leading that out. So it's not as much of a topic as much as you would think. And as opposed to years past, like it was younger early in my career. Cause it was so new. Yeah, exactly. How does he do? How does he do that? Like what's what you don't have to get us to secret sauce too much? But how I mean, it does seem, and this is even as a tech fan saying this, it does seem that you guys have kind of risen above that whole culture. It seems like it still feels like an old school college football culture. What does he do that kind of that really kind of in parts that on you guys? I think the biggest thing, like a small thing that we do in the locker room is like we don't talk about it. As like opposed to years past, like people would be talking about it. And then when you know he's making and he's making and then this guy's mad at this. And and that's just compounds into, okay, I'm not practicing anymore. Yeah, like, well, I'm not going to go hard anymore. It's just like that's not a thing anymore. And like we don't really care about that as much like we want to win with these guys. And we care about making the actual connection. And like we care so much about like actually being a brotherhood. And like, cause we all love football. But a lot of stuff can get in the way of that. We try not to let that get in the way and like let the main thing be the main thing. That's cool. That's cool. We want to dive into, you know, your youth sports story here in a second. But before we do, I want to ask you one thing that a lot of a lot of people are interested in. We said already you're in your off week, same week every year just about. How important is an off week to you? And what do you guys do in your off week? I mean, you truly offer the whole week. What does it look like? - Well, it can be good and bad. We talked about it a lot. Like when we played Auburn, they were coming off a bi-week. And it's just like that can be to your advantage or disadvantage. So you have opportunity to either grow as a team or get worse and it's easy to relax on your bi-week and then it takes a while to get back going. I mean, you just don't want to be that team. You want to be able to attack it as best you can. And then when it comes to actually being off, it's different than what it used to be. It's kind of changed every year. This year I would say we took it back a little less just 'cause like the seven game gone. It's been a lot that we've been through. We've been banged up and I think we needed that. But like when it's time to work, like we were working. - So let's talk a little bit about your origin stories, I say, if you've been a native of North Cross your whole life? - Basically yeah, born in Nashville but we moved down here when I was young, we lived right up the road. - Yeah. - Island of Luth but moved to North Cross. - So are you playing like the North Cross youth leagues? Like Picneyville, like where were you? - Yeah, baseball, yes. - Yeah, I was Picneyville. Football played in Murphy, Candler. - Okay. - And then moved to playing in North Cross and Haythgrad. - So you were always like the best play on your teams? - Not even close. - Really? - I really struggled in football till like about seventh eighth grade. - So what do you, like why did you struggle? - Well, first of all, I was like a bigger kid so I wasn't even allowed to play a skill position. We had like the blue stripe for the jubbie kids. So I couldn't even carry football. So I was aligning from the jump. And like it just honestly didn't click with me early on. Like I always wanted to play football like I loved the sport, like I loved watching it from a young age and I thought it was the coolest thing. Like my dad was a football player. And so like that's what I wanted to do but I really struggled with it early on. And then I just kind of like grew into my body and I became more athletic like seventh grade. I was decent than eighth grade. When I went to Norkross that was probably when I started to actually turn things around. - So I kind of love that because we talk on this show a lot. Kids are getting serious more, I mean earlier than ever before. And parents are all in and they get concerned about their eight year old who's not one of the best players. And we're always talking about, you really don't know what you have until after puberty. And it sounds like you kind of live that. - So my dad's just always telling me, oh my gosh, it's so many times. So many times, he never really worried about it. Even in baseball like I wouldn't make the teams like I was getting better every year and he was always telling me like just wait. I just wait, I promise, just wait. Like I didn't do like the travel football or any of that stuff like it was, you play part ball and that's it, play baseball, travel but like we're not doing like all the ton of the extra stuff. Like I was kind of just like a kid and then he just kind of learned to grow into it. - Dude, I love that. - So your dad played at Georgia and your uncle's played at Georgia. Where's your dad? I mean you're 64, right? So is your dad really big? - No, he's like six foot, six one. - I got it, my mom's really tall there. - My mom's tall? - Yeah. - But he had no guarantees you're gonna be 64. - No, but he was patient. - Yeah, you're gonna be a ball player, you're gonna be a ball player. It's not like, I still love you. You know what I'm gonna like beat you up. All the only thing my dad ever cared about was like effort. He didn't care about any performance, anything. The only thing he would get mad about if I was like being lazy or like if I like shied away from something. That was the only thing. And like that was never really a problem. - Yeah. - So for you yourself