University of Georgia Athletics
A Quick Chat With ... Mike Edwards
January 27, 2017 | Men's Basketball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Mike Edwards is pretty darn good with a Rubik's Cube, which is probably something you didn't know.
The 6-foot-9 sophomore on the men's basketball team is from Westland, Mich., roughly 20 miles from both Ann Arbor and Detroit. His father, Mike, played defensive end for Michigan State in the early 1990s, but the long and lean Edwards gave up football halfway through high school to focus on basketball.
Edwards talked about that and much more during a recent quick chat. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: We just wrapped up the holiday season, so what's a Christmas or holidays like at the Edwards household?
Edwards: We usually go to my grandparents' house first and celebrate Christmas on the 24th with them. They're about 45 minutes from my house so we all get together there, then when we come back to our house and we get together with different family members in the area. It's pretty cool.
Frierson: Is there one thing that stands out and reminds you that you're home at Christmas, like a sight or smell or anything?
Edwards: I'd have to go with brownies, the smell of brownies. My mom's mom, she cooks the best brownies.
Frierson: That's a good smell.
Edwards: That's a great smell.
Frierson: I've been informed that you're a bit of a Rubik's Cube whiz. How did that happen?
Edwards: One day I was bored online and I saw someone doing it, like, eight seconds, which inspired me. I went out and ordered a Rubik's Cube and it literally took me two hours to figure it out. I think my fastest time so far is a minute and one second. I'm getting faster.
Frierson: I'm 44 and I was a kid when that thing came out, so I'm surprised it's even still around. Does your brain naturally work that way, where you can process and figure out things like that quickly? Are you a math guy?
Edwards: In a way, I guess. It's actually easier than you think. I kind of like to fool people into thinking I'm like a super genius, but I just found out a way to do it.
Frierson: Are you good at any other things like that?
Edwards: I showed my family that I could solve the Rubik's Cube pretty quickly and they were amazed, as well, and they went out and got me a whole bunch of puzzles to solve for Christmas.
Frierson: What's the most creative thing you do? Or what's something creative you wish you could do?
Edwards: Actually, I'm really creative when it comes to making videos. It's one of my hobbies; I'll just make a random video and I have this program that I started using in high school, it's called After Effects, and I just make the video cool and put a bunch of effects on it
Frierson: So it's almost like making a music video?
Edwards: It's something like that. It can be basketball or any other type of thing
Frierson: What's one thing you could eat every day for the rest of your life?
Edwards: Pancakes — pancakes or waffles?
Frierson: Have you found a good pancake place around here?
Edwards: I usually just go with IHOP or J. Christopher's, but I will say by far my favorite place to go, and you can ask anyone that knows me, is Waffle House. We don't have it in Michigan, so when I came down here it was all new to me. I love Waffle House.
Frierson: I was going to ask, are there many Georgian or Southern things that you've adopted in your year-plus down here? Have you picked up any Southern sayings or anything that the folks back home have noticed?
Edwards: Actually, when I went back home for Christmas they brought up the time I said "y'all." I never really noticed that I didn't I say it until I came down here. I guess I said "you guys" before that, I can't remember. It's funny how things like that change.
Frierson: I know your dad, Mike, was a defensive end at Michigan State, so was football ever a sport for you for a while?
Edwards: It was mainly always basketball, but I tried football my freshman year and sophomore year in high school. After my sophomore year I just focused on basketball.
Frierson: As a guy that never had a first dunk, never came close, I like hearing about other people's first dunks. So what can you tell me about your first?
Edwards: That was in sixth grade, in gym class. It was at the end of the hour and we were just fooling around. I told everybody to line up because I was going to do it this time. I had everybody line up in a big line toward the rim, like a pathway, and I started from half court, ran, jumped up and dunked that thing. Everybody was screaming and hyping me up, it was really cool.
I was so excited that I went home screaming to my dad and mom.
Frierson: How tall were you at that point?
Edwards: I was about 6 feet tall, I guess.
Frierson: That may be the youngest I've heard of, out of all the guys on the team I've talked to about it. ... What's the biggest drawback to being as tall as you are, if there is one? I imagine air travel can be a bit difficult.
Edwards: I'd have to go with shopping as the most inconvenient thing. I have to get pretty much everything online. And travel is hard. I have to squeeze in a lot of places. When I'm flying I try to get an exit row seat so I can have a little extra room.
Frierson: What's something you've watched online recently — YouTube, Netflix or whatever — that you highly recommend to people?
Edwards: I'd say on Netflix there's a show called "The 100" that I really like. It's based in the future and these kids come back to Earth after it got nuked or something and learn how to survive. It's really interesting, and I'm waiting for the next season to come out now.
(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.
