yeah like we hear every now and then like sometimes like they'll like like our media team does a pretty good job of like putting it over top of the videos like I guess the stuff they put on Instagram and stuff like that okay so sometimes and I can probably guess what you're about to say but I I'll let you hit it welcome to myata podcast I'm Jim Wood in this episode John pal and I are joined by Georgia wide receiver lad makoni this is the second installment of our 2023 player interview series we think everyone will enjoy hearing what lad has to say we hope you feel like you got to know him a little better I know we did special thanks to our presenting sponsor oxia time as well as the classic City Collective for making this episode possible now it's time to clock in with lad makoni all right so we're back with another edition of our uh uh collaborations with oxia time and classic City Collective with our player interview series uh so if you haven't checked out the episode with Tate rage be sure to go check that out uh but super excited to have lad makoni uh red Shir Jr from Chatsworth Georgia out of North Murray High School uh lad welcome to my got a podcast heck yeah I'm excited to be here thanks thanks for having me on yeah man we we we know Tate told you all the good things about how great it is to be on so you know you had to like sign right up to come come hang out with us he has he has some good feedback get I know John John why don't you get us off with our uh what we like to open with with these guys yes uh lad we always like to open when we have our guests on that they fans and players you know just give us a rundown of what what your Georgia story is because you know as I understand it you weren't you didn't grow up a Georgia fan what was what led you Georgia your recruiting story and we've got a couple of questions that'll probably lead you along the way a little bit but what's what's your Georgia story yeah so really yeah like I didn't have too many big offers coming to house out of high school like all FCS um like I always tell everybody like my five official visits were UTC so Tennessee Chattanooga yeah Jack State I went to West Point Army West Point which was actually really cool cool experience going up there um then I went to Georgia and then I went to vanderville it was kind of like all like all across the Spectrum but uh yeah they came on late uh coach smart ended up Co coach smart and Coach Harley came on a basketball game uh on a Monday night and then came back to my house and gave me the offer and I was like okay this is kind of came on quick like pretty sweet um but yeah uh like you said I grew up a Tennessee fan so I wasn't always a dogs fan and honestly us yeah y y got the guys on here but uh yeah say like if if Tennessee would have offered me like I probably would have been there like just how I grew up like that was that was where I wanted to go but once I got to Georgia went on my visit and everything I was like okay I can't turn this down I got was it did you create any like did you create any factions in your family when you made that decision uh no no all of them all of them was a pretty easy transition uh they all have red on now and it's like sometimes I look at them I'm like d that's a little a little weird like I've never seen y'all yall wearing that before um but I always give my brother always give him a hard time because he still has a Tennessee te on his the back of his truck I'm like dude like you gotta take that off but oh that's awesome that's awesome so would you say that like so was I mean was coach Harley kind of like your lead recruiter I guess through that uh I mean I really don't know like it happened literally so fast like I was late bed and I got a text it was like coach hton it was like hey this is coach Hank from UG and it was like hey this is coach Harley from ug hey this is coach smart from UG and it was like back to back to back and I was like okay someone's like this is this is not uh true but so yeah I don't know it all happened so fast um so I don't know who You' really call the lead recruiter in that one got it that's crazy yeah because you so just just walk us through it a little bit like you were a three star recruit right like what what did you feel like you were a three star recruit at the time like what what was what was going through your head like you said you had those those handful of visits to those smaller schools what uh you know how do how do you feel about that yeah like I always knew like if I could just get my shot like someone just take a chance on me I could make the most of it and like I was so close like in my recruitment like just ready to be done with it and was like I'm just going to I'm commit commit to one of these schools I'm just going to do it like I really loved like Tennessee Chattanooga like the coaches up there like they were awesome it's 45 minutes from my house so they were there like all the time but my brother was like just be patient dude like be patient I promise it's gonna happen so ended up happening uh thankfully so man we're so glad that it did seriously and so and I mean you were playing multiple positions in high school right like weren't you playing quarterback yeah so I played quarterback my senior year which was actually really fun got to have the ball in my hands every play got run around and you know throw it every now and then run it so it was sweet do you ever do you ever like give Kirby a nudge in the games like hey tell like hey put in a double pass let's do something like I do it but I mean you know how it goes that's only reserved for other receivers I guess yeah seriously we got to get you out of the list I I don't know like so I know you said like you know you believed it um you felt like if you just had a chance if like for like the other three three stars out there like you know any advice for that kid in high school who maybe you know has that confidence in himself but isn't getting