00:00But David Pollock joins us right now on the Midday Show with Andy and Randy, obviously
00:04Georgia football legend, and one of the owners of the indoor football team in Athens who
00:08has a new name.
00:09They've announced the name, the Athens Crush.
00:12How are you, David?
00:12What up, D?
00:14I'm doing good.
00:14How are you guys doing?
00:16Outstanding.
00:16Doing great.
00:18What y'all think about the name, Athens Crush?
00:20I like it.
00:22Okay, now tell me this now.
00:24When you heard it, were you like, because I know you don't curse, were you like, heck
00:27yeah?
00:31He said, I know you don't curse.
00:32You're right.
00:33I definitely try not to.
00:35I'll be honest.
00:35We had a healthy debate about this.
00:38Okay?
00:39Okay.
00:39And I'll say this.
00:40There was not a consensus.
00:42Okay.
00:43But I do like what we did with the logo, and if you see the A, the logo, the Athens,
00:48or
00:49excuse me, the state of Georgia outline is in the middle.
00:51Love it.
00:52You got musical notes in the bottom left of the A, which is kind of obviously cool, and
00:57then you got the arches right below the state of Georgia, so you kind of have the tie-ins
01:02of all the things, and obviously, you know, the music is a big thing in Athens, so we tied
01:08it all together.
01:09We had some healthy debates, but I do think the crush is kind of cool.
01:13It'll be unique, and I think it'll be good on swag, too.
01:16Well, I mean, was that in the debates?
01:18Is that what you were advocating for, or what were the other possibilities?
01:22I was advocating for bullfrogs.
01:24That was my note.
01:27I was thinking neon.
01:30You got the frog head by the kids.
01:33Like, I was advocating for that, but I absolutely wasn't opposed to it.
01:37I did not like panic.
01:39That was not mine.
01:41That was not something that I really, really loved, so I would say that those two were my
01:46favorite.
01:46Sounds good, man.
01:47Sounds good.
01:48Well, again, man, congratulations and everything.
01:50I mean, the naming part, because last time we had you on, you were out there letting
01:54fans and everybody give you suggestions and things like that, so to be the Athens crush,
01:59man, congratulations again, my boy.
02:01Thank you, thank you.
02:01It's nice to, it's nice, you know, you get a team, you're like, all right, you're excited,
02:05but now you got a name.
02:07You know, like, now you got a coach.
02:09You know, we're kind of getting all the things in place, man.
02:11I think it's, I think people in Athens and people in this area are going to love it because
02:15anybody's going to be able to go.
02:16It's not going to be a super expensive ticket.
02:19We're trying to develop this thing like the Savannah Bananas, where you got entertainment
02:22the whole time, and fun, and like, so it's definitely going to be a family thing that
02:26I think people are going to love in this community.
02:28It's going to be, it's interesting because the IFL, you can kind of build a difference
02:32because everybody's a free agent every year, and Randy, you know this, they start coming
02:37to Athens, they're going to be like, okay, I want to live in Athens.
02:40Like, it's a great spot to be, so we're going to be just fine.
02:43So, um, everyone's a free agent every year in college football now as well, and once
02:51you guys get up and running, I probably wouldn't have had to have worried about this, but I
02:54guess players can go from being professionals back to college now also.
02:58Uh, what is your perspective on what's happening right now with some of this fifth year transfer
03:04stuff, guys that have been in preseason and maybe going back to college?
03:08Man, I don't think anybody could have said it better than Kirby did.
03:11I mean, just from, from a standpoint of like, listen, I get it.
03:15And there's all kinds of different takes Ryan day was like, Hey, you know, if everybody's
03:19going to be doing, I got to look out what's best for Ohio state.
03:22I don't love it.
03:22And then Lane Giffen's obviously like, yeah, give me more of it.
03:25Like I want it because I want to go win at a high level, but I just like what Kirby
03:29said.
03:30And this is, this is how I thought about it from the beginning is like, I've, I've also
03:34built my roster and I've gone through spring and I've gone through summer now.
03:38And, and I've told these guys, I'm going to give them an opportunity to compete in an
03:42opportunity to go out there and earn this right.
03:45Okay.
03:45Now I'm going to replace you like the week before the week before the season starts or
03:50a couple of weeks before the season starts.
03:52Like it's a tough pill to swallow, man.
03:54I don't think anybody's in favor of guys coming down.
03:57Like this wasn't an option in the past.
03:59And listen, I know it's all about the 2022 year and it's all about the five for five granting
04:03the eligibility for that fifth year where people now, you know, they played four years
04:07in college that used to be a career.
04:09Now you get another year, but I don't think anybody likes this.
04:12I don't think anybody's for it.
04:14That aren't, that isn't somebody that's benefiting from it.