though, you're on the field, you love this sport and you're playing on the O-line or D-Line and was it, did you ever get frustrated as a kid or you ever? - Sure, but I like I felt myself getting better. Like I know it was fun. I mean, there are definitely a couple of times like playing like older kids. I just get to destroy it, I'm like, I mean I was always competitive, I was always fine with losing 'cause I knew I'd come right back. So that didn't really bother me. - When did you just kind of decide you wanted to play football, like what age? - From the jump honestly. - From the first time I started playing, yeah. - That was one of your first sports. - I mean, yeah, my dad just always like, honestly told me to get him to play football. - Really? - 'Cause I like baseball. He's like, I think my dad just kind of knew how tough it is to make him baseball. And he's like, he's like, I don't know how we knew. We just kind of focused on it. - Yeah. - But you played another thing. - Yeah, I played baseball and I played basketball for a couple years, but I was terrible. (laughing) And that was after puberty. - Yeah, you didn't have a chance there. - So you knew for a fact that I wasn't gonna work. - So what we've asked this to a ton of athletes, when did that light bulb go off to like, yeah, my dad, my dad was right. I think I can play college football, like what age is that? - I honestly just always believed him. Like I'd always thought it was gonna be like that. People always like would ask like how surreal was it getting your first offer, like it, and it was. Like I just always kind of felt like that's what I was gonna do, honestly. - So tell us what that first offer was and what it was like. - It was my sophomore year and it was Georgia Tech and Georgia in the same day. - Oh man. - Which tech had been like a day, or I'm sure we had a great shot to get that first one. - Oh, it wasn't a matter. (laughing) - Dad played it Georgia. - Yeah, I know. It was symbolic. - It was. (laughing) - The end. - No, it was awesome though. - Yeah, it really was. But guys, so old, was it in the mail? Was it in, was it a call? - No, yeah, it was over like a connected phone call 'cause that was before you could directly, I was too young to like directly text the coach and it would be like a call through a coach. You'd be on the phone. - Okay. - That's cool. - Did you guys go celebrate or anything like that that night? - No, I was like a Tuesday night and let's get a phone call. And mom, I remember I was in the basement and I came with him and told my mom, she started like, "Bong, crying." - Oh, that's cool. - That's cool. - Okay, there's a lot about recruiting. What do you want to ask you about? - But I want to stick with high school for a second. - So, so your freshman year of high school, I read where you got injured. Tell us about, just tell us about your high school experience because you said that's when you started to kind of blossom. - Yeah. - So what was that like and how did you develop and get better and better and better? What did you do? - Yeah, well like I was always like a, I was a bigger kid coming to high school. But like I never thought I'd like tape RC. My freshman, you know, that sounded like that of hell. Like maybe I could make JV every day. And then coming in, I'm like, I'm playing and I'm like, I'm gonna start for the first game. And then right, literally right, like same thing that happened for my first game of college. I get hurt like two weeks before the first game. It's like the only times in my life I've been hurt has been before my freshman year first game. - Yeah. - So it was just like an elbow thing. I was just out for a little while. And then I came back and had like a decent freshman year. But when it comes to just getting better, like I was always, I don't know, I don't know if it's genetic or whatever. I was just always extremely driven. Honestly, like I loved doing the extra stuff. Like I love to work out. I would be like every year for Christmas, like all I'd ask was like gym equipment. Like that's all I wanted. I would just be in my room, just lifting. I'd go to the park and just run. Like that's just what I wanted to do. Like I wanted to, like I saw myself and who I was and I just wanted to like improve on what I had. Like I wanted to get faster, I wanted to get bigger, I wanted to get stronger. - Was that just about you or were you competitive about that? Like I'm gonna have to work everybody out there. - I think it was a little bit of both. Like I just, I mean, I just had a dream and like committed to it. Like it was never something that I felt was unattainable. It was like I want to be an NFL Hall of Famer. Like that's my goal, that's my dream. Like alright, I'm gonna work to be that. - So did you get extra stuff besides what the team was doing? - Oh, oh my gosh, yes. Like what, it tells. Especially in high school, like in the summer, we would work out in the mornings and there was never a day where I didn't work out at least one or two times more after that. Like never all the way through. It was just always like that. I always just did like double what I had to do. - Parents didn't have to drive you or any of that. - Well, they did before I had my license. - Well, I mean, I was driving like, yeah, no, pushing. - No, no, no, no, that's just how it was. - Yeah, that's cool. - So you had Coach Maloof in North Cross, right? - He was there for a long time, right? - Yeah, he was, he's a legend. - Yeah, he's not there anymore though, he's retired. - No, he retired a little bit after that. - What kind of influence did he have on you? - I think they did such a great job of like coaching me like everyone else. Like I guess in hindsight coming