the looks like any advice for for those kids out there how to how to handle it yeah really just be patient like that was that was my thing like I said I almost was like let's just jump the gun let's just do it like I'm I'm done with it but be patient but like now with the portal like people can go FCS have a a blowout or a crazy year and then transfer so times are times are different now so I feel like if you're not like if you don't get your like what you want exactly out of high school just go improve yourself and and you can get it the next year so it's crazy times now did did the thought ever ever not not to put it out there but like did the thought ever occur to you that like maybe you should go to Tennessee or something like that like or do we just completely like all in on Georgia obviously but like did that the thought ever cross your mind or did you ever get hit up or persuaded no no like it's okay so yeah it was a like when I I went to Tennessee uh on a visit like the next week like after Georgia offered me okay okay and they gave like they were just like yeah like we've already offered some guys like we think they're gonna commit we can't really like give you anything and they're like but if anything happens and changes on son day like we're going to we'll call you and let you know so I was like who' they take over you just out of curiosity I can't I can't even remember honestly who the two guys or like I don't remember remember how many it was but uh but yeah so they had some guys and they're like if anything changes like we'll call you and I was like screw that like I'm not gonna be even putting that put myself in that position as soon as I woke 7 am on signing day I signed my papers and send it over I was like yeah I'm I'm not I'm not even going to put myself in that position so I knew where I wanted to be and feel like it worked out pretty well that's awesome yeah it definitely it definitely worked out it definitely worked out and I mean and so you read you read shirt in 2020 in Co year right but then yeah but then when you come onto the scene in 2021 I mean like right out the gate you started that game in Charlotte right Clemson yeah yeah started that first game in Clemson which was which was crazy yeah that was I was like went from not playing I didn't play a single snap that year before and then got to like run out there and and start that first game so it was pretty sweet feeling yeah I mean the beginning of the run that started it all too I mean that's gota that's that's a that's a pretty cool feather in your cap to have right there no doubt that game was was crazy too it was like I think it was like 10 to three or something like we didn't score on offense I was like oh my good but that's when we started rolling after that yeah yeah for sure for sure what what was it what's it like you because you've you've basically played with a lot of different quarterbacks that have come come through like you've caught for guys that have you that are waiting their turn um you caught for Stetson you caught for JT like what what's the what's been your perspective on on the quarterback position with at Georgia yeah I mean we've had a bunch of like really good quarterbacks come through like even like my freshman year Jamie Newman was there that's right I've seen a lot of guys so like Jamie JT's OB was a ston Carson like dwan played for a little bit that's right so yeah like I've seen a lot of them and um yeah been lucky to be able to catch some passes from them that's awesome I did not have Jamie Newman on my bingo card to come up on this L as a class from the past I I definitely remember when uh what was it the Year of the Dog I don't know if you've seen that the ESPN ESPN did like a documentary on 2021 and I remember like that they did like a flashback to like spring or whatever from the year before um and uh from 2020 and and Jamie Newman was at and I was like the same thing I was like oh my gosh like he looked pretty good in practice Yeah Yeah to see it did that surprise you guys when he left uh I mean that whole time was like weird like I mean I don't yeah I don't know that whole that whole season was honestly crazy yeah right but then you got to 21 and we we've been on this this magical run right like I mean what does it feel like because if you you grew up a Tennessee fan so you are you're probably you know around aware of the 90s and all that kind of stuff that they had um how does it feel to be a part of something that's meant so much to so many people throughout the entire State and Bulldog Nation yeah I mean it's awesome for us kind of like our fan base like as I saw it as a Tennessee fan like all my like all my buddies like all their dads all their family like they were all Georgia fans so like if I was ever ever watching like a Tennessee Georgia game with them I was like oh my gosh like these guys are going crazy but like that I feel like that's how like Georgia fans are they like love it so much and like so passionate about it so like to be able to I mean put together the couple Seasons we've had been pretty special and pretty awesome yeah yeah I mean and you've you've obviously been been been a huge part of it uh I know like what Auburn Auburn in 21 I feel like was your first like really like explosive game uh you had those two long two long touchdown passes um or two long touchdown catches in that game uh at then uh I don't know what's it what's it like playing on the road in a crazy environment like that and maybe being able to silence them a little bit with some of that yeah playing like playing on the road like obviously there's it's like a sense of like like we're all we got we're all we need and like every else is which dogs travel though too so like you can you can always hear you can always hear them get getting enough we make a play but uh yeah there's like it's really cool to be able to like go and like play other places like obviously Auburn not even that game but like