Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff and inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson will face their former teams Saturday when the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs visit Kroger Field. Instead of letting Saturday be emotional, both appear to be taking a businesslike approach to facing their former squad.
“Obviously, it’s a good team coming up here to Lexington, but at the end of the day, it’s the same rules in all football games,” Vandagriff said when asked about his sentiments about playing against his previous club. “It’s going to be an exciting game against a good club. And we are looking forward to the matchup.”
“No emotion at all. “Those are my guys, and they still are,” Dumas-Johnson said. “I still go back on different weekends; some free days, I go back and chill with them, so there’s no emotions.”
Unlike some transfer portal departures, Vandagriff and Dumas-Johnson both remain on strong terms with their former teammates and coaches.
In Athens, head coach Kirby Smart and former teammates of the duo spoke highly of the two former Bulldogs ahead of Saturday’s matchup.
“A lot of respect for Brock, his dad, his family. What Brock did for this university was awesome,” Smart said of Vandagriff. “He was a wonderful teammate and just a great kid. Always put the team first and would do anything to help the team and really helped our culture while he was here. I have a lot of appreciation for what he did and in fact he graduated from here. It’s really cool when he told me he was gonna do that, and then he was gonna go play and he did that.”
“It’s going to be exciting. That’s my brother at the end of the day,” Georgia linebacker Chaz Chambliss added of Dumas-Johnson. “I came in there and he was still here. He took us under his wing just like Smael [Monden] did and was helping us get around and learn the system, so it’s just brotherly love out there. It’s still a competition at the end of the day, but that’s still my brother so I don’t feel no type of way.”
While taking a businesslike approach, it’s hard to fully believe there won’t be at least some emotions from Vandagriff and Dumas-Johnson Saturday.
Vandagriff, a native of Bogart, Georgia, just 11 miles from Athens, grew extremely close with fellow quarterback Carson Beck, who beat out the now Wildcat for the starting job ahead of the 2023 season.
“Me and him built a great relationship. We still do have a great relationship to this day,” Beck said at SEC Media Days Tuesday. “We talk almost every single day. He’s a great quarterback, he’s a great athlete, but an even better person. So I think that aspect as a quarterback, being a good person, being able to connect with your teammates, being a good leader, I’m super excited see what he’s able to do at Kentucky and looking forward to him having success.”
He also formed close bonds with Chambliss, running back Cash Jones and former All-American tight end now of the Las Vegas Raiders, Brock Bowers.
“Carson, Cash and Chaz, we talk pretty frequently. Cash and Chaz were two of my best friends,” Vandagriff said. “Came in same grade and stuff like that. Them and Bowers we are all still in the same group chat, but still talk to Carson a lot. Those are just dudes that you value friendships, good dudes off the field, good dudes on the field and stuff like that. I mean, it’s just outside the lines, carrying on those friendships probably for the rest of my life.
“It was like the B’s versus C’s was how we did everything. It was me and Brock versus Cash and Chaz in literally everything we did. In the final tally record, I think the B’s got the best of the C’s. It was cornhole pool, ping pong, pickleball, we had fishing tournaments, just everything.”
