University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Turtle Jackson
January 15, 2019 | Men's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
William Jackson II says people tell him he has an old soul. The Georgia men's basketball senior appreciates old-school music like Bootsie Collins, he wants an old-school muscle car one day and a great player he admires is George Gervin, an old-school ABA and NBA legend that wrapped up his career in 1990.
Jackson, whom we all know as Turtle, talked about all that and more during a Quick Chat in early January. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: What other sports did you play growing up and how would you rate your abilities in those sports?
Jackson: I only played football, and I did that for one game. When I got tackled, after that I took my helmet off and told my dad I wanted to try another sport (laughs). I was a little kid.
Frierson: Were you already living here then?
Jackson: No, I was in Buffalo, N.Y. That's where I was born and I lived there until about the third grade.
Frierson: Were you a Bills fan as a kid?
Jackson: You could say that. My grandad was a Bills fan and I always liked them, too. We try to stick with them.
Frierson: If you could be really good at any other sport besides basketball, what would it be?
Jackson: I would like to try baseball. I like baseball, watching it and like the little swag that they have when they come up to the plate. It would be cool to hit home runs.
Frierson: And baseball has that walk-up music that's pretty cool. If you could have some walk-up music on the basketball court, what would it be?
Jackson: Probably some Keith Sweat or something like that, something to people laughing. Some old-school stuff.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Jackson: Seafood — all seafood, any type of seafood.
Frierson: What's your favorite?
Jackson: I like crab legs. I could eat that every day.
Frierson: I like the crab meat but I don't like having to do all the work to get it out of the legs.
Jackson: You've got to work for it; if you want anything in life you've got to work for it.
Frierson: Can you imagine swimming in the water and coming across a bunch of those giant snow crabs? That would be terrifying.
Jackson: I'd rather come across one of those than a shark.
Frierson: That's a very, very good point. Does it blow your mind that this is your last season here? To me, it seems like you still just got here.
Jackson: Nah, it doesn't really blow my mind. It's come to this time, just like in high school. I've learned a lot about myself and each year it's just the love for UGA and all the positive things I've learned. It's just great.
Frierson: What do you know now that you wish you'd known a few years ago at this time?
Jackson: Just be yourself in everything and I already loved myself, but I've learned to love myself even more. I've gotten to know myself better.
Frierson: What's the best live performance you've ever seen?
Jackson: I've been to a couple of concerts that I really liked, like Lil Boosie. I think I was in high school and I think he had one of his first performances, in Louisiana, and I went there and saw that. That was nice.
Frierson: What's something outside of school and basketball that you want to do or accomplish in 2019?
Jackson: I want to keep growing my hair out (laughs).
Frierson: How big are we talking?
Jackson: I just want to grow it out as long as I can. I've always wanted to do that in life and I'm just like, why not do it your senior year?
Frierson: If you could play with or against anyone in history, who would it be?
Jackson: George Gervin, the Iceman. Yeah, a classic take-'em back right there. He was just so smooth. You said play with or against, but I would like to see it, just sit on the front row and watch him do his thing.
Frierson: If you could go anywhere in the world on somebody else's dime, where would you like to go?
Jackson: I want to go to Thailand. I was telling my mom that I would like to go there, so I'll probably go next year or the year after that.
Frierson: Is it the food or the culture?
Jackson: I just want to go somewhere with the nature and that's beautiful.
Frierson: I want to go there for the food, because I love Thai food. And the food in so many other places is just so much better than here, healthier than it is here.
Jackson: I gave up eating pork, I stopped eating pork.
Frierson: For health reasons?
Jackson: Health and religion, kind of. I was reading the Old Testament and they were talking about how they don't want you eating swine because of the pig and what you put into yourself and your mind. But then as a Christian, when Christ came it changed a lot with our diet and stuff.
Oh, that's it for 2019. I'm going to change my answer for what I want to do in 2019, it's not eat any pork. If I know, I don't want to eat any pork.
Frierson: Is that going to be hard for you?
Jackson: Um, ribs, I'll miss ribs. But it really hasn't been that hard at the beginning of 2019.
Frierson: What's something old-school that you're into? You already said the Iceman, so that's one thing.
Jackson: I've got an old soul, a lot of people say. I listen to a lot of old-school music, like Funkadelic, Bootsie Collins, and I want to have an old-school car one day. I want a muscle car, an old-school muscle car.
(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.