that's just like a crazy place to play like they get so excited like ne's another one it gets really loud I mean we play to South Carolina doing like the sandstorm and stuff like that and like but like really like that it's cool I think it's really cool to kind of go play places like that what's the what's been your like I what's been your like away than you obviously obviously Sanford's the best right so like what's what's been the the next best I guess in your experience thus far uh Auburn really is a pretty cool one because I feel like they're like right on top of you it's like all the fans are just like right there you can like hear hear everything and then like we played nean two years ago and then I mean obviously coming up um here next week that's pretty cool one play play in um Mississippi state with the cowbells like last year when we played missou like their stadium is not the biggest but like they act like they were their fanss were into the game like it was getting loud like I remember last like their little thing was like my Z and like the whole cow like Z so it it was like it's cool to see other fan bases and just like kind of see what they're like I guess like little memo is and stuff like that right right for sure I do okay so you mentioned the cowbells I I gotta bring up because lad one of the things we've talked about is like you are an excitable player uh feel you get you get the crowd hyped I remember you you gave a little cowbell back to them last year after your uh your long touchdown run uh yeah I don't really know that it didn't we didn't that you you've done the cowbells and where did the finger guns come from so that's actually a funny story so like yes like some my dad uh and like all his high school buddies like that was what they did like the six shooters like when they scored I don't I don't know why like they just like would always do that so they always texted me before the game like they'll call me they like 84 like 84 you gonna hit the six shooters today like when you gonna do it when are you gonna do it and it got to the last game of the year I was like you know what I'm gonna do it so it's like it just I wasn't even thinking about doing it before the game it just not have scored and I was like I might as well do it and like uh they have like kids my age too so they were like videoing their dads and they were like going crazy so it was actually it was it was cool to see that there uh I guess there I I don't know how I don't know how wide and deep our our gift content comes from but uh go or goes out to if you guys have seen it but we that was a Gable moment that when it happened Jim and I were like we've gotta get that on a gift immediately so you're immortalized in in in one of our Gifts of many there are heck yeah well shoot while while we're on while we're on that game uh I don't know lad we we we had people that said we they really wanted to make sure we talk to you about this do you I don't know so like when we were in school okay and like you know so you know we're for my got a podcast it's a riff off of Larry mson Larry mson was the play-by-play guy when we were back in school um we've got Scott Howard now like are do you guys like does that get back to you at all like you guys make a big play like the Howard call like you know like do you guys even like find out about that yeah like we hear every now and then like sometimes like they'll like like our media team does a pretty good job of like putting it over top of the videos like I guess the stuff they put on Instagram and stuff like that okay so we sometimes and I can probably guess what you're about to say but I I'll let you hit it I mean I mean yeah basically I feel like the people who L nor podcast we' be so mad if we didn't ask you about makoni got on his donkey yeah and so I don't know if y'all seen it have y'all seen that like uh AI generated photo it's like me riding a donkey I'm like what like where that come from but yeah it I was cracking up like there was so many people that sent it to me like have you seen this have you seen this like yeah I was I was cracking up I feel like I did John create that gy I can't even remember where I don't know where it came from I think he was the first one that showed it to us so I actually was trying to figure that out recently it was coach tril Bill coach tril bill sent that to us during the game that's what it was so that game uh like that that image came out like during during a game this season lad uh it was like it was like during the game people were texting it I I don't know where it came from but yeah or that's where we first saw it was this season so the being the Bing AI generator has been a pretty fun toy that we as as visual creators ourselves we've been playing around with a lot of stuff and John tweet Sports is one of our one of our colleagues and he he uh he's gotten some pretty cool images out of it so everybody's kind of trying to one up each other on on who can create the best AI dog but I think that you won that one yeah for sure that was pretty pretty solid one pretty solid awesome well I I know so earlier you you you know we talked about the transfer portal a little bit and just talking about like you mentioned like how much college football is changing um and obviously like nil you know is something that is new as well actually you know you're in really the first like generation of players um to be involved there um and like one of the things we talked about with Tade as well was like you know one of the things we've seen from it is like guys have podcasts it feels like we get to know you guys better through it or because of it I guess um but I don't know I guess like in general like like what do nil meant meant for you wait can you say me yeah sorry I felt my phone messed up for a second I mean it's been cool like honestly um but the M like the thing our coaches have done a good job of preaching is like keep the main thing the main thing