University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Nate McBride
September 30, 2020 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Being a proud son of Vidalia, Ga., Georgia linebacker Nate McBride has great respect for the onions that made his hometown famous. Other than those sweet Vidalia's though, the Bulldog senior doesn't much care for onions.
McBride, whose father played at West Georgia, developed his love of football at a very young age. As he told me during a Quick Chat after practice Tuesday, as a small boy he'd run around the house and the yard with a ball in his hand, treating everything in his path as a would-be tackler that had to be avoided with a nifty cut or run over on the way to a touchdown.
During our Chat, McBride also talked about his hometown, those onions, keeping busy during quarantine, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: How did you fill your downtime during spring and summer?
McBride: My family just got a lake house on Lake Sinclair, so just about every weekend we were up there. I was at home the whole time and it was good being around my friends. And, of course, there was time for football every day, but besides that, I would be at the lake on the weekends and I'd be chilling, playing video games with my friends.
Frierson: Tell me about home — when you think of home what comes to mind?
McBride: It's a small town so everybody knows everybody, and it's fun just driving the strip (through town). Vidalia is, of course, known for their onions, but they're also known for the strip. Just being able to drive up and down through Vidalia, that was probably one of the funnest things, being with my friends and listening to music in the car. Then we'd go to Sonic or something, that was the best.
I think about my family, too. I'm a big family man, so I love being around my family.
Frierson: I have some onion-related questions. Does the town smell like onions? Do you all eat onions all the time? Are you sick of onions at this point?
McBride: I never really liked onions — I liked Vidalia onions — but I never really liked onions. In town it didn't smell like it because they didn't grow them in town, but we used to live out in the country and we'd have to drive past the onion fields every day to get to the house, and you could smell it. It still smelled like a nasty onion, but the taste was the best part.
Frierson: What can you tell me about the Vidalia Onion Festival? Is that a big deal in town?
McBride: Oh, it's a huge deal. We would have pretty popular, whether it was a country music artist or country band, they'd always come out and do a concert. They'd have the air show with the Blue Angels. I was the ice boy one year for it and I got to drive around the Gator, and it was such a fun time and it lasted for a weekend, so there was a lot of different stuff to do.
Frierson: What is an ice boy?
McBride: Pretty much you're on a Gator and you pick up ice and you deliver it to all the different huts that need it for their drinks.
Frierson: How old were you when you started playing football and what got you interested in the game?
McBride: I started playing when I was 6 years old, but my entire family played football. My dad played in college and my grandpa played, not in college but he was all-state in high school. It was just always in our family.
My mom and my dad used to tell me that I would be just a little thing running around, this was when we lived out in the country, and I'd be juking and trying to dodge all the big ferns and the tall grass, and the furniture inside the house. It was always football and it's been a part of my life forever.
Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be?
McBride: I got three things. I would love to be a world-class sprinter so I could get to the Olympics. I've always wanted to go to the Olympics. I was always fast but I wasn't sprinter fast.
Second thing, this would just be kind of fun because I like to do it with my friends, but I would like to be a great rapper. And the last thing, I would love to be a YouTube video game streamer or like a pro video game player. I've always been into video games so that would be fun.
Frierson: What is your all-time favorite video game?
McBride: I'd probably say it's between NCAA Football or Fight Night boxing games. I guess it would be the (NCAA Football) 14 because that was the last one they made.
Frierson: As a young football player, did you dream about being in that NCAA game at some point?
McBride: I was like, dang, that's going to be cool if I'm in a video game one day.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
McBride: I'd probably say, I remembered something right off the bat, the chicken and dumplings from Cracker Barrel. Or, my grandmother who passed last year, her fried catfish.
Frierson: How good are you in the kitchen?
