University of Georgia Athletics
A Quick Chat With ... Natrez Patrick
September 22, 2016 | Football
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Georgia sophomore linebacker Natrez Patrick put on a big smile when asked about going home. Not home from practice or a road trip, but "home," where your family is there waiting with even more smiles.
Of course, Patrick and the No. 12-ranked Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 SEC) haven't seen too much of any kind of home so far this season. Saturday's game at No. 23 Ole Miss (1-2, 0-1) is the Bulldogs' fourth of the season and third away from Athens. Patrick is the Dogs' leading tackler with 20 takedowns (12 solo, eight assists).
During a quick chat following Tuesday's practice, Patrick, from Atlanta, talked about road trips, going home, Scooby-Doo and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: The Ole Miss-Georgia game is always an exciting one for both fan bases because a lot of people know each other at the schools, Athens and Oxford are classic college towns and the tailgating at both is pretty spectacular. As for me, I'm from here, I went to school there and now I'm back here, working for Georgia.
As the players, who are the reason all those thousands of people are there in the first place, do you ever feel like you're missing out on any of the fun? There is a whole part of the experience that you don't get to have.
Patrick: I definitely feel like we're getting the meat of the experience by being in the heat of the moment, but it wouldn't be bad to kind of experience the other part of it. ... I definitely feel like the real deal is in between those lines.
Frierson: What do you do during the quiet times, away from football and school?
Patrick: Any time I have, I like to go home. I'm a very family-oriented person so I like to be around my parents, I like to be around my siblings and the people who I grew up with. I'm here a lot so the time I do have, I like to go spend it with them.
Frierson: When do you know you're home? Is it a familiar sight or smell, a hug when you get through the front door — what tells you you're really home?
Patrick: I have to take (Highway) 316 back, so when I take 316 back I get on (Interstate) 20, going into Atlanta. When I touch downtown I say, OK (claps his hands), I'm home. When I'm riding through downtown, that's when I feel a sense of home.
Of course when I get home my mom's already in the kitchen cooking. Any time I come back she always asks, what do you want to eat?
Frierson: When she asks what do you want to eat, what's your answer? You have to have a go-to answer, right?
Patrick: Probably my No. 1, that I always have to have when I come back, is that chicken alfredo. Her chicken alfredo is always No. 1 — I love it.
Frierson: What's the best thing that's entered your life in 2016? It can be a movie, an album, food, music, a person — whatever. It's something new in your life that you're really glad is there.
Patrick: My math tutor. Oh man, it's been very beneficial. My tutor's name is Ashley and she's helped me in ways I didn't even know I could be helped, honestly. Math is not my thing and she's really helped keep me above water.
Frierson: What's something from your childhood that you really miss?
Patrick: Scooby-Doo — in my childhood I was a really big fan of Scooby-Doo. I had had Scooby-Doo bed sets, Scooby-Doo shower curtains; everything was Scooby-Doo and I miss Scooby-Doo.
Frierson: You can probably go to Target or somewhere and load up on a lot of Scooby-Doo stuff for your place now.
Patrick: I feel like I'm a little big for Scooby-Doo right now. That's definitely something in my mind that I go back and am like, alright, those were the good days.
Frierson: What's the greatest play or athletic feat of your life? It could be something you did in front of 92,000 people at Sanford Stadium or in front of no one in your backyard.
Patrick: I've got to take you back to my glory days in high school (at Mays). I'm going to walk you through the play: I was playing defensive end and it was on the left boundary; there was a call where the corner blitzes and I pop out, so when the corner blitzed and I popped out, the quarterback's read is obviously to throw it to (the receiver open because of the blitzer).
I tipped the ball up and then I spun around and caught it with one hand, and took it to the house. That was probably my greatest athletic feat.
Frierson: What's the most creative thing you do? Or what's something creative you wish you could do?
Patrick: Honestly, I wish I could sing. My mom's a singer, my grandmom's a pretty good singer, and I wish that was a trait that I carried. Don't get me wrong now, I can bust a few tunes, but I don't have the voice that my parents have.
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.