and like if you like really like it's if you can put a good product out on the field like that and like not even on the field but just like your your image really that's when like Brands want to come to you so I feel like at times I mean I guess it can like get out of hand in ways I feel like it's been pretty pretty good so far and I mean it's given people opportunity to um build their like brand before I mean they go to the next level or not I mean like that's the thing people don't like not everyone's gonna make it to the league like that's just the way it is and if you do I mean it's I mean who knows how how long you'll be there so why not take full advantage of of all that while you're while you got it yeah for sure that was always one of the weird things frankly about college football is there are there are athletes who are probably like at their Peak level of marketability when they were in college right yeah um so it did always seem uh I'll just use the word weird unfair I would probably say that like to not let guys be able to take advantage of it um so yeah it's definitely been um I don't know i' I've I was always a supporter of it thought it's and it's it's been cool um you know and it's for us obviously selfishly it's enabled us to do things like this uh which has been which has obviously been really fun um but so you know we're so again we mentioned at the at the top you know classic City Collective oxia time are collaborating and we're able to set this up um you know John and I we've got we've got our watches um and you we know you're an oxia time Ambassador as well um I don't know what do you think about what do you think about your watch have you enjoyed it oh yeah I wear it uh every game day like on the dog walk I got it on I got like I actually have my like uh the national championship one that they made so I wear that every day I mean those are they're high and swiss watches like durable look good so like yeah they're they're sweet yeah yeah for sure um and play around with the athletic strap oh yeah I I have so I actually have two two watches I have like the just like a normal one and then I have the playoff or the college ball playoff one um so I kind of mess around with with both of them I actually put like the red strap on one so yeah just just messing around with with all because it comes with like I think what three different straps in each one of them soy sweet yeah we that's definitely something we've enjoyed I know John likes to leave the stainless steel on his I I like the native trrap I I've seen I've so we understand there's a photo shoot lad we've seen some of the photos uh so we have seen uh the ones of you catching the football uh with the watch in the when the in the red strap on the watch it look pretty sweet I I don't know is there like any modeling in your future lad uh I mean I not that I know around now I like I like to play football so hopefully I can keep that keep that rolling love it um well definitely you know everyone go check them out you can head over to Ox time.com it's axi t.com um a portion of the proceeds from these watches when they're sold uh go to Bulldogs battling breast cancer um like we talked like the proceeds also support the student athletes um at University of Georgia through the classic City Collective um and like we've talked about there's the the the two uh you know two National Championship uh Collections and you can also check out the uh limited edition time pieces that are signed by with the presentation box signed by Kirby Smart um there's only 25 of those uh from each design so be sure to head over to oxia time.com to check those out lad have you have you seen the the latest 2024 watches that they they just dropped the new the new Styles those those would look good with the Georgia logo on them don't you think they look pretty good they look sweet oh man okay so so I guess kind of back back like just with this season lad so I know like you're you're coming in um we're all like I know you I'm sure you had big like personal expectations um they have have the injury and you have to sit out but when you came back I mean like you were back like right away uh which is like super impressive to me I'm just curious like what did you do to stay ready like not only physically but also mentally like how are you how were you able to to do that it's pretty impressive yeah uh I mean really just kind of staying locked in like I mean we meet we have meetings every day before practice for like a couple hours I have so many walkthroughs um before that so I mean I was still able to do stuff like that like go to the meetings get all the like get the game plan for that week do all the walkthroughs so I mean that was easy the easy part is being able to kind of stay mentally locked in that way but it wasin frustrating at times like just wanted to like put in so much work like winter workouts summer workouts fall camp and then it's like right before the season just boom something happens and I mean you're out for a couple weeks so it definitely um was frustrating at times but I mean it is what it is I could I mean I couldn't you can't help injuries sometimes you just gotta do what you can do to get like Get over them and overcome it so just kind of try to do everything I could every day to get back out there yeah yeah well it's been impressive since you're back I mean what like your your second game back you tied your career high in receiving yards uh against the gator uh which was a which was a huge one which I gotta tell you I don't know uh something that I observed the way you caught that ball and just like immediately pivoted uh and took it to the house kind of reminded me of the Lindsay Scott play back in 1980 you didn't run as far as he did but just the way you ran away from the defense uh so I don't know I'm putting you up there with some with some Georgia Legends but I appreciate that I appreciate that yeah you just you just ran away from everybody