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ROSE BOWL GAME: GEORGIA VS OKLAHOMADecember 28, 2017Sony MichelPasadena, California Q. (No microphone.) SONY MICHEL: We already have two elite guys that was already established playing at Georgia football and we kind of just came in with the mindset of wanting to compete. We did it together and went through tough times our fires time going true a camp, a college camp, and it was tough for us at first. So we had to experience it together. I think that that's when our relationship was first built. Q. When you think, at what point do you look at and say all right this is when we became actual friends, not just teammates? SONY MICHEL: I would say around camp, our freshman year at camp was roommates together. Just dreading every time we went to practice. Just knowing how tough it was going to be but we had to be there for each other we had to push each other, we had to know that this is what it's going to take for us to be successful or do what we want to do. Q. Nick said you guys first met at the Army game. What was that like, did you guys really talk at all or its? SONY MICHEL: We met at the Army game but we didn't really talk as much. We talked a little bit. But I think we started talking more when we got to Georgia and that time where we were going through the whole camp process. Q. You mentioned Todd and Keith. How much did that kind of help bring you guys mentor you along? SONY MICHEL: In every way, but most of it was just from just by example. Just how they ran the ball, how they did things. We kind of just watched them and kind of tried to follow their lead. They were players that made a lot of big plays and so we tried to just follow that. Q. Mike Stoops compared the one-two punch of you and Nick to the OU running backs, what do you think of that comparison? SONY MICHEL: OU is known for having great running backs. Those two guys they did some, they did a lot of work, they made big plays at OU, similar to what we did at Georgia. It's an interesting comparison. To be able to have two backs in a back field I think is special because it just brings more to your offense. Q. Would you compare yourself more to if you were going to compare? SONY MICHEL: I'm not sure. Q. What's it like practicing against them? SONY MICHEL: It's high competition, you got to expect, to be ready to compete. He brings that high intensity every day in practice, he's ready to play, you just got to be -- he's a player that's going to get you better every day. Q. When you go up against another linebackers, you faced -- SONY MICHEL: Yeah, it's almost like I believe we have the best defense in the country. So after competing, when I say we're in practice competing, sometimes you could tell coach want to slow us down but you can't really say slow down, so after competing with them in practice the game is almost like, well, we're already prepared. I think that's the biggest advantage we have is our preparation. Q. When did you know that DaQuan was going to be something special? Was there a moment in practice? SONY MICHEL: Just a moment in practice you could just tell from his off season training, his work ethic, his leadership, just the type of person he is, I just knew he was going to be a special player. Q. How much did you and Nick talk about getting to this stage and playing the playoffs together? SONY MICHEL: There wasn't much talk. Of course this was the ultimate vision, but we just thought that as long as we worked and pushed this team to the highest level, we could ultimately play on the highest level. Q. What are your impressions of the Oklahoma defense? SONY MICHEL: They're a good defense that plays some good football. They run to the ball well, they're fast guys. I think that's what we have to bring to the table, we got to be able to finish plays. Q. How about their physicality, how does it compare to some of the SEC defenses that you had to go up against this year? SONY MICHEL: They're a physical team, but it's going to, I think that's what it's going to come down to, the team who is more physical and who can take that pounding for four quarters. Q. Do you think that the criticism they get for giving up as many yards and points is justified? SONY MICHEL: Yeah, people are going to talk about that, that's not something we kind of go off of, because at the end of the day we have to go out there and play and they got to go out there and play too. So what they did in the past won't dictate the present or the future so we just got to go out there and play some football. Q. You and Nick live together now, what's that like, what's a good, Nick Chubb is my roommate, story? SONY MICHEL: It's pretty cool. I mean you just never a dull moment. You just never know what to expect. Q. From Nick? SONY MICHEL: It's just from anything, just I mean he's a he's pretty quiet in front of everybody but he's a guy that likes to have fun. Very