04:17Hey, congratulations.
04:18I saw this the other day, man, on three, you're partnering with them and congratulations to
04:23your brother.
04:23That's it.
04:23That's a big time deal for them, obviously, because you are the man.
04:27Appreciate that.
04:28What do you, what about our dogs, man?
04:29I saw some quotes about somebody going to have some G's in their face.
04:34Somebody going to have some what?
04:35A bunch of G's in their face.
04:36When everybody, when your outlook on Georgia.
04:38Yeah, I think, um, listen, I like, I like what this team is and I like what this team
04:45is.
04:45And remember football changed a couple of years ago and, and I think Georgia is going
04:50to be built for the new age football really well.
04:53And I say that there's a couple of things that happened.
04:55Remember the clock changed where it doesn't continue to run, right?
04:59It doesn't, it doesn't stop.
05:00Excuse me.
05:00It continues to run.
05:01So the games have shrunk.
05:03The possessions have shrunk.
05:05That's a good thing for Georgia because I think their defense is going to be absolutely
05:09nasty.
05:09I mean, Robinson coming back should be one of the best corners in the country.
05:14Elijah Griffin, Cole, like all these guys were puppies a year ago.
05:17They're going to be full grown men this year.
05:19To add into the other guys that you have with so much experience, Bolden in the secondary is
05:23one of the best players in the country.
05:25Well, for the linebacker, like they've got so many guys on that side of the football
05:30that I think they're going to make life hard on everybody they play.
05:33I think they learned a lot last year of their identity and who they're, who they'll be.
05:37And then offensively, like these are, you've got a bunch of guys that are going to pave
05:41the road and you're going to run the football, which means, guess what?
05:44I also shorten the game and I'm interested to see what our playmaking looks like and to
05:49see what the offense and if it's explosive, because last year it was very branch dependent
05:54and it was very screen dependent.
05:56Can it be down the field?
05:57Can it be explosive?
05:59Randy, this tight end room is stupid.
06:01Can we use it?
06:02Yes.
06:03Can we please use it?
06:03Yes.
06:04I want the tight ends to be options one and two.
06:08Yes.
06:09And then I want the receivers and their speed to be playmaking down the field, but I feel
06:13like running the football in 12 personnel, you know, with one back and two tight ends,
06:18I feel like if the tight end room isn't elite, I don't know that Georgia can be elite.
06:22So I want that tight end room to really shine and be featured.
06:26David, we appreciate the time as always.
06:28Congrats on everything that you've got going on.
06:31Appreciate it to my brother.
06:32Thank y'all, dude.
06:33Have a good one.
06:33Bye-bye, man.
06:34David Pollack there, former Georgia Bulldog.
06:36Yes!
06:36Yes!
06:36Yes!
06:37Well, it just also seems logical too, right?
06:39If the receivers aren't special, it sounds like maybe they're not.
06:42Yes, they're one of the best rooms.
06:43Ain't no Brock Bowers.
06:43Because they won't be another Brock Bowers for 20 years.
06:46Well, yeah.
06:46He's like one of the best tight ends ever to play the tight end position.
06:50And he immediately became one of the three best tight ends in the NFL day one.
06:54What I've been saying is that room is different.
06:56Yeah.
06:57It's different, man.
06:58So I love the running backs too.
06:59Yeah.
06:59I love them.
07:00Yes.
07:00Like, they've got...
07:01Give me all that, Pollack.
07:02I heard a thing earlier in this offseason that just jumped back into my mind when he talked
07:07about the screens.
07:08Georgia ran like 112 screen passes last year or something like that.
07:12It didn't lead the Nathan.
07:13There was one other team that ran more.
07:15But it wasn't just our minds playing tricks on us.
07:19They really did run over 100 screen passes last year.
07:22Yeah.
07:22Because it felt like every single pass was like, oh, there it is.
07:25A little quick screen to Zachary Bridge.
07:26Hit him the ball!
07:27Oh, good.
07:27He made seven people miss and he scored a touchdown.
07:29Yeah, man.
07:30It's crazy, man.
07:31The Falcons are going to do that with him as well.
07:32Yeah.
07:32As we transition back into some...
07:34Yeah.
07:34Obviously, the news of the day is the Falcons practice is over.
07:38Their prep for Friday is in the books.
07:41And Kevin Stefanski has told us that Michael Penix will not play in preseason game number
07:46three for the Falcons against the Dolphins.
07:47But he did say this.
07:48He said that he thinks that he will be ready if he's called on to be the starter week one,
07:53Andy, that he will be ready both physically and mentally to handle the job.
07:56Okay.
07:56Well, that's good.
07:58That's good.
07:59That's an optimistic quote as far as the timeline goes.
08:02Yeah.