um speaking of of running away like you guys I know there's probably some friendly competition amongst the team right like you you guys do races like to to are there challenges on the field like hey race me uh honestly not right now because the time by the time we get done with practice okay if I if I try to run another one like I don't know about that but uh no I mean we got some guys that can absolutely fly on our team like it's and it's so effortless too like they're just like out there just cruising I'm like God I wish who's the fastest I mean I'd have to say Aran okay yeah any person if you can run like a 10 101 in 100 meter like you're probably gonna be the fastest play on your team so yeah he can uh he can absolutely roll man he's been close a few times this season oh yeah no doubt I mean he just like the pressure he puts on defenses when he like just running vertical like they just they have to respect it so yeah I know I think he I mean as like a track guy like did you ever run track or anything like high school no no I ran ran one meet my like junior year okay but like didn't really like actually like go out practice or nothing like that but then I was actually planning on like maybe running senior year but then Co hit and then like shut all that down so okay okay got it gotcha yeah yeah I I can't I can't imagine for you for you guys being there like that's your your introduction to college is co year that's that's wild getting on campus and it was like the first thing I felt like they had to do was like go get a covid test like that was that was when picking them up in your brain it felt like like yeah that was terrible yeah yeah I I'm I'm I'm sure you guys had it like nonstop to be able to play and stuff so I can't imagine um well with with with this week got Miss coming up um last home game of the year senior night night game you excited uh to have the fans light light up Sanford uh I mean just like the the volume of night games this year has also been insane compared to like last year we had like so many noon kickoffs like do do you enjoy do you guys enjoy I can't do you care oh no yeah gam are always like always cool I feel like the fans like definitely show up like pumped up ready to get going especially like when the light show comes on fourth quarter like I see it like I see it in your background right now yeah but yeah like that's something like I feel like you can never get like never get sold you can never get tired of that I'm not I'm not I'm not superstitious I'm a little stitious this is an undefeated background keep yeah yeah do you do you guys speaking of that like do you guys have uh what's your what's your routine and how does it change depending on the game times for you know for these matchups like I know that y'all have when we talked to Tate he mentioned that like the schedule's very regimented he he actually made a joke like if I'm not doing anything I almost like get scared like am I missing something so like what what's your what's your prep like yeah like are you talking about like on game days yeah on game days yeah yeah so we always um we always stay in that in the team Hotel on Friday nights so that's like if even if we're in Athens like we'll say at the Georgia Center or if it's like it's in away game we'll go stay somewhere um wherever we're playing but it all just depends like the noon kickoffs like I feel like it's you wake up eat go to the stadium and play but like seven o'clock you kind of got more time during the day so you gota like figure out how you want to like manage that like because you don't want to just like lay there the whole day and like sit on your phone but you also don't want to be up doing something all like the whole time so I like to get a little nap in at some at some point during the day uh but yeah we we usually like do pregame meal I think it's like four hours before kickoff and then we'll do like our walkthroughs and meetings and that stuff and then head to the stadium and go play when you guys are when you guys are in the locker room and you're getting hyped up like is there some like what we we asked Tate this like what's the what's the what gets you energized for the game like is there songs that you guys play like what what get you like in in that in that mode ah I get like really like when I like step off the bus at the dog walk and I see everybody there like I immediately like feel like I get cold chills I'm like God like it's it's about that time like it's about it's it's ready to get going but um kind of getting in the locker room and you gotta be careful though like you can't get too high like before the game like can't get too amped up because you're gonna get out there and then you're going to be shot already before you get going so I kind of try to stay levelheaded until I guess like before the game and then get it jacked up gotcha with so with it senior night has so I know like again you came in covid I know like eligibility is all crazy like has the team have you guys all like told Kirby like do has the team decided who's walking yet for senior night or is that all up in the air um I think I think most people have decided um if they are if they're not but like that doesn't necessarily like mean anything like right right like you can like I'm Richard Junior this year but technically like senior um yeah so I'm gonna do senior not but then also like I could do it again next year or like or whatever happen so it doesn't like determine anything but I feel like a lot of guys like if this is your fourth year then most like all those guys are usually gonna do it no matter like no matter their decision really got it that makes sense that makes sense yeah that's cool that's cool but but you're gonna come back and do it again next year that would be uh what about uh so lad I do know you've got your black attire on on Saturday night we were discussing amongst friends for the fans like do you again night game sometimes we were