University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Ben Cleveland
December 15, 2020 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Before Georgia redshirt senior offensive lineman Ben Cleveland went over to Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall on Monday to do some interviews, he was on his phone checking Instagram. There, he said, he saw that exactly 5 years before, he and Jacob Eason were in Athens taking their official visits.
Both Cleveland and Eason not only signed with the Bulldogs but enrolled that spring. While Eason, the quarterback, later transferred after the 2017 season, the 6-foot-6 and 335-pound Cleveland, from Toccoa, Ga., has been here the whole time, starting off and on at right guard throughout his career.
The Bulldogs were scheduled to host Vanderbilt on Saturday in their pandemic-delayed home finale, when they would get a chance to hold their Senior Day celebrations, but that game was canceled because of squad size issues at Vanderbilt.
During our Quick Chat on Monday, Cleveland talked about the holidays, bowfishing, making time for some peaceful moments, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: We've got the holidays coming up, so what is the best present you've ever received?
Cleveland: Honestly, I don't think I've really asked for anything specific for Christmas in probably the last five or six years. It's hard to pick one present. I remember a couple of years ago, Santa Claus just wrapped up a couple of hundred-dollar bills and stick them under the tree.
The most enjoyable would be when I got a new dirt bike when I was probably 5 or 6, and then probably my first deer rifle that I got one year for my birthday.
Frierson: What is it like to get a dirt bike at such a young age? I was always kind of intimidated by those things but I'm guessing you never were.
Cleveland: We'd grown up riding 4-wheelers and things like that, so my brother and I, we both got dirt bikes for Christmas one year. We had a little track around the house that we'd ride on. It wasn't anything too big, it was just one of those things that you get on and go. Yeah, you'd fall off a few times, scrape your leg up, but it was still fun.
Frierson: What is a Cleveland family Christmas meal like? Do you all have any specific traditions?
Cleveland: We kind of switch it up every year, it's not the traditional meal that's basically the same thing as Thanksgiving. I think last year dad cooked some ribs and deer meat and stuff. Basically, any kind of wild game we've got in the freezer, that'll get thrown on the smoker, thrown on the grill, or something like that. It just depends from year to year.
Frierson: Which wild game is your favorite to eat?
Cleveland: I would say elk steaks are at the top of the list.
Frierson: Can you cook? Are you good in the kitchen?
Cleveland: Oh, yeah, I love to cook. Jamaree (Salyer) sometimes comes over, Jamaree and I live in the same apartment complex, and any time I cook for me and my fiancée, I'll invite him to come over to make sure he's fed.
Cooking is my getaway when I'm in Athens. I love to turn the smoker on, sit on the back porch and just hang out, just listen to the animals outside. I'll have my dog out there running around the yard. It's just one of those very enjoyable, peaceful moments.
Frierson: Have you gotten better at finding those moments during your time at Georgia? Do you need to get away more and find that quiet time?
Cleveland: I've made those moments happen regardless. Any chance that I get, whether it's a half-a-day trip here or there, just to get away, clear my mind and just relax and enjoy being outside. This is a full-time thing and we all love what we do, but everybody has to have what brings them back and what resets them. Mine is just getting away, cooking, sitting outside and really enjoying it.
Frierson: I know you're into bowfishing, how did you get started doing that?
Cleveland: I have friends that are into all different areas of the outdoors. I've got my friends that we deer-hunt with, I've got my group that we bowfish with, and it's basically just knowing different people and trying new things.
That one's not as relaxing. That one's a little on the stressful side because it can get a little hectic from time to time. It's almost more enjoyable than sitting there with a regular rod and reel. You've got action all the time; you're sitting there constantly looking for fish. It's a lot more difficult than just sitting there on the edge of the boat, throwing one in the water.
Frierson: It seems like it would be a lot more challenging. What's it called, refraction, with water and light, where what you see isn't exactly as things are?
Cleveland: I always tell myself, when I think I'm aiming low enough, aim a little bit lower. Once you get it figured out, it's a lot of fun.
