University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Trezmen Marshall
September 13, 2022 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Trezmen Marshall learned how to compete and learned how to win while growing up in tiny Homerville, Ga. — he did plenty of both during his four years playing at Clinch County High School — but to eat some McDonald's, he had to head out of town.
Located about halfway between Valdosta and Waycross, Homerville, with a population of around 2,000, had a Dairy Queen and a Subway, the 6-foot-1 and 230-pound Georgia linebacker said during a recent Quick Chat, but that was it for fast-food options. Not that Marshall was complaining.
Marshall, a junior, loves where he's from — Homerville helped make him into the man he is today And he loves the closeness of his small hometown.
During our Chat, Marshall talked about home, adjusting to Athens (huge by Homerville standards), his days playing quarterback when he was younger, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: What first got you into football?
Marshall: It was kind of my older brother. He was always one of the cocky guys, more of the Deion Sanders type, and he just took me out to the field one time and signed me up for football. My mom didn't sign me up, he signed me up. I was 7 or 8 when he signed me up, and I went out there and was playing nose guard and tight end [laughs].
I was bad at the beginning, but I got better. I worked at it and he was with me for my whole journey. I got better and better and I fell in love with it.
Frierson: I saw where you also played quarterback and running back in high school, so what positions haven't you played?
Marshall: D.B. [Laughs] I haven't played defensive backs yet, and that's probably one of the hardest spots in college football or any kind of football, honestly. I've played kicker, quarterback, a lot of things. We were a Class A school (at Clinch County) and we were a powerhouse — we weren't scared of anybody. I got three state championships there and it was a great journey.
Frierson: How would you rate yourself as a quarterback?
Marshall: I think I was a good quarterback [laughs], but some people have got other things to say, like I really was a running back playing quarterback. We ran the Wing-T, so I caught the ball and ran downhill — a lot of people weren't tackling me [laughs] and we had some great players on our team.
Frierson: When you think of home, what comes to mind?
Marshall: There's not much to do, but there is still a lot to do. You aren't going to have a Y.M.C.A; we don't have a Walmart or a McDonald's. You've just got to find things to do when you're hanging around with your friends. That's why I'm good at the connection part (at Georgia), because down there you've got to be connected. Y'all are going to play hide-and-seek together and y'all are going to do everything together.
I stayed in the projects and the families in the projects were always getting together to cook and spend time together. It was great. It was a great sense of community.
Frierson: What was it like moving to Athens?
Marshall: I used to come to UGA so much that it was barely a change once I came to college. Once I committed, I used to come up here like every week, me and Nolan (Smith). This always felt like home, to be honest.
We had Dairy Queen and Subway, but we didn't have a McDonald's. People are always like, "Your town must be very small if you don't even have a McDonald's." I'm always like, "We can drive 30 minutes to Waycross to get some McDonald's if we want to."
Frierson: Who is the funniest guy on the team?
Marshall: It probably was (former Bulldog) Netori Johnson. He is top-tier one of the funniest guys that I've ever been around. I think if you ask anybody that knows Netori and they'll tell you how funny he is. Jordan Davis is funny too — they're both really funny.
For me, Netori is kind of winning that race.
Frierson: What other sports did you play growing up?
Marshall: I ran track, which, we didn't have a regular track so had to make do with what we had. I also played basketball and I always loved basketball. We had made it to the (state semifinals) one year. I didn't get to play my senior year because I came here early.
Frierson: How did you train for track without a regular track?
Marshall: We had concrete with holes in it and we just got it done. You've got to work through it, you can't complain about it. We used to go out there and practice on that concrete track — it is what it is, you've got to go work. I did the shot put and it was on the grass.
Frierson: Do you take pride in having had to do some of these things the hard way?
Marshall: Yeah, kind of. My high school, we got a new weight room my sophomore year, but my freshman year, we had this broke down weight room with spiderwebs everywhere and rust on all the weights. And I'm not going to lie, I liked that weight room better than the new one. It was dusty but you can get the job done in there.