through high school like a kid with a bunch of offers and like a more recognizable name like that doesn't happen every year. But like they wanted me to be the best man I could be and like they always looked out for me and they didn't like let me cut corners which I like. Like if I was in trouble in class like it wasn't, oh, you get away cause you're gonna football like that. Like they were stern on me and I just had coaches around like when I was just like a crappy kid and younger in high school like treating teachers bad and like kids bad like they would always get on me about that. And like that's what I appreciate. - Yeah. - So you guys made it to state semis as a sophomore. - Is that right, who did knock you out? - Grayson. - Ooh, that's a pretty tough match right there. - They got it, they were good. - That if you guys go into college on that team I think. - Yeah, yeah, they definitely did. - So I've since just in a little bit of time we have your humble guy, your family's kept your feet on the ground, we'll dive into that. But I want to ask you to tell us and tell our audience what is a tight end, what are you best at? What are the attributes that make you effective? - I think I'm very knowledgeable about the game. I think that puts me ahead. And I just think I have like a good feel for the game of football. That's been almost a lost heart now as people are great athletes and really twitchy. But not a lot of people are great football players. And I think I just know the game very well and that helps me. Alongside with like the catching and like that stuff, a lot of people have that stuff. - Sure. I read where you feel like route running is one of your strengths, which again, kind of fits into that old knowledge of football. How did you get good at that? - For some reason I was just something that I was obsessed with in high school, was like being able to run routes. Like when I say I was going running, like that's what I was doing. - Oh, okay. - I got videos of me like in my basement is like a ninth grader, like running route. like two in the morning, and like literally in the basement, like on the carpet. Like that's just what I wanted to do, like I wanted to be really good. And for some reason, route running was something, I'm not saying I'm like some route running Savant, like that's just, but that was one thing I definitely worked on most in high school, honestly. - So I, or jumping around a little bit, but just kind of maybe think about that. When you're, when you're preparing as a tight end, when you're preparing during game week, like what are you, what keys are you looking at when you're looking at the other defense? I mean, you're looking at personnel, you're looking at kind of some tells that they may give you, like you could take advantage of, like what's some extra stuff you do during, when you're looking at film? - Yeah, I like to see how certain guys play a lot more than schematic stuff, 'cause like I know base fronts, and I know like what teams basically like their home style is, like what they're gonna do most of the time. But as you're going out, I typically find like I'm kind of just going with the rhythm of the game, but I like to know how a certain player plays, like if I'm getting a certain play call, and I got to run around to win at the end of the game, like I want to know how each player on that defense is going to play me, like, you know, like I don't want to take my time on a guy that's like super aggressive, or someone's super patient, like I need to go, like I can't waste that time when it comes down to a split second. - Are you going up against, are you going against the safety a lot of times or a lineback? - A lot of times safety and nickels. - Yeah, have you, when you watch film, have you looked at somebody go, dang, this is going to be, this is going to be a challenge against this game? - Yeah, I mean, that's good plays every time. I mean, you're at the SC, I guess, as long as you be a good guy. - I thought Notre Dame was actually really good when we played them, 'cause they were in a lot of man, they were some good players. - I'm going to shift gears for a second. Your big brother, and you've got a couple of brothers, you know, and one of them is signed with Georgia, which I'm sure you're excited about. - Yeah, we're roommates. - Oh, okay. He's there now. - Yeah, yeah, okay, why not? - Yeah, I thought he wasn't there yet. - Yeah, no, he got there. Yeah, he got there in January. - Okay. - He's going for you. - Oh, that's got to be cool. - Yeah, yeah. And your other brother, his story has been well-documented. - Yeah. - ESPN did a story on y'all last year, which was really cool. But talk about the influence of them and your family, and all that on who you are, and what that means to you. And what it means to you to be a big brother? - Yeah, it's crazy how it's just like skyrocketed over the past year. Like, cans become like a little celebrity. - Yeah, yeah, that's really cool. - I'm almost telling me that games, like people come up and like taking pictures of them all the time. And it's like, it's crazy, but like, that's just like what we were used to for so long. And then people at ESPN saw it and caught on, and then it became a documentary that went viral. Like, it is a great story. Like, that's just like, I grew up, like, that's my brother, you know? And like, I just learned so many lessons to him. Like, I guess we go back to like, while I was so driven in high school, like, like, you have little stuff that goes in your childhood. There really shapes you. And like, I loved my little brother so much. And seeing him struggle and like, the stuff he went through, like bothered me so much as a kid. And it made