McBride: Oh, man, I'm terrible. I can make me some cereal, I can make me some eggs, and I just made some Hamburger Helper the other night. That's about it, though. I'm hoping I marry somebody like my momma, who loves to cook.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
Being a proud son of Vidalia, Ga., Georgia linebacker Nate McBride has great respect for the onions that made his hometown famous. Other than those sweet Vidalia's though, the Bulldog senior doesn't much care for onions.
McBride, whose father played at West Georgia, developed his love of football at a very young age. As he told me during a Quick Chat after practice Tuesday, as a small boy he'd run around the house and the yard with a ball in his hand, treating everything in his path as a would-be tackler that had to be avoided with a nifty cut or run over on the way to a touchdown.
During our Chat, McBride also talked about his hometown, those onions, keeping busy during quarantine, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: How did you fill your downtime during spring and summer?
McBride: My family just got a lake house on Lake Sinclair, so just about every weekend we were up there. I was at home the whole time and it was good being around my friends. And, of course, there was time for football every day, but besides that, I would be at the lake on the weekends and I'd be chilling, playing video games with my friends.
Frierson: Tell me about home — when you think of home what comes to mind?
McBride: It's a small town so everybody knows everybody, and it's fun just driving the strip (through town). Vidalia is, of course, known for their onions, but they're also known for the strip. Just being able to drive up and down through Vidalia, that was probably one of the funnest things, being with my friends and listening to music in the car. Then we'd go to Sonic or something, that was the best.
I think about my family, too. I'm a big family man, so I love being around my family.
Frierson: I have some onion-related questions. Does the town smell like onions? Do you all eat onions all the time? Are you sick of onions at this point?
McBride: I never really liked onions — I liked Vidalia onions — but I never really liked onions. In town it didn't smell like it because they didn't grow them in town, but we used to live out in the country and we'd have to drive past the onion fields every day to get to the house, and you could smell it. It still smelled like a nasty onion, but the taste was the best part.
Frierson: What can you tell me about the Vidalia Onion Festival? Is that a big deal in town?
McBride: Oh, it's a huge deal. We would have pretty popular, whether it was a country music artist or country band, they'd always come out and do a concert. They'd have the air show with the Blue Angels. I was the ice boy one year for it and I got to drive around the Gator, and it was such a fun time and it lasted for a weekend, so there was a lot of different stuff to do.
Frierson: What is an ice boy?
McBride: Pretty much you're on a Gator and you pick up ice and you deliver it to all the different huts that need it for their drinks.
Frierson: How old were you when you started playing football and what got you interested in the game?
McBride: I started playing when I was 6 years old, but my entire family played football. My dad played in college and my grandpa played, not in college but he was all-state in high school. It was just always in our family.
My mom and my dad used to tell me that I would be just a little thing running around, this was when we lived out in the country, and I'd be juking and trying to dodge all the big ferns and the tall grass, and the furniture inside the house. It was always football and it's been a part of my life forever.
Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be?
McBride: I got three things. I would love to be a world-class sprinter so I could get to the Olympics. I've always wanted to go to the Olympics. I was always fast but I wasn't sprinter fast.
Second thing, this would just be kind of fun because I like to do it with my friends, but I would like to be a great rapper. And the last thing, I would love to be a YouTube video game streamer or like a pro video game player. I've always been into video games so that would be fun.
Frierson: What is your all-time favorite video game?
McBride: I'd probably say it's between NCAA Football or Fight Night boxing games. I guess it would be the (NCAA Football) 14 because that was the last one they made.
Frierson: As a young football player, did you dream about being in that NCAA game at some point?
McBride: I was like, dang, that's going to be cool if I'm in a video game one day.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
McBride: I'd probably say, I remembered something right off the bat, the chicken and dumplings from Cracker Barrel. Or, my grandmother who passed last year, her fried catfish.
Frierson: How good are you in the kitchen?
McBride: Oh, man, I'm terrible. I can make me some cereal, I can make me some eggs, and I just made some Hamburger Helper the other night. That's about it, though. I'm hoping I marry somebody like my momma, who loves to cook.
(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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