Frierson: Is bowfishing something you'd like to do in a more exotic place, as well?
Cleveland: We've talked about going out to Texas and shooting some alligator gar and stuff like that. It helps our lakes out around here, shooting carp and gar, because they really do no good. Gar eat all the gamefish that people fish for in bass tournaments and stuff like that. Carp, they're an invasive species, so it's trying to help clean up our lakes around here, too.
I think I would enjoy going out to Texas or somewhere like that and shooting a big ole 200-pound alligator gar.
Frierson: What is it like to be at this point in your redshirt senior season? I'm sure in some ways it feels like you've been at Georgia for a very long time.
Cleveland: It's kind of weird. I was actually checking Instagram before I came over here and 5 years ago today, Jacob Eason and I, we were on our official visits up here. Man, kind of standing back and looking at it, it seems like a long, long time ago. But then you look at it from the reality of things and it's just like the snap of a finger. You blink and all of a sudden it's been 5 years.
I've seen a lot of people come and go through this place and made a lot of good friends. It's crazy to think that I've been here for 5 whole years, but there's definitely been a lot of good memories made and a lot of people who will still be my good friends in the long run.
Frierson: How have you changed the most as a person in all that time?
Cleveland: I think I had to mature really fast. I started appreciating the little things in life, as we were talking about, just finding that escape and getting away. I started to appreciate what little time I get with my family, stuff like that. I really started taking more advantage of that than I have in the past, because you realize it doesn't last forever. I think that's been the biggest lesson that I've learned, just take advantage of the little things in life.
Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be?
Cleveland: Singing — I was actually talking to my fiancée about that last night, I want to be able to sing.
Frierson: Is there one song that you wish you could do to perfection?
Cleveland: That's a good question. I don't know, I'm very bouncy with my music, I kind of go off the wall with everything. I think I sound good when I sing in the truck but I know people listening to me don't like it.
It would be hard to pick out a song. I would say, I don't know, "Freebird" or some kind of Lynyrd Skynyrd some maybe.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
Before Georgia redshirt senior offensive lineman Ben Cleveland went over to Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall on Monday to do some interviews, he was on his phone checking Instagram. There, he said, he saw that exactly 5 years before, he and Jacob Eason were in Athens taking their official visits.
Both Cleveland and Eason not only signed with the Bulldogs but enrolled that spring. While Eason, the quarterback, later transferred after the 2017 season, the 6-foot-6 and 335-pound Cleveland, from Toccoa, Ga., has been here the whole time, starting off and on at right guard throughout his career.
The Bulldogs were scheduled to host Vanderbilt on Saturday in their pandemic-delayed home finale, when they would get a chance to hold their Senior Day celebrations, but that game was canceled because of squad size issues at Vanderbilt.
During our Quick Chat on Monday, Cleveland talked about the holidays, bowfishing, making time for some peaceful moments, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: We've got the holidays coming up, so what is the best present you've ever received?
Cleveland: Honestly, I don't think I've really asked for anything specific for Christmas in probably the last five or six years. It's hard to pick one present. I remember a couple of years ago, Santa Claus just wrapped up a couple of hundred-dollar bills and stick them under the tree.
The most enjoyable would be when I got a new dirt bike when I was probably 5 or 6, and then probably my first deer rifle that I got one year for my birthday.
Frierson: What is it like to get a dirt bike at such a young age? I was always kind of intimidated by those things but I'm guessing you never were.
Cleveland: We'd grown up riding 4-wheelers and things like that, so my brother and I, we both got dirt bikes for Christmas one year. We had a little track around the house that we'd ride on. It wasn't anything too big, it was just one of those things that you get on and go. Yeah, you'd fall off a few times, scrape your leg up, but it was still fun.
Frierson: What is a Cleveland family Christmas meal like? Do you all have any specific traditions?
Cleveland: We kind of switch it up every year, it's not the traditional meal that's basically the same thing as Thanksgiving. I think last year dad cooked some ribs and deer meat and stuff. Basically, any kind of wild game we've got in the freezer, that'll get thrown on the smoker, thrown on the grill, or something like that. It just depends from year to year.
