University of Georgia Athletics
A Quick Chat With ... Quincy Mauger
October 20, 2016 | Football
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
We call it an "off week," but that's not really accurate. The Georgia football team doesn't have a game Saturday, but the Bulldogs have hardly been "off" the past few days.
This Saturday, however, the Dogs will have the day to themselves. Senior safety Quincy Mauger, who shares the team lead with two interceptions, said he's spent some of this week catching up on sleep -- and Saturday will be spent catching up with his family.
Mauger, who lives in Marietta, Ga., after growing up in Florida, sat down for a quick chat (that turned out to be not that quick) following Tuesday's practice. He talked about his passion for photography (need a wedding photographer?), his respect for Georgia's gymnasts, the Haitian food he grew up eating and much more.
Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: What do you do during your quiet times, away from football and away from school?
Mauger: I have a great passion with a camera, taking photos and also video production. It's kind of new right now for me and a new challenge. I've taken senior pictures, I've taken family pictures and I've also taken maternal pictures, which is very interesting.
Somebody actually asked me to do their wedding pretty soon, so I'm looking forward to that.
Frierson: I have a huge passion for photography, as well, mostly landscapes and nature shots. Do you do much shooting around Athens?
Mauger: Athens is a very beautiful place to be in, the Classic City as we all know, and any chance I can go out to the Botanical Gardens I'll go out. The flowers are very beautiful and the whole atmosphere is just very beautiful, the landscape.
Just to see people's reactions to my pictures makes me feel pretty good about myself, to see that I'm improving
Frierson: There's nothing quite like that joy of nailing a photo, getting something close to a perfect shot.
Mauger: There really isn't.
Frierson: Is this something that you see yourself doing one way or another after football?
Mauger: I think I definitely will. It's one of those things where I definitely didn't want to take it as a class because I didn't want it to become homework, where you might start to dread it. It's definitely something that allows me to take my mind off of everything and be free.
Frierson: Is there a part of campus that you find most picturesque?
Mauger: I would say North Campus, over around the (Terry School of Business). That whole area, the scenery is very beautiful.
Frierson: Let's talk good food. What's a really good meal for you?
Mauger: It depends on what I'm feeling for the day. If it's burgers, I definitely have to go to Clocked!. It has the best burgers. ... I love Cheddar's, it's also to die for. Their croissant rolls, whew, they're up there.
Frierson: We've talked good food, so now let's talk bad movies. Do you have a bad movie that you can't help but love a little bit?
Mauger: I would probably have to be something like "Kill Bill".
Frierson: Is that a bad movie? I think it's very watchable, though now that I think about it it's kind of dumb.
Mauger: It's very watchable, but once you get older you kind of ... Now one of the all-time movies, that's in my top three, definitely, would be "Pulp Fiction" with Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson. Have you ever seen that?
Frierson: Yes, many, many times. I saw it in the theater the week it came out. It may be my all-time favorite movie, although the "Mad Max" movie that came out last year has emerged as a pretty serious challenger. I've literally watched it at least 30 times in the past year.
OK, who's the funniest guy on the team?
Mauger: Oh man, there are so many. Shaquery Wilson, he is hilarious, and Maurice Smith, we call him "Mo," he has some jokes for you. There are actually so many people, because I just love to laugh. You don't even have to do anything -- I can just see somebody smiling and start laughing.
Frierson: What other sport at Georgia interests you the most, whether it's because you know it and follow it or because you look at it and wonder how they do it? For example, I'm fascinated by Keturah Orji and the triple jump. It looks so impossibly hard to do and Keturah finished fourth in the Olympics.
Mauger: That's funny, because I actually did the triple jump in high school, and the hurdles. Being as big as I was, that was kind of funny.
If I looked at another sport, I would definitely have to say gymnastics. I always joke around with them but I'm also serious when I say, you guys are the real athletes around here. The things they do are beyond anything.
Frierson: And there's a lot of courage involved, because there's a lot of falling going on and they're not wearing pads.
Mauger: Absolutely, and I've seen them have so many injuries, and not minor ones.
Frierson: What's something from your childhood that you really miss?
Mauger: I'm from Florida, West Palm Beach, and I'd have to say my grandmother's cooking. That Haitian food, you just can't get tired of it.
Frierson: Tell me about Haitian food, what are you eating?
Mauger: You have sos pwa (like a bean soup), griyo (fried pork), the way they cook their rice and the fried plantains. Really any time of Caribbean food that you can think of, but better.
Frierson: Can you find anything like that around here or do you ever cook any of that for your teammates?
Mauger: I wish I could cook like my grandmother ...
Frierson: We all wish we could cook like our grandmothers.
Mauger: That's just impossible. The closest I've come to it was a Cuban restaurant (with multiple locations in the Atlanta area) named Papi's, and they have this dish, I forgot what it's called, but it was very similar to it.
Frierson: If you could go back and talk to your 18-year-old self that was just arriving at Georgia, what would you tell him?
Mauger: I definitely would say, patience is key. You know, control what you can control and just have fun. It's so cliche, when people say to just have fun, but it's actually hard to do. Nowadays this game is kind of like a business, but once you can just let go and have fun, things just happen your way at the end of the day.
Frierson: You have a Saturday off coming up -- how will you spend this precious thing that you guys don't get to experience very often?
Mauger: I'm already catching up on sleep, so that's already precious. I'm making sure I'm staying on top of my (school) work and I know I'm going to have some family time. It's been a minute since I got to really sit down and hang out with my family, so I think that will be some precious time that I can't wait to have.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
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.
