University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Darnell Washington
September 30, 2022 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Darnell Washington is part of the top-ranked Georgia football team's large dynamic duo at tight end, alongside Brock Bowers.
Listed at 6-foot-7 and 270 pounds, and looking every bit of both — Washington told the media recently that he was actually about a half-inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than his listed numbers — the junior from Las Vegas has seven catches for 120 yards this season. The most memorable of those was likely against Oregon in the opener, when Washington hurdled a Duck defender on the sideline.
Washington's impact can't be measured by his receiving numbers, however. While Bowers is often the showstopper, with his long touchdown runs and receptions, it's Washington that often helps make those big plays possible with key blocks on the edge.
During a recent Quick Chat, Washington talked about being big, playing in the orchestra in high school, growing up in Las Vegas, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Given your size, did you ever have to fight to avoid be made into an offensive lineman at any point in your football career?
Washington: I feel like I never had to fight. In high school I was about 230 (pounds), so I wasn't really that heavy. I started getting heavier at the back end of high school. I was playing receiver at one time, so I never had to fight to stay at my position.
Frierson: When you were a freshman in high school, how big were you?
Washington: I was roughly 6-4 and 228.
Frierson: Did you have any sense that this was coming?
Washington: I kind of figured when I was younger. When I was 12, I was wearing a size 12 shoe. When I was 13, I was wearing a 13. When I was 16, I was wearing a 16, so I figured I was going to grow even more, probably.
My older brothers were 6-6 or 6-7 and I was only 6-4 at that time. When you're a freshman in high school you're 14 or 15 years old, so I was like, I'm not even 21 yet so I know I'm going to continue to grow.
Frierson: The 25-yard catch on the right sideline against Oregon, when you hurdled the defender, where does that play rank among your favorite plays of your athletic career?
Washington: I felt like with it being on the college level, it would probably rank No. 1. I also made another play in high school, when I hurdled a guy, turned the corner, the safety came down, hurdled the safety, but that wasn't on the college level.
Frierson: Do you appreciate how the rest of us ooh and aah when we see you do things like that?
Washington: I feel like most people feed off the energy of the crowd. For me, at times I'll be like, yeah, soak it all in. That was how I took that moment.
Frierson: Do you have a specific pregame routine?
Washington: Kind of. I wouldn't say I have a pregame routine, I just go with whatever's on the schedule. I do get on FaceTime with a couple of my friends and with my daughter and my brother. I may listen to some calm music — I'm not really the hyped up kind of guy. I just like to calm my body.
Frierson: What do you do to get away from school and football?
Washington: If it's a hard day of practice or something, I may sleep. If I'm up and moving around, I'll play video games. But if you were to ask me this back in high school, I was in the orchestra and I used to play the bass, the big bass. That's something I enjoyed and maybe at the next level, when I don't have school, maybe I can get a bass and get back into it.
Frierson: Did you play a number of instruments when you were younger?
Washington: I played the bass for all of my middle school and my freshman year, so three or four years. I also played the guitar — I'd transferred schools and the new one didn't have an orchestra, so I played the guitar.
Frierson: We all see one side of Vegas, but what is it like to grow up there? I assume you see a completely different one than the tourists do.
Washington: I stay home all the time, so the Strip and all that, that's not really my speed. Vegas, to me, I feel like it's growing up like anywhere else. You have the city and then you've got the outside of the city. I didn't really grow up right by the Strip, but the Strip's in the middle so you can drive 10 minutes away and be where I live.
Growing up there is very unique; you see lots of things and learn lots of things, life lessons, dos and don'ts.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Washington: There are a couple of things: beef ramen noodles and Spam musibi. Spam musibi is a Hawaiian dish with seaweed, Spam and white rice. I kind of got into that with a guy from school, he'd bring about 30 of them to school and sell them. He'd sell them for $2 and then he raised them to $4 because a lot of people were buying them. I'd get like four a day, and sometimes 10 [laughs]. That was my lunch.
I've cooked it before. It's not how his is, but I like it a lot.
(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.
