University of Georgia Athletics
A Quick Chat With ... Greg Pyke
August 16, 2015 | Football
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By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Greg Pyke knows about lacrosse and crab cakes, as most folks from Baltimore do. The Georgia Bulldogs' right guard also knows about blocking, which is why the redshirt junior earned second-team All-SEC honors last season, his first as a starter, and this preseason.
In a quick (not really) chat last week, during a rare quiet moment in the Bulldogs' preseason practice schedule, the 6-foot-6, 316-pounder discussed his days on the lacrosse field, his decision to come to Georgia and much more. Here's some of what Pyke had to say:
Frierson: So I'm on YouTube this morning looking at lacrosse videos and there's this guy wearing No. 36 for Boys' Latin in Baltimore. He's a big guy, bigger than everyone else, but he's agile -- and he's scoring left and right. The clip I saw this guy had a hat trick. You know anything about that guy?
Pyke: That was back in the day, my glory days in lacrosse. I'd been playing that sport since I was six. Growing up in Baltimore, that's the sport that everyone plays. Lacrosse is first and football's second.
Frierson: Is there a specific thing you can point to where you say, all those years of lacrosse helped me as an offensive lineman?
Pyke: I would say the footwork. The position I play (in lacrosse), attack, is kind of a lot of moving around the crease and everything, so you have to have short, choppy steps and everything -- be able to move your feet really well.
That's really helped me, definitely, as an offensive lineman, being able to get my second foot in the ground, my 1-2, and just get on my path on my block.
Frierson: You're an incredibly important part of Georgia's offensive line and the team as a whole, but is there part of you that misses the joy of scoring goals like you were able to do often in lacrosse?
Pyke: It's definitely two different sports and playing football and playing offensive line, you just kind of do your job. That's fine, and I would love for everyone to give all the credit to (tailbacks Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Brendan Douglas and Keith Marshall), all those wonderful backs that we have. But I kind of do miss it, scoring goals and everything. Then again, playing football in the SEC is pretty awesome, too.
Frierson: Of course the joy might be greatest of all if you can pick up a loose ball and carry it across the goal line, right?
Pyke: That's every lineman's dream, I think, to score a touchdown.
Frierson: What's one thing about preseason camp that people on the outside don't get or can't comprehend because they're not in the middle of it?
Pyke: It's hot, it's long days and like people say, it's camp life. It's a grind, but it's what's got to be done to prepare for the fall. Everyone's going through it, too, so it's not like you're the odd man out or anything. Everyone around the country is doing it, they're doing camp for however many days, but the Georgia heat will get you.
It's a lot of meetings and a lot of preparing for the fall.
Frierson: How much easier does it get after you've gone through it a few times?
Pyke: It's still difficult, but after you get a couple under your belt it definitely gets easier because you know what to expect. It's hot out there and you forget how hot it gets around here, and it will stay hot for a while, for that first game even. ...
One of the biggest things about camp is just to hydrate. The first day or second day, a lot of people cramped up. It's just part of the process. We'd been running outside during offseason workouts and everything, but the only way you get in football shape is to play football, just playing the sport. You can do all that running and all that lifting, but when it comes down to it the first day of camp, you get tired because you haven't been doing it, playing football, for a while.
Frierson: Was there a defining moment or event when you realized this is something that you can do at a really high level?
Pyke: I've told this story about how I got here. I was coming back from a camp at Alabama and I was with my mom. We drove down, which was about 14 hours each way, and we're driving back home.
My dad calls me and says, I signed you up for one of those one-day camps at Georgia -- this is the summer going into my senior year of high school. I was like, no, I don't want to go. I've been on the road doing football stuff for most of the summer and I want to go home and enjoy the rest of my summer and hang out with my buddies.
My mom convinced me to go. I have cousins that live in Bulkhead (in Atlanta) and they always said Georgia's a good school and I should check it out. So I show up and I have no idea what SEC football is all about. I'm a northern guy from Maryland, I play lacrosse; I knew how big lacrosse was where I was from, but I didn't know how big SEC football was around here.
So I show up for this camp with a helmet and cleats, and it's just me and my mom. People are just bringing their whole teams, there are teams everywhere, and this is when (offensive line coach Will Friend) was here, so I introduce myself to him. He had no idea who I was because I'd just showed up. ...
Throughout the day I just did my best and they started noticing me, and at the end of camp I had an offer. I sat down with (coach Mark Richt) in his office and he offered me a scholarship, and about two months later I came down and committed.
Frierson: To get that offer, especially starting from zero -- they didn't know who you were and you didn't know anything about them -- do you remember having a really good day during the camp?
Pyke: I guess. I don't really remember. I remember it was so hot out that my cleats were starting to melt on the bottom because we were down on the turf. I had the worst blood blisters on the bottom of my feet, on both my feet, and I honestly couldn't walk after the camp. That's how bad they were, I was walking on the side of my feet.
At the end of the camp I was like, uh, I'm just ready to go. It didn't really hit me. I sat down with Coach Richt and he offered me, and I was like, thank you, I just want to go home and relax. My mom was happier about it than I was, and then it finally hit me on my way home: I just got a scholarship offer to play football at the University of Georgia.
Frierson: When you go to an ACC school, outside dorms around campus you might see guys with lacrosse sticks throwing the ball around. Have you seen that at all since you've been here?
Pyke: I have, actually, I saw it once and it brought a smile to my face. During the spring, I'll actually go see the club lacrosse team play a game or two. Last year, they were playing TCU and one of my buddies from my high school was on the TCU team, so I saw that game.
Frierson: What's your food guilty pleasure, whether it's something at a local restaurant or available everywhere?
Pyke: I'm a lineman so I don't shy away from the food. Whenever I get hungry for some barbecue, there are some good barbecue places in town. ... I pretty much eat everything.
Frierson: Being a Baltimore guy, I assume you've got a taste for crab and seafood.
Pyke: If I'm feeling the need for some seafood, I'll go to Marker 7, right here in Five Points. If I want crabs, being from Maryland, I wait to go home to eat those. I'll wait to go home and have my mom cook me crab cakes or something.
Frierson: If you could have played any other sport for the Bulldogs, what would it be?
Pyke: I'd play club lacrosse if I could. I played basketball growing up, so I'd probably say basketball. I think it would be cool to play baseball. I never played baseball growing up because I was always playing lacrosse, but I think baseball's a pretty fun sport to watch.
I know a lot of the guys on the golf team, too, and it would be fun to play golf here. I wish I was better because I'm not very good.
John Frierson is a staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Hall of Fame at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Follow him on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