me so hungry. It made me want to fight so hard. And I think that's why I worked so hard growing up is like, I would just see the stuff my brother went through. - Yeah. - And that honestly made it easier for me to like, go through the grind and stuff. Because like, that kid is so damn tough. - Yeah. - And he's gone through so much. And it was just such inspiration for me. - Yeah. Yeah. That's really awesome. - Well, so you, so tell me, what of you, what was the best advice you gave your brother? He's rooming with you now. Is he, like, compare his first year Georgia versus your first year Georgia? - Yeah, the biggest thing I want to tell him is like, say yes to things. Like, it's easy to just be tired and go sit in your room and like, let the days pass by. But like, this is such a short little blip of time. Like, like, go hang out with your friends. Stay at the facility lay, like, go out and get dinner like stuff like that. Just like, go and have these experiences. That's why I wanted to do. - How did, what was, what was your aha moment that when you came as a freshman in terms of just, like, what was our moment? We're like, okay, this is college football. This is like, this is a little bit different. And then how did you kind of make your mark or how did you kind of like tell the coaches and other players like, hey, man, I'm going to be pretty serious in comparing this situation. - Honestly, it started. I was really fortunate to go to bowl practice as a freshman. I think that was either the first or second year. That was allowed. But as soon as I graduated high school, I just moved straight on the camps and started practicing like the same day, the next day. - Were you intimidated? - Oh my gosh, yes. We're just undefeated. I go on a nadi run and I'm like a high school kid. Like, I'm confident on myself who, like, that's different level. But I also think that's like a reason I performed so well. I was like, you have that sense of survival. It's like, either I play well or like, I'm going to get embarrassed. So I didn't know what to expect. And like that pace of practice was on, but I'd never cram before my life. And I remember that first practice, like, my calf was just, like, I couldn't even pick it up without locking up. That was so tired. And there's like, I thought it was crazy. There's no water breaks in practice. I'd never heard of that before. How does this work? But that was like a wake-up. And it's like adjusting to the pace of practice was honestly the toughest thing. It's like, you get used to the physicality and all that stuff. Like, you're going to get stronger, but the pace of practice was unbelievable. And then when it turns to just showing, like, I was serious. It's just like, I don't know, just going up there and like doing my thing. I think I was very prepared coming in. Like, I had some traits that just kind of transferred over, like, because being able to be a ball player when the ball is in the air and like, catch the ball and I moved well. I could create separation. So I just kind of put myself in chances to make plays. And then the rest of that is just, like, having some trust in yourself. I can make these plays and like, having some confidence. So you got to have some, some crap to you. Yeah. You had a couple of guys in the tight-end room that were pretty good players. Yeah. What was that like? And what did you learn from those guys? Yeah. Obviously, everyone's going to talk about Brock. Like, they should. Yeah. Like, the kid was unbelievable. It was the most, like, consistent human I ever met in my life. Like, just showed up every day, tried to win everything he did. Like, he's a really great dude to look up to. He's just doing it the next level too. Yeah. Yeah. Right off the bat. I want to go back for a second because we do have a lot more to want to talk about at Georgia, but but we only talked about recruiting for a second. And again, our audience has got a lot of kids that, you know, that want to get to play college football. You said, you're sophomore year, you got your first two offers. You didn't really have to pursue them. They called you. Yeah. Was that the way your whole recruiting journey was? Did you shut it down pretty early? I don't know when, at what point did you commit? And what did that whole process look like for you? Yeah. Well, I committed to Georgia a couple days after the first night in 2021. Okay. But I didn't go public with it for a while. Okay. Um, and honestly, I didn't really shut down my recruitment to like, signing day. Okay. Um, it was a lot of factors to play into it. I felt like I committed a little early and I wanted to open my options and like visit around. Um, and like, I was attracted to other schools. Like, I liked, I thought Notre Dame had some great options to offer and same with Alabama and Ole Miss. Like, you can't really make a wrong choice. Honestly, I love Georgia, but like, there's great options. Other places as well. So I wanted to weigh it all out and just at the end of day, Georgia made the most sense. And I don't think if I went somewhere else, I would have ever forgiven myself for not going to Georgia. Yeah. I think that's what it came down to. Yeah. What advice would you have for kids who are going through that today who, you know, might, might be able to play at a power four type of level? Yeah. Um, I know it's different for every sport. Yeah. But like, when it comes to football, like, keep your options open, but don't just commit to a school off the name. Yeah. Um, like, don't go to a big school just because it's this big school and it sounds so awesome. Like, you want to go to a place where you're actually valued. Like, I think at the end of day, I went to Georgia because