joyful guy, just likes to have fun. Q. In what way? What do you do for fun? SONY MICHEL: Just everything. We go out, we find anything for entertainment. We'll go bowling, we, I mean when I say bowling we go out there and compete with bowling. We got our own bowling balls, we play against each other. Everything we do, we kind of make it competitive or fun. Q. Who is the better bowler? SONY MICHEL: He's more consistent. I'm very inconsistent. Q. How good are you guys? What's a normal? SONY MICHEL: Average? Average probably like 150, 160. High like 200. Q. How many times have you beaten him? SONY MICHEL: We bowl so much it's kind of hard. He probably got the winning streak over me. Q. Do you have your on bowling ball? SONY MICHEL: Yeah. Q. What do they look like? SONY MICHEL: Mine's like I think like maroon and like these gold stripes. I haven't really customized the ball, just my fitting, just to have something to play with and just have fun. Q. Is Isaiah like the third wheel in all this? SONY MICHEL: He doesn't bowl, but he's always there though. Q. Just watching over the competition? SONY MICHEL: Yeah. Q. What does Nick's bowling ball look like? SONY MICHEL: It's blue, I think. It's like Navy blue. Q. When did you guys decide to do that? SONY MICHEL: We were always just going out to the bowling alley in the summer just bowling for fun and we just thought it would be interesting to try to see how good we could get at bowling. Q. Was that this summer? SONY MICHEL: Yeah. Q. That you picked it up more so? SONY MICHEL: Um-hum. Q. As quiet as Nick is, is he a big trash talker in bowling? SONY MICHEL: No, but would I start it up. Like I'll start talking trash, if I'm winning and he'll be quiet so of course if I'm losing then he's going to use that to my, to his advantage. Q. Any of the younger running backs come with you? SONY MICHEL: Know, Slip came out a couple times, but they kind of, they haven't been coming out as much as we have been going. Q. Do they make fun of you for bowling as much as you do? SONY MICHEL: No. Because they try to compete, but then it's like, you come out here, but you're going to get it. Q. When did you guys first start living together? Only this year or when? SONY MICHEL: Junior year. We first lived with each other our junior year. Q. Are you in a bowling league or anything? SONY MICHEL: No, we were about to, we were going to get like a Georgia football bowling team but it just is time consuming. Q. You say competition helps and that stuff but was there a moment early on where you were like I can be the lead back? SONY MICHEL: No. My whole thing is I just need -- I'm willing to do whatever to help the team. I first started making plays in college football, on special teams and I thought that was a role that like that moment was big for me. It was special. I did play some running back, but I believe that -- I mean just make the most out of every opportunity you get. You don't have to be the lead back to make plays. If the ball's in your hand, if you get the ball two times, make two plays, make two big plays, and I'm a firm believer in that. Most guys, they worry about being the starter, but sometimes the backup can get more carries than the starter because he makes more plays. But it's all about taking advantages of the opportunities given to you. Q. As you guys have gotten closer how close have you gotten with his family and his family with you? SONY MICHEL: We know our families pretty well. They come around a lot. You we got a pretty cool family. And it's, his family is my family and vice versa. Q. Do you guys talk about what your parents went through, especially your moms. He said that he's a mama's boy, are you as big a mama's boy as him? SONY MICHEL: We don't really talk about it like that, but I'm sure he knows. I kind of know, I kind of have an understanding of what his parents have been through and vice versa. Q. Georgia's offense has had a couple down years, last year and the year before that. What's Chaney done, I mean obviously it helps to have you and Nick back, but what has he done in the coordinator position to kind of maximize what he has to work with? SONY MICHEL: Just putting us, the team, the offense in a better position to be successful. Getting guys the ball, just I mean that's really it, just helping us putting us, just putting us in good situations. Q. Isaiah was in here earlier and said that seven on sevens in the summer was when he really started to develop into the leader. Did you see that as well? SONY MICHEL: I mean, yeah, because that's the first time we get to see him. Spring, I kind of seen it, him just being -- he's just a natural born leader. His first time stepping out on that practice field he came out there with a little confidence and wanting to learn and just help this team. Q. Jim was talking about how there hasn't really been a significant increase in RPOs, it's just been a little bit more