like oh the the fans should black out the stadium like is is there any energy from that too like seeing the stands look a certain way or is it just you guys just looking for the the noise in the environment uh yeah it's usually just like when I hear like I can hear it like it's like not so much I guess when I'm like when we're on offense it's not as loud but like when our defense standing on the sideline and like that's really when you can kind of like take it in be like like dang like this is this is crazy so um yeah and our fans do it literally every single week um so it's that's the best part about it is there any lobbying amongst the players to wear certain uniforms no no not sh we just whatever they put in our locker I feel like we just put it on and go out there and play so okay okay he already said he already mentioned keep the main thing the main thing earlier he he's dialed in uh I did uh I saw I saw something on on the socials this week lad and I I was curious if you wanted to tell your side of the story I don't know if you've seen this yet but uh Chris Brown was on and and telling a story about being in a being in a car wreck and uh the Medics basically that that you were the first person that showed up and the guy at the ambulance was like hey did you know La maki's here yeah uh yeah yeah that's uh that's crazy actually insane but so Chris is my roommate and like we were all over at one of my other's buddy's house um I can't even remember what we even doing we were just sitting there hanging out but Chris was like Hey I gotta go take like a quiz or something so like I'm gonna head home so I like okay so we were just sitting there like hanging out in the house just and I ended like I remember seeing like sirens like kind of go by like the house we were at but I didn't like think anything about it and then Chris's brother ended up calling me I was like Hey like have you talked to Chris like Chris has been in a wreck I was like like what so I called Chris and he's like yeah I got in the r he was good but I jumped in my car and we went over there and then just kind of like ran up there and started talking to him and then afterwards Chris was like yeah that guy was like wasn't even taking care of me no I shouldn't say that I shouldn't say that they took good care of but they were like did you know lad M Chris was like yeah I do ey here okay so so it wasn't so noticeable to you you found out about it from Chris later yeah yeah it wasn't something like didn't like stop and like you know what I'm saying he was he did he was doing a good job they were taking care of him but oh that's too funny that's too funny I I I saw I saw that I don't know a couple days ago I thought it was pretty funny I thought it was it was Will time because we had been talking to Patrick about about having you on so oh I gotta ask a lot about this do you guys watch each other's content and stuff like or or critique or com comment on it amongst amongst the locker room because like like Jim was saying one of the one of the best parts about nil from from my perspective is being able to watch all these stories unfold like one of my favorite ones is is listening to Jackson and Javon do their thing like do you guys do you guys all kind of listen in and participate on each other's stuff yeah I I think so I mean like and they do a good job too like with like Jackson's Z they put it out on like the Players Lounge and then like Tate and them like they like do it on like through the collective and stuff so uh I see it that way and then just go and listen to it it always like it's just funny because like I see those guys and I'm around them every single day and then just see them do that podcast it's cool it's it's funny though they do a good job all of them do yeah and Jacob Hardy they they have theirs too so they they all do a solid job it's it's fun to watch have you gotten on with them to talk I think I've seen some but I'm not sure I did one with uh MAA M that's right yeah I thought I saw one with you that was like when he I think that was like when he very first started it like it was like one of the first ones he did but I haven't been on any of the other ones yet got it so John lad just brought up Maki I feel like we say yeah we have to address the elephant in the room we have an elephant in the room okay lad so something that we started doing uh with two years ago I guess so two years ago uh we decided that kis Jackson your former teammate we we decided that he was The Unofficial official receiver of my gotta podcast uh and so it was like a it was kind of a thing and we used to make gifts and jokes about that and everything and so when on try to get him on try but when when kis you know graduated he's gone uh everyone wanted to know who was going to be the unofficial official receiver of my got podcast this year and so we said we had to let it naturally play out and when Makai took that punt return to the house like we were like inundated with it has to be Makai it has to be Makai so so just you know we did name McKai Muse the The Unofficial official receiver of my podcast however Makai isn't here and you are so we we were kind of curious would you be okay if we said lad makoni is the official receiver of myata podcast hey that's that's hey we that's cool we can both be it too though is a good one too so he yeah he's electric when he gets the ball I'm like oh something's about to happen you better start watching so I mean who's the better who's the better punt returner between you two guys because you guys are both pretty good at it shoot I mean he's taking one to the house I haven't so I can't I can't fair enough fair enough I love it dude when when he came in when he came in have you like do you guys have camaraderie like are you taking him because he was kind of an unheralded guy too right yes so I mean he kind of had to do I guess like a lot of the stuff I did like just like being on the scout team going against those