Georgia wanted me the most. Um, and everyone says don't commit to a coach. And I think there's truth to that. But you want to go somewhere that actually like wants and values you. Like, you don't want to go somewhere that's just recruiting you as a body because like, that happens in college football. Like, like, people need to hit certain numbers. Um, and at the end of recruiting cycles, like, people are getting recruited to fill a number as opposed to going to a smaller school where they actually really wanted. Um, and I think that's the biggest thing. You got to go somewhere you're valued. Did your parents kind of let you make that decision? I mean, how, how involved were they in the process? No, it was up to me. They would have supported me either way. Even if you got a Georgia Tech. I don't know if I would have been able to last exact with academics. Uh, yeah, I don't know. Um, no, they would have supported me thus you see it. It would have. We have a lot of coaches who listen to us as well. We've had, we've had some great coaches mentioned Sabin and Davo and, and others that we've had on here, Sean McVeigh. And, um, what makes Kirby from your standpoint? What makes him so successful? What makes him a great coach? It's because he confronts everything. Um, he doesn't let anything slip on any day. Like a biweek, for example, like if we have just a walk through on a biweek, where we're going to be in and out, like everything has to be to the standard. And he has, I, which I really respect, like a lot of people kind of skip over that confrontation, because it's easy to not confront someone and just let a slip. Um, he never does that. He can't get it with anything. Um, and I think that's why we're so good, because he has so much attention to detail and he thinks of every possible outcome. I'm curious. Have you ever been on the end of a butt chewing from Kirby? Oh my gosh, yes. And, and have I ever not, but we've all been by practice and heard the microphone. So like, yeah, what, yeah, how do you, and how do you, how do you learn to respond to that? I don't even know if I could say, like half of what he says, I remember a moment, which is was probably the worst. It was Georgia Tech game. last year in the bends and it was like we're doing like we call it four minute offense. We're just trying to run the ball to be able to kneel the game out basically like take time out because we had the lead and it had been a play that we'd never rep live but we've practiced it every Thursday of the year coming no every Friday of the year and our walkthrough and story art is in goal line every single time and this is the last game of the regular season and it's like it's a flip play we flipped out to Josh McCray on the left side but I'm supposed to motion down I'm supposed to crack the end and for some reason I just because you can he has an option to hand it off to and for some reason I saw the guy kind of lagging behind and I'm like I know I'm supposed to crack this in but I think he's gonna hand it off I'm gonna cut him out just dumb over like overthinking sure enough I don't crack him he flips it out the guy goes and makes tackle and we don't get we have to point before I can even turn to look at the runner I swear I'm probably being dramatic I Kirby's like on the numbers I can't even hear wordy saying I just see his lips moving and all I can see in the stadium it was so bad so that was the worst one that's the most mad I've seen him yeah yeah how do you process that that you just kind of like how do you get past the emotional part of that I mean and just get on to like what what he's saying the lesson well I mean with Kirby like it's gonna be a it's gonna be worded in a like a really extreme way but like he is right like he's just like he was frustrated with me he should have been like it was a it could have lost us the game honestly and like I think a big thing is take it however you want like if someone does something like how I did like in that game like it should be memorable like like to know to never do it again like I heard a code say that one time like it wasn't that big of a mistake but I wanted you to remember like memorize it you know so like I think that's what he does a lot of times honestly yeah I mean I would never do it again yeah yeah so yeah I used to be a high school athletic director and so many kids talk about yeah they want to be a college football player they want to be a college basketball player you know but they don't really know kind of what it takes once you get to college can you kind of take us just a typical day in the life of what a college football player in the SEC kind of what you know you can pick a day but you know and just from getting up in the morning to go in the bed kind of what that looks like yeah typical day in the life I'll do like a Wednesday those are probably busier so it's a week up we lift every Wednesday I lift to eight we got three different lift groups either seven eight or ten I'm at eight and then we get done and then go to class well no we have breakfast club before I'm less than five pounds under my goalways so I gotta show up for breakfast club I'm in like e to extra meal so we do that and then lift and then go to class at nine fifty-five I come back I usually try to get some treatment or like get in the red light room and then that's usually when I watch my tape from the previous day and we have these like reels with comments on every play and you watch that and then you try to catch like a half of the game from like film for the team and play in the next week or like a cut up or whatever and then meeting start at 140 meet for about a couple hours and then we're on the field around like four easy off