University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Lawrence Cager
August 23, 2019 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Before spending four years playing football and earning a degree at the University of Miami, Lawrence Cager wanted to be a Georgia Bulldog. He was a tall and ultra-athletic wide receiver from the Baltimore, Md., area, that wanted to wear the red and black.
Now, a few twists and turns in the road later, Cager, all 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds of him, is a Bulldog, having joined the squad as a graduate transfer. He started 12 games last season and led the Hurricanes with six touchdown catches. While he's new to Georgia's receiving corps, the man that nearly cleared 7 feet in the high jump in high school has played a ton of college football and enters the season with 45 career receptions and 10 touchdowns.
During a Quick Chat after practice Thursday, Cager talked about getting to know Athens and a new team, building chemistry with quarterbacks, jumping high and much more (but not "The Wire"). Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: What was the best thing you did this summer?
Cager: I think the most interesting part was going to downtown Athens the first time, because Miami is not a college town; it's more tourists and stuff, so you've got to go out out. But really seeing a lot of people in downtown Athens, it was new to me and it was very cool. I liked it.
Frierson: It's not quite South Beach.
Cager: It's not South Beach, but it's got its own personality that I liked.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Cager: Salmon. It used to be pizza, though, and I had to stop that.
Frierson: I look at your frame and I don't see a guy that's eating too much pizza.
Cager: Yeah, I had to stop. A little late-night pizza was getting to me. I've fixed my diet around and I love salmon, could eat it every day.
Frierson: Do you like it prepared a particular way?
Cager: I'll go to a restaurant and they've got dragon glaze, they got regular salmon, they got almond-crusted salmon and crab salmon — it doesn't matter, I'll eat it.
Frierson: As a Baltimore guy, is it a sin that you didn't say crab cakes were something you could eat every day?
Cager: Now, if it gets out in Baltimore, they might get back to me like, "Look, now, we're the city of the crabs." I'll eat me a good crab cake anywhere. It's got to be a specific spot though because you got to get a good one. Louisiana has some good ones, Miami doesn't.
I never had a crab cake (while attending Miami), I learned my lesson on my visit. I had a crab cake at the Rusty Pelican and it looked like a salmon cake. I was like, enough. That's when I realized that not all crab cakes are the same.
When I'm back home, that's the first thing I eat.
Frierson: Who's the funniest guy on the team?
Cager: Solomon (Kindley).
Frierson: That's two interviews in a row. A couple of days ago, Cade Mays said the same thing. [And a second later Kindley walked into the room.]
Cager: There he goes.
Frierson: (To Kindley) Two interviews in a row, guys have said you're the funniest guy on the team.
Kindley: Oh, yeah, I've got to be funny.
Frierson: How are you funny?
Kindley: I just be me. I just be me and give a good personality.
Frierson: And now back to our conversation: You won two Maryland state titles in the high jump and have a personal best of 6-foot-9 inches ...
Cager: 6-11; 6-9 was one championship and 6-11 was the record.
Frierson: I'm guessing you were quite serious about the high jump ...
Cager: No, not at all. I did it after I quit basketball. I was a three-sport varsity athlete (football, basketball and baseball) as a sophomore, and just going to different camps — I would go to a baseball camp during basketball season or a football camp during baseball season. It got overwhelming because I had to go ... essentially the (athletic director at Calvert Hall High School) was like, you've got to pick one sport. He couldn't have me missing a game because of a camp and stuff.
I picked football because that was where I had the most offers at the time, so I needed something to do during the winter and spring. My football coach was the track coach and he said come on out. I tried hurdles, was not a good hurdler, had no technique. I could jump out the gym and I could run so I did the 400 and I did all the jumps.
The first meet we had indoors, with no form, I cleared 6-9 in the high jump — I don't know how I did it; to this day I don't know, I promise you. ... The next year I came back with a little more technique and got 6-11. I almost got 7-foot, nicked (the bar) a little bit.
Frierson: So you do all that with almost no training and practice, is there any part of you that thinks the high jump is something you could have stuck with?
Cager: I told my dad that; I said, "We probably could have been invested in track a little bit more."
Frierson: You've caught passes from a lot of different quarterbacks in your college career, so have you learned how to quickly develop chemistry with a new guy? Or is some of it all the same because either way it's a ball coming your way that you have to catch?
Cager: That's not ... a lot of people on the outside just think he's just getting the ball; the quarterback has to trust you and really what it is is, you've got to make plays in practice for him to trust you. ... It's really just making plays for him and making him feel comfortable, and really just talking through stuff. That's when you build chemistry.
Frierson: I would imagine a good amount of that happened here over the summer.
Cager: Yeah, that's really what the summer and camp are for, really building chemistry with all your teammates, not just your quarterback.
Frierson: Do you feel at home here yet or are you still figuring things out?
Cager: I actually feel at home; I've moved into my apartment and it's better than my apartment in Miami, for cheaper. ... I like it; I said in an interview before I came here, Georgia just felt like home because I wanted to come here out of high school. Some people committed before me and it just fell through, but now that I'm here it's just like, God works in mysterious ways.
Frierson: Do you feel like one of the old men on the team, because you're a graduate transfer? Or do you feel like the new guy?
Cager: You know, the funny thing, I'm like young and old at the same time. I'm 22, I'm not that old; honestly, at Miami I kept kind of feeling old because guys on the Miami team were young. Here's it's just like, I feel like a regular dude; I feel like I've been here for a while and I love that part.
Frierson: What's the most creative thing you do, or something creative you wish you could do?
Cager: I wish I could draw, like paint and stuff, I'd love that. I wish I could sing, too. ... I used to ing when I was little, like choir, but not anymore.
Frierson: Is there a teammate or fellow Georgia Bulldog that you kind of marvel at because of his or her abilities? Maybe Matthew Boling sprinting past Richard LeCounte the other day in that video?
Cager: I've never seen somebody that fast on a track in person. I was like, whoa! And I didn't know he ran 9.9 (in the 100 meters, wind aided, in high school). That's insane, that's moving.
Frierson: Yes! I got through this interview without asking you a question about "The Wire."
Cager: You know what, that's good, though. I have never gotten a question about "The Wire" since I got here; in Miami, I got them all the time. ... It's realistic but there's more to Baltimore than just "The Wire."
(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.