guys but like he was just down there making plays like I mean catching bombs catching screens taking him to the house and like feel like like they realized okay like this guy can play Let's get him on the field let's get the ball in his hands and I mean y'all see it now when he gets it it's like you like I said you better better start watching yeah I mean do you I mean do you think that it's just it's just the that our coaching staff is just that better at evaluations in terms of being able to bring in these guys that are diamonds in a rough and like what what how is it that we're able to continue to do this not not even at the wide receiver position but all the other positions that we've had three star guys come up and out of nowhere now they're first round draft picks and things like that like what what's different about Georgia that that you think that that's the way that it is I mean I think they're really good evaluators of coming out of high school like getting kids here but they're also really good like developers like we practice like ones twos threes fours like everybody's getting reps like every single day here so like there's no one that's just standing on the sideline like twilling twilling their thumbs like they're over there like getting some work in and I feel like that's kind of what like been like been the difference is people like if you can get those reps and like get that time in there like you're going to get better is there someone that's that's currently on the scout team that we should be looking out for next year sh we got a lot of like just speaking like from my position like we got some young guys like at the receiver position that they're gonna step up I mean even like some sophomores too like we're so deep like we have so many guys like y'all haven't even seen yet that are gonna like come up and have a breakout year so I mean I can't name one there there probably gonna be a couple of them okay when when you when you were red shirting like so you met been on the scout team so who was who was like throwing the ball to you back then I'm trying to remember who was Scout like was it Carson or no it was JT oh oh that's right okay okay because he because he could he wasn't cleared to play at first yeah so I guess yeah he um because he ended up playing that year though right I think eventually eventually at the end was it like South Carolina or no or Mississippi State Mississippi State that's where he got the the high Y kick yeah yeah yeah before that I mean he was on he was on Scout team so yeah he was he was my quarterback down there okay interesting interesting I totally forgot that okay thank you for setting me straight there you've caught from everybody that's crazy yeah yeah one of the things that we we talked about heading into the Florida week was you know Carson getting to go back home in play um I I know like is was Knoxville technically closer to home for you I guess right like are you going to have you going to have like friends at family trying to trying to hit you up for for that game in a couple weeks uh I mean my like my whole family usually comes to like comes to the game anyways no like like all my friends really growing up like they were all Georgia fans already so like they they didn't care about Tennessee okay okay okay cool well no I'm I'm sure that I'm sure that'll be a special one for for you though uh in in in a couple weeks we we'll be we'll be watching yes sir you have any uh is there are there any like anecdotes that you you have that uh like Tate Tate kind of gave us to Dr Pepper story I don't know if he told you about that or if you heard about that story but like he had a a rank we had we did the ranking for uh for Halloween candy I think that Jim did on that one I bed it I messed it up are are there is there anything about the the holiday season coming up that you're looking forward to with with Thanksgiving and Christmas uh so Thanksgiving like I we're playing so we don't really get much like time off so I don't really get to go home and like I feel like my family is so big too like I have like five Thanksgiving it feels like on one day so but gez well I mean not five but you know what I'm saying go to um but like my mom and dad brother and sister and um like they usually come down to Athens and do Thanksgiving with me here so looking forward to that guess spend some some quality time with family what's your what's your top five thanks giving dishes hey give me five let's let's do five and rank them okay okay uh let's see I mean I guess what's what's your what's your main dish do you guys turkey do John's not a turkey guy John's a Hy I'm turkey I'm not a turkey fan I'm a ham or turkey like would you are you a ham or a turkey guy like okay I'll do I I'll do turkey okay dressing I was gonna say dressing or stuffing dressing is the right answer do you guys do like like sweet potatoes mashed potatoes yeah we'll do I mean both like so my dad makes like my dad makes this little hash brown casserole too oh those are good nice always like that H any casserole is good like green bean casserole like corn like all that I feel like you can just put any casserole guess be my top ones there do you guys are you are you a cranberry sauce guy ah not huge not huge but I mean I'm not too picky though so whatever gets my plate usually ends up getting eaten you always eat a little bit of everything right because you can't you can't insult ant Aunt May or whatever you gotta get two plates you gotta get two [Laughter] plates that's awesome good stuff well so what uh what's your what's your prediction for the [Laughter] Saturday as side all I know is we're g just go out there she play our game and uh let rest take care of itself I do I do have one question one more question about game day in in general so we did I did ask this question from T of Tate have you been on the receiving end of a Kirby rage stroke um yeah I actually have can you walk us through that process