the field somewhere between five and six come back shower eat and then Wednesday's a big film day so we're probably in there to like eight thirty or nine and then it's what I go back and try to knock out whatever homework I have left to find get around to that I don't know what I want to ask you this is such an important and interesting question in this day and age because you've done something that you know isn't done very much anymore and that you're spending your whole career at one school and so many kids are transferring here and there and not thinking that much about the name on the front of their jersey just the one on the back and number one why have you done that and then the second part of that question is going to be you know what do you think you the benefit of that has been for you a couple of couple things like coming into college I I wanted to be the same thing with it with the being driven in high school like I wanted to be a legend at Georgia like that was one of my goals is what I came in with like I dreamed of being like one of the jerseys that like last song like a hersial or like even like a broker-steads and does now like that's what I wanted like that were my goals and I always knew coming in especially like in college early like freshman sophomore year like I knew it's what I wanted I knew I need to be at one school for that and then towards the end like like it things like it gets tempting like there's so many stuff that goes on behind the scenes and like it becomes pretty cutthroat in a way but to me it just came down to like I want to leave a like a lasting legacy like I didn't if I was where to go somewhere else for my last year it's just like no one would remember that like I have one more year and then I tarnished my career at Georgia and then I'm at somewhere else for one year like I just think that kind of tarn I don't think that's fair to me honestly and I thought that it was gonna be really hard this year for my senior year at Georgia I knew that a lot of competition was coming back in the tight end room and I knew it was gonna be hard I knew it probably wasn't even the best decision if I was terms with Jeff Draftock like I could have gone and improved that somewhere else maybe but I think coming out of Georgia my senior year I would be a better player first of all then if I went somewhere else and just walked into a starting role and I think I was gonna come out a better man so let's went into it I think if I was able to weather this storm this year I think it would have improved me on the long end and I think that's done that so far that's why I'm happy I've stayed yeah and you I mean you've built this network yeah Georgia that's gonna serve you your whole life that I think so many kids don't realize what they're given up by bouncing around all these yeah that was a big thing it's like you another reason you go like outside of football as you go to make connections and yeah meet these people when you go you tarnished all that and I don't want to leave all that behind either yeah it's long-term versus short-term yeah congratulations because that that's that's really impressive somebody who's 22 I know you're older at 22 years old but no but that is it's pretty rare it seems it seems like so many kids are just thinking about that next year they're not thinking about long-term and you've got I mean gosh you know almost the whole state of Georgia you know it's gonna is gonna know who you are and and appreciate that loyalty and as you as you go into the next after football that's gonna mean that's gonna mean even more you know so that's what a what a wise decision for somebody 22 years old yeah and I good people in my corner helped me with that too like it was same thing it was for college recruiting it wasn't like a this is set in stone so I'm gonna do like you talk about it you lay it out you think about it and this is what eventually what we came to but without asking you to get into a bunch of detail cuz I know you don't want to but but you said there are temptations I mean it's wild wild west isn't it people are people are trying to recruit you yeah yeah yeah that's just how it is that's how it is yeah tell us I'm kidding it's nothing like malicious it's just like yeah yeah like you hear like you hear things and then it's like you get curious and then you wonder about the grass in the other side yeah sure yeah what who was who's the best player you've ever played against or watched on the field or either Georgia or on a opponent where that like that person stood out as like man that's that's that's that's that guy's a different level in high school we played every year high school like Caleb Downes was always different like we always knew he was really good even from the first time we played like when he was a freshman he was just a good player like he was just carried himself different but when it comes to college the best I've won against honestly honestly I might not even know his name there was a dude all the guys in Georgia will know as we talk about it forever number six from Missouri my freshman year that dude was a dude I don't even know his name he went to the cardinals I think or something that he was a dude that was like he's just so much bigger than me and that was like one of the freshman games I was starred and I just was I wasn't ready so Lawson we we talked a little bit early on about leadership and you know you're one of the leaders of the team as you've developed who have been leaders that you've seen and learned from and looked up to and why that's a great question there's some really good ones I never actually played with no one but I met him a couple times but I remember how great he was at