‘Chef Godwin’ and other Georgia football players learn to cook

Sometime at the beginning of the summer, Terry Godwin walked into Georgia’s nutrition lounge inside the indoor athletic facility. The junior wide receiver was the only player inside the room. A few of Georgia football’s nutritionists were there, too.

Georgia’s football players have long had breakfast provided for them, but that day, Godwin said, he asked to prepare his own omelet for the first time.

“After that, we’ve all been making our own breakfast,” Godwin said.

During the past few months, Godwin said Georgia’s nutrition staff set up a program that allows the players to go to the nutrition lounge and make their own meals.

It’s a way to teach the Bulldogs a set of life skills they wouldn’t find in a classroom — what constitutes a healthy, well-balanced meal and how to prepare the food.

“Whenever we leave here we can still apply that to our meal whenever we’re at home,” said Godwin, who stated he is referred to as as “Chef Godwin” back home.

This focus on nutrition is led by director of football performance nutrition Sidney Smith, who was not made available for this story. Smith joined Georgia’s football performance nutrition staff in June of 2015 after working at Alabama.

A quick look at Smith’s Twitter account (@DAWGFBNutrition) finds pictures of Godwin, Jeb Blazevich, Michael Chigbu, Jacob Eason and others cooking omelets or egg scrambles. Scroll further and there are photos of J.R. Reed and Roquan Smith cutting sushi, and Monty Rice and Davin Bellamy preparing steak in a skillet.

Every day, junior tight end Jackson Harris said, Smith and the other members of the nutrition staff help the Bulldogs cook.

“It’s breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Godwin said.

Of course, most of the Bulldogs are amateurs in the kitchen. Godwin said there haven’t been any fires or accidents, although more than a few omelets have broken mid-flip.

As for who is the best cook on the team, Godwin said that would be punter Cameron Nizialek, who is pictured cracking eggs with one hand on Smith’s Twitter account.

And the worst?

“Nick Chubb,” Godwin said. “Nick cannot make an omelet. It breaks. It completely breaks. He just turns it into scrambled eggs. It’s horrible.”

“I haven’t seen that one,” Harris said. “But I have seen people try to get fancy with it and it not turn out so well.”

As Harris pointed out, it’s better to make the mistakes now in a low pressure situation than years later while supporting a family.

Some of these players may be able to afford a personal nutritionist after their time at Georgia ends, but many won’t. When they leave, they will at least know the basics of taking care of their bodies.

“Instead of just creating a football player,” Harris said, “you create people who know so much more.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2017 at 2:04 PM with the headline "‘Chef Godwin’ and other Georgia football players learn to cook."