John Fitzpatrick Discusses COVID Protocols For Georgia Bulldogs and the Playoffs
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MIAMI - Georgia Bulldogs tight end John Fitzpatrick discusses COVID protocols with the game and Christmas time.
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Q. John, tell me about this whole COVID situation. Were you able to go home and spend some time with family at Christmas time? Did it change any of that? Will you get to see your family at all this week?
JOHN FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I was able to go home and see my family. Not my extended family. We stayed in Atlanta. But I hung out with my four sisters, mom and dad and my brother-in-law, my little niece, and yeah, we had a great Christmas and everything.
Some of my family is coming down to Miami, I think, in the next day or so. I know Shannon, my brother-in-law Joey and my little niece Mary are staying home in Alpharetta. They'll be watching on TV.
Q. What is this bowl experience like compared to the Sugars and I guess the Peach last year in terms of away from the practice field given what the COVID situation is now?
JOHN FITZPATRICK: Like the experience outside of practicing?
Q. Yeah, your time the other 21 hours of the day or whatever.
JOHN FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I've spent a lot of time in the hotel. We have a little game room, watching film. I think the first day, first evening we went to dinner as a team on this boat and went around the Biscayne Bay I think it's called. Other than that, just watching TV, watching film, just hanging out with teammates in the hotel.
Q. Obviously one of your roles on this team is being a spokesperson. Now that you're here, I think a lot of us, a lot of the college football world, certainly fans, take it for granted that you're here, the College Football
Playoff. There's only four teams. Everything is in front of you. As a spokesperson for the team, do you feel since the Alabama game a little bit doubted? I can only imagine you're supremely motivated for a trophy that's just two games away possibly.
JOHN FITZPATRICK: Yeah, you're right. Maybe a little doubt, but we've only used that as motivation. We took the weeks following Alabama to get better, get better at things we can work on, and then we switched our focus towards Michigan. Yeah, we're hungry. We're excited, and we're ready for Friday.
Q. We talked to Coach Smart all summer and he talked about the skull sessions that you guys had with one another and talked about your why. What is your why?
JOHN FITZPATRICK: For me my why is my family, my mom and dad. All my life they've given me opportunities to be successful. They've done everything for me, and I want to use my opportunity here at Georgia to give back to them in any way that I can. I want to make my mom and dad proud, make my four sisters proud, my brother-in-law and my little niece and my extended family. Yeah.
Q. Seems like the big fellas up front might need some help blocking Aidan Hutchinson. What have you seen from him and are you ready to get after it in a physical battle in the trenches?
JOHN FITZPATRICK: Yeah, 97 is a great player. I'm excited for the challenge against him. He's physically strong. He sets the edge well. It's going to be a challenge with Jamari and McClendon going against him.