successful this year. Why do you think that is? Just familiarity with it or? SONY MICHEL: Just both. Familiarity and just giving us the best opportunity to get the ball in space. Opening up our offense a little bit more. I think that it helps on certain teams, it's a good RPO is good to bring it out on certain teams and I think Coach Chaney don't a great job of when he wanted to bring it out and. Q. Seems like the offensive line improvement this year's kind of the untold story of this team. Why do you think it was such a struggle for them in year one? Just different system, different personalities? SONY MICHEL: Our guys did improve. Me personally I didn't think they were as bad as people make it seem, because they almost had two, thousand-yard backs. So if you say they almost had two, thousand-yard backs that was a pretty good line. I ran for 800 yards, Nick ran for almost a thousand, so yes, it was an improvement from year one to year two, just because their work ethic. The second year with the same coaching staff, guys willing to play for each other, and I think that was the biggest difference. Q. Do you know Coach Pittman really well? SONY MICHEL: Yeah, Coach Pittman is all, he's a guy that likes to have fun and he's all about doing it for the running backs. He's just one of, he just wants to be able to open holes for the running backs, that's his ultimate goal is to protect the quarterback and I think he does a great job with setting that standard high for those guys, so they can just reach that expectations. Q. How is Jake Fromm different between the beginning of the season versus going into the season? SONY MICHEL: Just ultimately getting more used to the game. I think that that's the biggest difference for him, because he came in just knowing just knowing how to be a leader, knowing, just going out there and just playing football. Q. Does he act like a guy that's not a freshman? SONY MICHEL: No, he doesn't. He just comes and plays. There was really no big transition for him from, oh, he's a freshman, oh, this, he just came in and it's kind of like he stepped in to being one of the old veterans. Q. How is he different from Eason in terms of in the huddle, personalities in practice? SONY MICHEL: They're two different guys, but they both bring that same leadership style. When Eason comes in he's leading the team. When he comes in, he's leading the team. Fast. Q. How do you like it out here? SONY MICHEL: It's pretty good. Pretty cool weather. Pretty warm. It's going to be a warm day today. Pretty cool events that they have for us lined up. Q. Was it kind of cool that it's been like 75 here and this is such a unique experience for everyone, you know what I mean? You may not even think about that with everything else going on? SONY MICHEL: Just to think about how long ago since it's been, but I think it's pretty cool just to have the opportunity, because this is something that is going to last forever. Nobody can take it away from you. I just think that it's just amazing. Q. I think it was like a three day train ride back here back in the day? SONY MICHEL: That's what I heard. Q. Versus first class flying. SONY MICHEL: That's crazy just to know how time changes things. Q. Has it just been kind of thousands of little things that you guys do better this year than last year that's sort of put you in this position or is there something specific you can point to? SONY MICHEL: Just by taking practice more seriously. I think we kind of just kind of have taken that role of wanting to be better in practice so we can play better. Guys have bought into the idea that coach brought to us about preparation is the big factor. Q. Is there a trick to practicing well and realizing what a really, really, really hard practice is like, sort of a learning curve there? SONY MICHEL: Yeah, but I think just practicing well gives you the confidence to know in the game that you're prepared. It's almost like a test, you study for a test, if you study well enough for a test, you're going to go in there with confidence, but if you don't, you're going to go in there likes, oh, I'm not sure what's going to happen. So when you practice well and you prepare well, you know kind of what you're in for. Q. Was there a moment this season where you realized, okay, like being here was a possibility? Was there sort of that sort of the light came on that this team has the potential to be something really special? SONY MICHEL: No, not really. It was really no specific time because we knew even when we were back when we were No. 1, we knew that at any given time humility is one week away. So we just kind of had to focus on the next game. We couldn't look really down the road, because the moment you look down the road, that's when you kind of fall off. Q. I'm going to ask you this directly. Who is better, you or Nick? Who is a better back? SONY MICHEL: A better running back? I mean, I think that