the pitch bowl my freshman year I mean my mid-year yeah Nolan Smith okay when I mid-year I wasn't on the team yet but I was on the sideline I went through bullpacks with him and no one was hurt he had a torn pack he wasn't even playing and that dude just willed the team on the sideline and I remember he was carrying around a actual laminated card that said composure there's like launch a composure card and it's like everything was going wrong in that game but like it never I've we watched the game and like don't know how we won but like being on the sideline during the game and never felt like we're out of it and like I wasn't fully a part of the culture yet and I felt like that so that last left the lasting impact on me and then there's other great guys like said Van Pren was really really good and Marcus rose me Jack St was so good my freshman year too just a lot of great guys honestly yeah so as you look back on that Peach Bowl experience and note do you think I mean it's a guess but if he if he's not they're doing that do you think they win that game I can honestly say like I think someone else would have stepped up to yeah I think Nolan was different yeah from what I hear like I as a verbal leader yeah um but like I just can't imagine that someone else wouldn't have stepped up into that role too there's just so many guys I just think Nolan was like a alpha dog that year but I think it's cool because what you're saying is he went on the field but he had an impact on the game it was on the field but he wasn't playing that's what I mean yeah yeah yeah not he really did oh in a way that's our I mean or I'm gonna honestly some we still talk about this day like when someone's hurt like like that's the standard of how to impact it when you're not playing too, like from now on. - What do you talk about that all the time? - You talk about legacy. And that's what you're kind of striving for as well. - Yeah, no, you're left and you're gone. You want people to be talking about, obviously they'd be talking about your plays in the field, but be talking about how you've led in the end other ways. - Yeah, it's like small stuff, like no one probably has no idea. Like he didn't even know what I was. Like little stuff like that lasts with people. - Yeah, he made a big impact on you. In addition to just being a leader, there's this whole idea about being a good teammate. And not everybody's a good teammate. So how important is it to be a good teammate from your perspective and the kind of culture that y'all, a winning culture that y'all have? And what would you say to kids about developing themselves as a good teammate? - Well, that's one thing that develops throughout the year. And I think, that's why I think Georgia has such an advantage when it comes like the transfer porter era is like, there's so much turnover. And like at the start of the season, like that's when we have all the turnover. Like when it comes to January, it's all these new faces and it's crazy. You see how much better the connection builds as like the weeks and months go by. And like we have a lot of people that are returning on our team. I can't imagine a team that's fully flipped around. How long it takes. Cause like it takes months for us. And we don't even have a ton of new faces. Like we have the freshmen and a handful of transfers. And it's still tough to fully get that going. And I can't imagine a team that's just fully flipped over. So like that's just, it builds throughout the summer. And you go through all these hard things together. Like winter workouts, spring ball, summer workouts, fall camp, mini camp. Like you kind of get like trauma bonded. You go through all so much stuff together. And like that's kind of what makes it fun. Like the stuff is so hard. I'm this my dad used to tell me is like, you'll see in college, like the stuff is so hard and it sucks so bad. But there's fun in the fact that everyone else is going through the same suck at the same time. Like that's what makes it fun is everyone's going through. And you can like joke and laugh about it. It makes it fun to get through. One of the things that you're kind of known for that you do is you do a lot of charity work. Tell us about that and what you get out of that and why you do it. - I just kind of feel like it's something you're supposed to do. I think Georgia is a great job, first of all, coming to us with stuff. So like if I wasn't to do the charity work, it'd be 'cause I'm telling them no. And that's just not what I'm gonna do. So like I get approached a lot from guys like Austin, Austin Chambers, who works in the program, but they approach us with stuff all the time and like me and Jordan Hall do a ton of stuff with them. And so like we're always at the same events because like they want people there that can make it. And then it's like fully being there. Like it's easy to be like, man, like this is my free time. Like I could be doing something else, but like it means so much more to those kids than it means to us. Like we're not getting a ton out of it, but like it means so much to those kids. And whoever we're with, it doesn't have to be kids, but like it's worth it. Like yesterday we had ESP, which is extra special people. It's like a program in Athens and they all come to practice Thursday by week. Like we spend like, it's supposed to like 10, 15 minutes on the clock and you turn around, it's like 45. And all the kids and the team are still out there. Like it just goes to culture. In my opinion, and we've done a great job. But that in Athens. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Do you think the experience of having your younger brother and all this to be is going to make you more sensitive to all the games as a sweet swap for those kids? Yeah, such a sweet swap. That's great. So wrapping up here with a couple final questions. First of all, what are your best couple of memories of football at Georgia? It's after some big wins, man. I remember being in Tennessee last year, when London called to touchdown. We ended up winning it over time. That was unbelievable game. And then it's like, I remember that was going into the buy weekend too. So we had like some time to get ready for Alabama, which we came up short in that game. But just like those peak moments of like winning together on the road, I'm like, I'm a sucker for road games. I love being on the road and like winning as somebody else's place. Like Alabama a couple of weeks ago, like that was unbelievable. Like I love that. I think it's so fun. Yeah. And like the playing rides back together. Like that's what I love. Yeah. There's like that feeling of winning and being with your teammates. So my last question. So after football, and we talked a little bit before that we had John, but like really kind of what are some of your career goals after football? Not fully sketched out. Like I'm not sure. I haven't put too much thought into it. Like I just, same thing as like as a kid when I was like, I had a dream of a football. Like I had a dream to, I want to play this football out as long as I can. And then I've always wanted to be in like a commentating role. Like a college game day would be the absolute dream. But anywhere in that realm, like that's what I want to do. I think that's what I thrive at better than most people. OK, last two questions. And then we'll let you go. But one is if you, as you look back, you know, what did your parents do that helped you the most that you would pass on advice to other parents? Yeah, OK, that's a great question. My mom wasn't like the biggest, like she was a little. She wasn't very involved with it. Like obviously taking me in stuff, but she wasn't giving me critiques and advice about it. That was mostly my dad. And I think my dad did a great job of not being very hard on me about individual performances. Like that was never a thing. I remember there was always like the kids who would get like cussed out and like torn apart by their dads for like not playing well. And like that was just never it. And my dad's like a super competitive, like firey dude, but like even in that, like he just knew that that's not how it's supposed to be, like he's all he cared about was effort. That was it. It's all he cared about was effort. And then working hard, like he just preached like you work now, you build the foundation. He was so big into like working out legs. Like I remember the whole one thing. He was like super crazy about it's just like stuff like that. He wanted me to build the foundation to give myself a chance. And the rest, I'm either going to run with it or I'm not. Like that's up to me. Like he didn't want to be too involved with it. He always like did a great job of instilling in me that it'll take place if it's going to let it be your journey. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's cool. Last question, what advice would you give to young kids who may not be standouts early on? What would you tell them? The biggest thing to me is like have fun. That's almost I learned it almost too late. Like I didn't fully learn to college like to take some of the pressure off myself. Like I remember in high school, like I had like not even honestly like a great high school football experience because I remember I was just so dang tough on myself if I didn't play well. And like I remember like literally not one single time after high school game like what I go hang out with my friends. Like I would just go to the house and I would watch the tape from the game before. And like if I played good or if I rewatched it, I thought I'd played good, I'd hang out with my friends the next day if I didn't, I would go work out. And it was like I was just so hard on myself. And when I got to college, it was just kind of like, like let's just let's just play our game. And if you don't play well, we'll come back the next week and work on it. And that's the biggest thing to me now, what I try to tell people is like just have fun, let it be like don't take yourself too seriously. 'Cause no one else is thinking about your failures except you, like it's all right here. If I drop a pass four plays later, no one else is thinking about it besides me if I let myself, that's a big thing, I focus on. - Lawson, we've used a lot of your time today, but man, I just wanna say you've obviously had a great head on your shoulders. - Yes. - You've accomplished a lot in football, but all the other stuff surrounding that is gonna take you really far. - Thank y'all. I really do appreciate it. - So we really appreciate you spending time with us, sharing kind of your story with our audience. And it makes for all of us, we watch on game day and you already got a lot of fans, but you'll have some more fans. Even Brad and I who are tech fans will be rooting for you. - Let's go, I appreciate it. (laughs) - You could tell as somebody before we interview you, like that you carry yourself in a different way and this just reinforces that. So, congrats on all you've done, but more, congrats more on just a kind of person you've become as well, so. - Thank you all so much. - You bet. And to our audience, thanks for listening and watching and we'll see you next week, go docs. - Thanks for listening to the Pure Athlete podcast. For more resources, visit pureathlete.com. And don't forget to check out our social media channels and YouTube page for video episodes and more great content. See you next time.