University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Jeb Blazevich
December 05, 2019 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Jeb Blazevich isn't a football player anymore. The former Georgia tight end wrapped up his career in 2017 — technically 2018, in the National Championship Game — and is now living in Nashville, Tenn., with his wife Addy, a former Georgia track and cross country runner.
Blazevich got a brief look at the NFL, finding out on his honeymoon in Jamaica that he needed to start training for a workout with the Jaguars, but he's now doing what he planned to do all along, work in the insurance business, at Hub International. He also spends time working with Addy at a Nashville-based anti-human trafficking non-profit.
Life is very good for Blazevich, a man of deep faith who is very appreciative of everything that's come his way. Including, believe it or not, the chance to do yet another Quick Chat. On Wednesday afternoon he became the first member of the Quick Chat five-timers club. After seeing former teammates J.R. Reed and Rodrigo Blankenship match him with four of these (often) silly interviews, Blazevich was eager to do a throwback edition.
During the Chat, he talked about staying in shape, his new interest in woodworking, enjoying having his weekends free for a change and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: How is post-collegiate life? Is it about what you expected?
Blazevich: Wow, let me tell you: every time I was on a bus to go practice or scrimmage on a Saturday, I was like, wow, I don't know if I'd just rather be off right now. Or every time there was a Tuesday practice and I'm sweating like crazy, and I'm like, you know what, I could be in a comfortable, air-conditioned room right now, just punching on a keyboard instead of punching other guys.
All of those thoughts have been justified — it is just amazing. [Laughs.] I'm like, if I don't want to work out, I don't have to work out. If want to have a structured life, I can have a structured life. I've kept in shape and I've kept a pretty good schedule, a pretty rigid schedule, because I feel like it helps that way. But I have 52 weekends completely off, like how rare is that? [Laughs.]
Frierson: It's been an awfully long time, since you were 5 years old or something.
Blazevich: That's what I'm saying, every weekend is a bye weekend. It's incredible.
Frierson: So what are you doing to stay in shape? And you've had to learn to eat a lot less too, right?
Blazevich: Oh, yeah, that's been the hardest part. My wife is super healthy, she's a health nut, so that helps. She'll get onto me if I get too much Wendy's, but we have a YMCA right across the street from where I work which definitely helps, and I'll just go there before work.
I'm not working out to look a certain way, I'm not working out to get any sort of goals — I'm just trying to not get fat. I think going in with that attitude, it's pretty easy to do that if you just sweat and watch what you eat. [Laughs.]
Frierson: Obviously your lovely bride was a distance runner at Georgia, so does she have you out there putting in any 10-milers?
Blazevich: No, the most I did was run close to four miles straight the other day, which is the most consecutive miles I've run. But I'm dipping my toes in that water, I'm trying to see what's up, but I'll never be able to catch up with her.
Frierson: You come from such a competitive sport, so do you have an outlet now for all those competitive juices?
Blazevich: That was one of the hardest transitions, realizing that when you're playing board games it's not like you're playing in front of 100,000 screaming fans, and no, things don't matter. [Laughs.]
There are a couple of workout groups I'm a part of and there's one Friday, it's called F3, for faith, fellowship and fitness, and we'll go out and compete Crossfit-style with guys. That's been a good way to get around some of the boys and hang out and go get coffee afterward. You can compete if you want and if you don't want to it's just about making it through it together.
Frierson: Now for the important question is, how are you doing with the Nashville hot chicken?
Blazevich: Now that is making me have to sweat a little more and eat a little better when I'm not working out. That is amazing. I've never had so much fried chicken in my life and I love it. There are so many good places. ... Everybody has a special hot-chicken dish, which I think is awesome.
Frierson: Can you handle the really spicy stuff?
Blazevich: No, I'm kind of weak like that. I don't take much pride in hurting myself when I eat, I like to enjoy my food. That being said, I'm not afraid to at least try it. But on a recurring basis, no way.
Frierson: How are you filling your free time now that you actually have some?
Blazevich: We're able to travel a lot. Being here in Nashville, we're able to get to different parts of the Southeast, whether it's Kentucky or Arkansas or Alabama, Mississippi — we just like to go explore a lot of times. ... I'm also able to do pretty much anything I wanted to do at Georgia, like a weird woodworking project or playing more golf.
It's such a carefree time because we don't have children yet, so we can just wake up on Saturday and be like, what do we want to do today? It's bizarre. [Laughs.]
Frierson: Tell me about the woodworking.
Blazevich: Addy's going to kill me for this, but I found a stump on the side of the road ...
Frierson: That is the best beginning to a story. I can't wait to hear what's next.
Blazevich: [Laughs.] There I was driving and I was like, "Addy, help me put this in my truck." She was already like, "What are you doing, this is ridiculous." And then, because I don't own a chainsaw yet, I went to Home Depot and rented a chainsaw and cut it down. I'm like, all right, this could be a coffee table, this could be x, y and z — I've been drying it out for about a year and I've decided I'm going to make a bar cart top.
Then I had to plane it; I don't know how but I figured out that one of my friends' dads has an industrial-sized planer and he lives not too far away from here. Then I had to put in some bowtie inlays, so I had to route that out and make those, put those in there; then I had to sand it down and now I'm going to have to finish it. I think the easiest part is going to be putting on the industrial-style plumbing as the legs and stuff like that.
That's been my pet project for about a year now. ... It takes a lot to get into it because you have to have the right tools, but me and my buddy Shane, he's a Georgia grad and an artist up here — my groomsmen gave me a Big Green Egg for a wedding present, which is why it's great to have 10 groomsmen because they can do that for you — and we were making a table to put that in. After that it was just kind of a spark, like, I really enjoy this.
After that it was just, what are some weird projects that I can do. Most of it's just been fixing stuff, fixing old furniture here and there. ... I just like creating things, I guess; just slow projects like that are fun.
Frierson: Is there any part of football you miss at this point?
Blazevich: Oh, definitely. The guys in the locker room and the fellowship — the people first and foremost, and then after that the game. Game days, at max you have 15 of them, but they make every single day of training and preparation worth it. Even the scrimmages, when coaches were hands off and just said, go play football, that was the most fun that we were able to have in a controlled environment.
Between the people and the games and competitive aspect of playing football, those are the biggest things I miss.
Frierson: I thought of you last Saturday when your buddy Charlie Woerner caught his first career touchdown pass.
Blazevich: Oh, we were freaking out seeing that. My whole family, we were all cheering for him and screaming our heads off. It was awesome.
(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.