we both have our differences. I'm me, of course I'm going to say I'm the better back, but he's going to say the same thing, he's the better back. Q. He actually said you were the better back? SONY MICHEL: For real? Because he just wants to put that out in the media, but I'm sure in his mind, as a football player, you would never just go out there and be like, that person's better than me. You have it in your mind that I'm a good football player, to give you the confidence to go out there and play well. So he probably lied to y'all. (Laughter.) Q. Do you remember meeting him at the All-America game, I believe it was its Army All-America game was the first time y'all met and y'all are both five stars and coming to Georgia, was there ever, were you sizing him up? Do you remember that? SONY MICHEL: No, I wasn't sizing him up. But we didn't talk much. We didn't talk much at the time. Q. Why? SONY MICHEL: I mean, no reason, I didn't room with him, but the only time I seen him was at practice, so. But. Q. Jake's been talking about from like day one when he got on campus he wasn't afraid to talk trash to the defense and had no problem with just being vocal immediately. What did you guys think of that? Do you remember that? Were you surprised? SONY MICHEL: Yeah, there's a certain type of way, the way you did it and he did it its right way, he did it out of love. That competitive nature he has. They just seen the competitiveness and not a five star, number one quarterback coming in trying to be arrogant and thinking he's running the show. He was coming in from the competitive aspect of I'm trying to get y'all better and you guys need to get me better type of thing. So we had his back, we was there and the defense understood where he was coming from. Q. Were you surprised at all? I mean even if he said it in love he said, yeah, I wasn't scared of them and it takes some moxie to be running your mouth? SONY MICHEL: Yeah, it did because as a freshman you got to hold up to those expectations. And I think he did, just by because he wasn't starting so he played his role very well. Everybody on the team has a role and it's all about playing your role well for the team. I think that's what he did. Q. Did ESPN do your friend Nick wrong by showing that video of the rides? SONY MICHEL: No, they didn't. Because he chose to go on that ride and he knew what he was up for. So, it was pretty funny, pretty cool experience. Q. You weren't on that ride, were you in the video? SONY MICHEL: No, I was right in front of that door waiting for them to come out. I wasn't getting on that ride. Yeah, I wasn't getting on that. I did everything else but that one. Q. Was there ever a moment with Jake this year that you sort of had to remind him that he was a freshman, that that, hey, man, you got to slow down a little bit? SONY MICHEL: Not at all. He never made the moment too big, he never made it about him, it was all about the team and he's done a great job and there was never no moment that he had to, we had to sit back and bring him back to telling him he's a freshman, because he's done great for this team and he's doing everything he can just for this team. Q. Has there ever been a moment when he's made a great play or done some sort of great talk in the huddle and you thought, well that's a freshman like this kid's going to get so much better still? SONY MICHEL: No, because it's all started in practice. We seen it in practice and just we just knew what we were getting. Expectations were high and he met those expectations, so there was no surprise when he did it in a game, because he did it prior to the game. So when his number was called, we kind of knew he was going to be ready, nobody panicked, we just knew he was going to step in, we had his back and just go from there. Q. What have you observed from Eason? This has been hard on him, I'm sure, to be the backup guy now, he was so heralded coming out of high school. What's it been like? SONY MICHEL: I'm sure it's been hard on him, it would be hard on anybody. But at the end of the day he got great teammates that got his back and for him it's all about just improving and trying to get better at this point. Doing what he can to help the team from his position from where he stands on this team and I think he understands that, the coaches tell him that, and at the end of the day they had his best interests and they, if they needed him, I'm sure if they call his number, he's going to be ready to play. Q. What's the name of the bowling alley you guys go to? SONY MICHEL: I'm always texting it to people like come to -- Athens -- I can't get that, the name. I guarantee you -- it's in Athens -- I guarantee you when this interview is over it's going to come to my mind. Q. What street is it on? SONY MICHEL: It's on Atlanta Highway in Athens. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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