UGA Football: Frierson Chats With Stokes

By John Frierson
Staff Writer

It was a little over a year ago that Georgia defensive back Eric Stokes sat down — remember when you could comfortably and casually sit across from someone? — for his first Quick Chat. One of the things he talked about was the trip he’d taken to Pensacola, Fla., that summer, and how much he’d enjoyed riding a Jet Ski for the first time.

It was a big thing, he said, because he didn’t know how to swim. And Stokes, now a junior on the preseason watch lists for all the major defensive honors like the Bednarik Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy, said last August that one goal he had was to learn how to swim. That goal, he told me during another Quick Chat, after practice Tuesday, has been achieved.

Among the things the 6-foot-1 and 185-pound Stokes, from Covington, Ga., did when so much was shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic, along with tons of working out to be ready for this season, was learn how to swim. He also talked about Saturday’s season opener at Arkansas, dunking a basketball, Hot Wheels and much more.

Here’s some of what he had to say:

Frierson: After everything that’s gone on over the past six months or so, what does it feel like to be in the middle of a game week again?

Stokes: Of course it feels weird and all that stuff, but now that our schedule is getting back to normal, it’s a great feeling that you’ve missed.

Frierson: What were you doing during the spring when everything was shut down? How did you fill the downtime that you suddenly had?

Stokes: During quarantine, from the start, I was looking for places to work out. I stayed in Athens, which my mother disapproved of from the start, but eventually she came around to it. I’d find different places in Athens to work out in and eventually I found a personal trainer, or I started driving to Atlanta or I’d go home and work out there. I was moving around constantly to find me someone to work out with constantly, so I could stay in shape, stay ready so that pretty much whenever the time was called (to return to team workouts) I was ready.

Frierson: What about away from school and working out, did you pick up any new hobbies or interests?

Stokes: I picked up my Netflix habit [laughs] and I started watching Gray’s (“Gray’s Anatomy”). I started watching that and really got into it. I need to get back onto it but we’re in season so it’s pretty hard.

Frierson: When we did one of these a year ago, you talked about riding the Jet Skis down in Florida last summer and how you wanted to learn how to swim. Have you made any progress on that yet?

Stokes: I can finally swim. I learned how to swim during quarantine, speaking of that.

Frierson: How did that go?

Stokes: That actually went great. I felt so great, it was like a big checklist item done, a weight off of me. Finally, at 21, I’m able to say that I know how to swim. Float? I can’t float yet but I can swim.

Frierson: What’s something that a lot of your teammates are into that you just don’t get? Is there something they do a lot of that you don’t do?

Stokes: Oh, Warzone, I cannot get into Warzone, the game Call of Duty: Warzone. I just cannot get into it. I know for a fact that my aim and all that stuff is terrible, and I know that I’m going to get mad too quick, so I just choose not to play it because I can’t do it.

Frierson: What was your favorite toy when you were a kid?

Stokes: My favorite toys were cars. I used to play with those little cars from the Dollar General, the Hot Wheels. I used to have a lot of them and I used to have a little thing hanging on the door and I’d put my cars into it.

I used to do a racetrack around my bed, on my bed, and I used to play so many little different games with my cars. I loved them.

Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be?

Stokes: Ooh, that’s a tricky question. I would definitely say I wish I could be really great at basketball. I just want to dunk on somebody, just to have that feeling of me going down court and dunking on somebody. For a day, I think I’d be extremely happy to say I dunked on somebody.

Frierson: As a guy that never even came close to touching the rim, I know exactly what you mean.

Stokes: [Laughs] I dunked on somebody when I was younger, but I was young and I got that little rush. Since then, I haven’t dunked on anybody, I can’t do it. Just getting that feeling of dunking on somebody, that’s amazing.

Frierson: What do you make of the uniforms, the 1980 throwbacks, that you guys are going to be wearing on Saturday?

Stokes: I love them and I can’t wait to see how they actually look on us.

Frierson: Are you a uniform guy or is that something that fans are way more into than the players?

Stokes: I feel like it’s a little bit of both. It’s a player thing, too, like players love it, but I also know for a fact that fans love it too, so it goes both ways.

We’re going to be excited to put them on, but I also know that we’ve still got a job to go out there and do. I know the fans are going to be excited to see a new look.

Frierson: I know you’re a guy that likes to look good on game days and that you post a little video on social media of yourself and your outfit each time, so have you added a fashionable mask to your look for this season?

Stokes: You know, I definitely have thought about ordering me some different types of masks and all that stuff for the Dawg Walk, but then I was like, you know what, that’s not me. I’m just going to keep it basic like I always do.

Frierson: You’ve been named to a lot of preseason watch lists for the different prestigious defensive awards. What does it mean to you to have your name included in those things?

Stokes: It’s a true honor to be nominated and all that stuff, but like I tell everybody else: they’re just preseason, they don’t mean anything unless I go out there and do it. I’ve got to go out there and pretty much do me. I’ve just got to go out there and do me and if it comes to me, it comes to me, and if it doesn’t, then pretty much, oh well.

(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.