University of Georgia Athletics
A Quick Chat With ... John Atkins
September 29, 2016 | Football
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Of all the things you might expect to come out of the mouth of Georgia nose tackle John Atkins — a 6-foot-4 and 315-pound junior — that he is a big soccer fan and played goalkeeper back in high school didn't rank high on the list. And that's exactly the point of these quick chats with Bulldog athletes.
Interviewers often have at least a decent idea of the answer to most of the questions they ask, but the job is never better than when we don't have a clue. During a quick chat following Tuesday's practice, Atkins, from Thomson, Ga., was full of interesting and unexpected responses.
Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Like me you have perhaps the most common first name ever. But your middle name is quite interesting — and original. I did a Google search of your middle name, Bandavious, and the only results I saw were ones about you. What can you tell me about Bandavious?
Atkins: I really have two (middle names), there's Bandavious and Mario, but nobody knows about the Mario. I've got a cousin that's about three months older than me, so my mom gave him his middle name. When it came to my middle name, my auntie named me Bandavious Mario.
That's all I really know, all I remember them telling me.
Frierson: I was just stunned that on Google, which essentially contains all the knowable information on the planet, had nothing. That means you have maybe the most original middle name in the world.
Atkins: Yes, sir, and I named my son that, too.
Frierson: Who on the team makes you laugh the hardest?
Atkins: There are a lot of them, like Tyler Clark, David Marshall, Trent Thompson, DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle — I don't want to be biased but I'm mostly around my defensive linemen.
Frierson: Who's somebody that you wouldn't think would be funny because they have a pretty serious demeanor, but they're actually surprisingly funny?
Atkins: Nick Chubb's funny. Yes, sir, Chubb's really funny. (Davin) Bellamy's really funny, too.
Frierson: If you could have played with or against anyone in history, who would it be?
Atkins: I want to play with Geno (former Georgia star defensive tackle Geno Atkins, a four-time Pro Bowl player for the Cincinnati Bengals). Everybody thinks that's my brother for some reason, so I want to play with Geno.
Frierson: What does a guy your size, who burns through a lot of calories in practice and in the weight room, have to eat in a day to stay at the weight you want to maintain? Can you take me through a day of eating to maintain, what, 315 pounds?
Atkins: I'm 308 now; I was 315, but I'm dropping weight every day.
I get up every day and they have Chick-fil-A every morning, so I go get two sausage, egg and cheese bagels, a Powerade and a water. Then I go to class. But I don't really eat too much throughout the day, until lunch. For lunch I'll go to the Georgia Center and what I eat depends on what all they have.
Sometimes I won't be hungry but I know I have to eat. You've got to fuel up for practice because you can't be out there empty. The way we practice, you can't be out there on an empty stomach.
So after I eat I'll come over here and get dressed (for practice), and I'll go over to the meeting room and have some chips or something, or like some beef jerky, and I'll drink a couple of Poweades and drink some water. We'll go to practice, come back, shower and then I'll go back to the Georgia Center or sometimes we get catered food on Thursdays, and I'll eat.
I eat a lot, and then I go home and have a little snack when I get to my house, too — some chips or something. Chips are my favorite.
Frierson: What's the most creative thing you do? Or what's something creative you wish you could do?
Atkins: I don't know. I wish they had a soccer team here, a men's team. When I was in high school I played soccer, so I've always like it and have been wanting to play soccer.
Frierson: I would not have guessed that. What position did you play?
Atkins: I played goalie. It was fun.
Frierson: Were you good?
Atkins: Yeah, I was ... I don't want to toot my own horn, but I was OK.
Frierson: Do you watch it on TV now when you have some free time?
Atkins: Yes, sir, I watch it when I can, like when the World Cup was on I watched it all the time. I like Brazil, I like Argentina, I like Messi (world superstar Lionel Messi, of Argentina and the Spanish league team Barcelona) — he's my favorite player.
Frierson: It's easy to like Messi; watching him is like watching an artist at work. And he's a tiny little guy.
Atkins: He's fast, though, and they can't stop him.
Frierson: I did not expect to be talking soccer with you. It's awesome.
Atkins: (Laughs) I love it, I really do.
Frierson: What's the greatest play or athletic feat of your life?
Atkins: I think it was last year. I've dunked a basketball before, but last year we were in the Ramsey Center, in the gym, I guess it was the offseason, and me and (former Georgia defensive tackle Toby Johnson) were playing. He ended up passing me the ball on a fast break and I just went up with two hands and flushed it.
I'd never really done a two-hand flush, it was always with one, and when I did it I looked at Toby and he just stopped and looked at me, and he was like, "I can't even play with you any more because I can't do that."
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.