Frierson: Which wild game is your favorite to eat?
Cleveland: I would say elk steaks are at the top of the list.
Frierson: Can you cook? Are you good in the kitchen?
Cleveland: Oh, yeah, I love to cook. Jamaree (Salyer) sometimes comes over, Jamaree and I live in the same apartment complex, and any time I cook for me and my fiancée, I'll invite him to come over to make sure he's fed.
Cooking is my getaway when I'm in Athens. I love to turn the smoker on, sit on the back porch and just hang out, just listen to the animals outside. I'll have my dog out there running around the yard. It's just one of those very enjoyable, peaceful moments.
Frierson: Have you gotten better at finding those moments during your time at Georgia? Do you need to get away more and find that quiet time?
Cleveland: I've made those moments happen regardless. Any chance that I get, whether it's a half-a-day trip here or there, just to get away, clear my mind and just relax and enjoy being outside. This is a full-time thing and we all love what we do, but everybody has to have what brings them back and what resets them. Mine is just getting away, cooking, sitting outside and really enjoying it.
Frierson: I know you're into bowfishing, how did you get started doing that?
Cleveland: I have friends that are into all different areas of the outdoors. I've got my friends that we deer-hunt with, I've got my group that we bowfish with, and it's basically just knowing different people and trying new things.
That one's not as relaxing. That one's a little on the stressful side because it can get a little hectic from time to time. It's almost more enjoyable than sitting there with a regular rod and reel. You've got action all the time; you're sitting there constantly looking for fish. It's a lot more difficult than just sitting there on the edge of the boat, throwing one in the water.
Frierson: It seems like it would be a lot more challenging. What's it called, refraction, with water and light, where what you see isn't exactly as things are?
Cleveland: I always tell myself, when I think I'm aiming low enough, aim a little bit lower. Once you get it figured out, it's a lot of fun.
Frierson: Is bowfishing something you'd like to do in a more exotic place, as well?
Cleveland: We've talked about going out to Texas and shooting some alligator gar and stuff like that. It helps our lakes out around here, shooting carp and gar, because they really do no good. Gar eat all the gamefish that people fish for in bass tournaments and stuff like that. Carp, they're an invasive species, so it's trying to help clean up our lakes around here, too.
I think I would enjoy going out to Texas or somewhere like that and shooting a big ole 200-pound alligator gar.
Frierson: What is it like to be at this point in your redshirt senior season? I'm sure in some ways it feels like you've been at Georgia for a very long time.
Cleveland: It's kind of weird. I was actually checking Instagram before I came over here and 5 years ago today, Jacob Eason and I, we were on our official visits up here. Man, kind of standing back and looking at it, it seems like a long, long time ago. But then you look at it from the reality of things and it's just like the snap of a finger. You blink and all of a sudden it's been 5 years.
I've seen a lot of people come and go through this place and made a lot of good friends. It's crazy to think that I've been here for 5 whole years, but there's definitely been a lot of good memories made and a lot of people who will still be my good friends in the long run.
Frierson: How have you changed the most as a person in all that time?
Cleveland: I think I had to mature really fast. I started appreciating the little things in life, as we were talking about, just finding that escape and getting away. I started to appreciate what little time I get with my family, stuff like that. I really started taking more advantage of that than I have in the past, because you realize it doesn't last forever. I think that's been the biggest lesson that I've learned, just take advantage of the little things in life.
Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be?
Cleveland: Singing — I was actually talking to my fiancée about that last night, I want to be able to sing.
Frierson: Is there one song that you wish you could do to perfection?
Cleveland: That's a good question. I don't know, I'm very bouncy with my music, I kind of go off the wall with everything. I think I sound good when I sing in the truck but I know people listening to me don't like it.
It would be hard to pick out a song. I would say, I don't know, "Freebird" or some kind of Lynyrd Skynyrd some maybe.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Assistant Sports Communications Director 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.
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