For Georgia linebackers Raylen Wilson, Chris Cole and Justin Williams, they understand just how important giving back to the community is, as much as winning a football game on a fall Saturday at Sanford Stadium.
The trio spent the afternoon hanging out with 92 grade-school children at the back-to-school event at the H.T. Edwards Boys & Girls Club in Athens on Friday. There, they talked and danced with the kids, handed out UGA-licensed backpacks, and ate pizza with them.
All of the free handouts were supplied by over 130 donations from community members, in an effort assembled by Wilson’s agency, Excel Sports Management, to help local kids get ready for the upcoming school year.
“I feel like it was a great opportunity for us to come out here to give back to the kids because somebody did it for us, and I feel like it’s always good to return the favor,” Wilson said. “This is just a little thing that we did. You can see that on their faces. It’s priceless.”
Putting a smile on each child’s face is what it is all about, all three linebackers told Dawgnation on Friday. Knowing at one point in their life, they were in those kids’ shoes, looking up and admiring local celebrities as if they were superheroes.
Williams, a junior from Conroe, Texas, thinks events like these can help lay to rest the ‘bad light’ narrative the football team often gets for not showing admiration toward the community.
“We do care about the community around us, and just so thankful that they come out to every game day and support us,” Williams said. “So we just thought it would be time to give back.”
This is just one of the many ways Salem, Virginia, native Cole stays involved in his community throughout the year. Every May, he holds a local youth exposure football camp in his hometown, along with a back-to-school drive that his mother still helps operate to this day.
During the holiday months, Cole runs a turkey drive at Thanksgiving and a Christmas fundraiser at Blue Station, where he hands out toys and does other activities with children.
“Trying to give back to them and trying to just help them out and just try and be their mentor,” Cole said. “...This is like nothing new to me, and I love giving back to the kids.”
As for each of the players’ favorite moments, Wilson enjoyed taking a few friendly punches to the stomach and raising all the kids in the air. Cole and Williams loved dancing and making TikToks with the children, despite both players claiming they were the better performer.