It felt like a struggle, and it felt good going through the struggle sometimes. It was great.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
Trezmen Marshall learned how to compete and learned how to win while growing up in tiny Homerville, Ga. — he did plenty of both during his four years playing at Clinch County High School — but to eat some McDonald's, he had to head out of town.
Located about halfway between Valdosta and Waycross, Homerville, with a population of around 2,000, had a Dairy Queen and a Subway, the 6-foot-1 and 230-pound Georgia linebacker said during a recent Quick Chat, but that was it for fast-food options. Not that Marshall was complaining.
Marshall, a junior, loves where he's from — Homerville helped make him into the man he is today And he loves the closeness of his small hometown.
During our Chat, Marshall talked about home, adjusting to Athens (huge by Homerville standards), his days playing quarterback when he was younger, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: What first got you into football?
Marshall: It was kind of my older brother. He was always one of the cocky guys, more of the Deion Sanders type, and he just took me out to the field one time and signed me up for football. My mom didn't sign me up, he signed me up. I was 7 or 8 when he signed me up, and I went out there and was playing nose guard and tight end [laughs].
I was bad at the beginning, but I got better. I worked at it and he was with me for my whole journey. I got better and better and I fell in love with it.
Frierson: I saw where you also played quarterback and running back in high school, so what positions haven't you played?
Marshall: D.B. [Laughs] I haven't played defensive backs yet, and that's probably one of the hardest spots in college football or any kind of football, honestly. I've played kicker, quarterback, a lot of things. We were a Class A school (at Clinch County) and we were a powerhouse — we weren't scared of anybody. I got three state championships there and it was a great journey.
Frierson: How would you rate yourself as a quarterback?
Marshall: I think I was a good quarterback [laughs], but some people have got other things to say, like I really was a running back playing quarterback. We ran the Wing-T, so I caught the ball and ran downhill — a lot of people weren't tackling me [laughs] and we had some great players on our team.
Frierson: When you think of home, what comes to mind?
Marshall: There's not much to do, but there is still a lot to do. You aren't going to have a Y.M.C.A; we don't have a Walmart or a McDonald's. You've just got to find things to do when you're hanging around with your friends. That's why I'm good at the connection part (at Georgia), because down there you've got to be connected. Y'all are going to play hide-and-seek together and y'all are going to do everything together.
I stayed in the projects and the families in the projects were always getting together to cook and spend time together. It was great. It was a great sense of community.
Frierson: What was it like moving to Athens?
Marshall: I used to come to UGA so much that it was barely a change once I came to college. Once I committed, I used to come up here like every week, me and Nolan (Smith). This always felt like home, to be honest.
We had Dairy Queen and Subway, but we didn't have a McDonald's. People are always like, "Your town must be very small if you don't even have a McDonald's." I'm always like, "We can drive 30 minutes to Waycross to get some McDonald's if we want to."
Frierson: Who is the funniest guy on the team?
Marshall: It probably was (former Bulldog) Netori Johnson. He is top-tier one of the funniest guys that I've ever been around. I think if you ask anybody that knows Netori and they'll tell you how funny he is. Jordan Davis is funny too — they're both really funny.
For me, Netori is kind of winning that race.
Frierson: What other sports did you play growing up?
Marshall: I ran track, which, we didn't have a regular track so had to make do with what we had. I also played basketball and I always loved basketball. We had made it to the (state semifinals) one year. I didn't get to play my senior year because I came here early.
Frierson: How did you train for track without a regular track?
Marshall: We had concrete with holes in it and we just got it done. You've got to work through it, you can't complain about it. We used to go out there and practice on that concrete track — it is what it is, you've got to go work. I did the shot put and it was on the grass.
Frierson: Do you take pride in having had to do some of these things the hard way?
Marshall: Yeah, kind of. My high school, we got a new weight room my sophomore year, but my freshman year, we had this broke down weight room with spiderwebs everywhere and rust on all the weights. And I'm not going to lie, I liked that weight room better than the new one. It was dusty but you can get the job done in there.
It felt like a struggle, and it felt good going through the struggle sometimes. It was great.
(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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