from your just like what go or what goes through your head yeah what goes through your head um I mean I always say this it's like listen to the message not the tone you just like hear him screaming you're like oh my gosh I'm screaming at me like it's crazy but if you like really listen like he's not doing it to like be mean like he's not he's not trying to like be mad at you he's just like he's so competitive and so like passionate about it he just wants the best for us but yeah uh I guess I've been on been on a couple of those but I feel like if you hav't then something's wrong if you haven't something's wrong exactly yeah yeah he doesn't he does that out of love right yeah oh that's awesome man that's that's that's that's got to be just a cool experience like you you've basically been on the on the Ascension of everything you know related to this program and watching what Kirby's built is there any other inside like like one of the things that uh that we've been kind of impressed with is just the details of everything yeah um is there anything that you could elaborate on with that as relation to what you've seen from your perspective as a player yeah maybe as maybe something that's different from what you hear from your friends that are at other schools kind of thing uh I mean really just like we kind of approach it with like everything M like everything matters like our big thing is like focus on like now like don't look in the past don't look ahead like Moment by moment exactly and y'all y'all heard him say that but like like that's really like what he preaches and what like all our players like go by um like whether that's like the meeting you're in right then the walkthr you're you're about to go to practice and soon as practice ends that's treatment and then after treatment that's ranking like it's literally just like win the moment you're in like don't look too far ahead don't look too far behind you because at the end of the day like that's not really going to help you so I feel like that's like that's our our thing is just like focus on little things and don't let anything slip off I mean honestly it's like to me one of the cool things has been like so one of the things that people say about Kirby is like you know was he not the head football coach be pretty successful like in the business world and like I do feel like the things that we that we that we see that we hear coming out are not just good lessons in football but also in life I mean like what you just talked through like you know anyone can apply that and and I'm sure you guys will keep that with you throughout life it's gonna you know it's gonna set set you all up set you all up well for even in life after football so it's pretty cool no doubt what's something what's something out there that the that the people don't know about lad makoni that they should know um I don't know uh trying to think I like to play golf I mean I guess that's a I'm a lefty so I hit on the wrong side there you go me too are you actually left-handed or do you just play golf left-handed just play golf left-handed yeah like throw do everything else right-handed but uh hit a golf club left handed the same me too heck yeah he yeah my dad taught me how to hit a baseball left-handed and so I ended up doing golf left-handed too so that's how it ended with me yeah that's that's how I'm like growing up played baseball I was always a lefty but okay if I was switch hit too sometimes though it's like I was hitting hitting bad on the left side my dad was like I'm make you switch right-handed I'm sorry nice ambidextrous or something right here but yeah I guess that's I guess that could be something okay yeah that works that works I hey we learned that I didn't know that and now I get to I can talk about how lad Maki plays golf the way I do so hope play a little better than I do though probably not did you did you play at the Bulldogs battling breast cancer uh golf tournament um yes so I've been I actually I didn't get to play in it this past year which I was upset about but every other year I got I got to play in it so that's awes very cool very cool yeah so we we've had uh Dwight who who manages the tournament we've had him on the podcast he's a friend of ours um I actually got to meet Jay Abbott who who he and his wife Teresa founded that the charity I got to meet him this past weekend homecoming weekend so good good people good people they're such good people so and like putting on that like event it's it's awesome so I was upset I here but speaking of uh of the the charitable events did you get to play in the bowling event that Coach Rick did I did not either I didn't get to go to that um we had like some other receivers like there's like three or four other receivers that that went to go bowl um and do that but they said it was a good turnout and like they raised a lot of money and it was a good event so I was super exciting was there any smack talk about who who won the who won the belts some guy talking about they were they were just arguing but I mean there's guys on our team that are so competitive like they they'll start arguing about anything so I I I bet funny keeps you on your toes nice all right lad well hey we we really appreciate you coming on uh my got podcast we've had a blast um getting to get some insight from you um shout out again to Classic City Collective and and oxia time for for putting this together uh making it happen um and you know whether we say official receiver mtic podcast co- unofficial official you're definitely you're joining the annals for sure yes sir app yes yes thanks thank we're very appreciative of your time just you know Jim and I are huge fans of yours and the team we're alumni so we are are very appreciative of of everything that you dedicate your bodies and your time to this game that we all love so just thank you so much yes sir good uh good luck the rest of the season go dogs yes sir thank y'all I enjoy it go dogs dogs