Sports Anchor/Reporter
VIDEO
These next few pages are the reason you probably came to my portfolio. I've divided this video section into a few subsections to give you a better idea of what you can expect. For those in a rush, I've added what I feel is the top video from each section to this page to give you a snap shot. I do encourage you to look around. I've included my best work, and also work where I'm quite self critical and listed the ways of how I could improve. Please take a few minutes to enjoy.
2021 ANWA Family Reunion
As I prepped for the Women's Amateur, COVID was obviously still a major theme. The tournament was cancelled in 2020, and even in March of 2021, many safety protocols were still in place. This is an international event. Some of these international players hadn't seen their families since 2020! This was a reunion that was made possible because of sports! Regardless of how the tournament ended up going for some of these players, I'd argue getting to see their families again was more important. Hearing that really struck me, and I thought it was incredibly important to share a story that many people, myself included, could relate to.
2021 MiLB Home Opener
Following the rain out for the GreenJackets home opener, I went back to SRP Park for round 2. Luckily the weather was on my side this time around. When it comes to talking about minor league managers, very few stay with a team for more than a year. Usually this is just a stepping stone to get to another organization or get another coaching role at a higher level. The managers aren't nearly as important in the minors as they are in the majors. At the same time, when your manager is a former big leaguer and an All-Star, it's definitely something to get a little more excited about. This guy is joining our community and leading our team, it's important to give the manager some early public confidence and humanize them before the season gets going. Due to COVID protocols, I was not able to interview Michael in-person. Some Broll of his playing days would have to do.
2021 Bobby Bowden Player Interview Part 1
If there is one group of videos I'd like you to take the time to listen to in full detail, it's this thread here. Dexter Carter, a former Bobby Bowden player and NFL first round draft pick, reached out to our station and wanted the chance to speak about coach Bowden following his passing. At first, my familiarity with Bowden was limited to the movie "We Are Marshall" and the help showed in the Thundering Herd's greatest time of need. Before I really wanted to dive in to Bobby Bowden as the coach and the person, I wanted to get to know Dexter better. I'd done some rough research, but I wanted to understand the man I was talking to prior to learning about one of the most influential and prolific college coaches of all time.
UGA vs Kentucky 2021 - Scoring Plays
Scoring plays are the most exciting in football. This game featured a bunch of fun ones. Any time a player does something unique, like James Cook's point to the crowd, as I'm behind the camera I get even more excited because it helps make it a unique highlight and also makes really good file video.
2020 UGA Tennessee Preview
This was by far one of, if not my favorite things that I did with sports. Since we weren't in a big college town, my news director did not value this type of analysis and previewing. This preview was actually for a sister station in Tennessee. For the cool part, go ahead and skip to the 2:00 mark. I'd never done a film break down like this before. I had to time the video in the background. I said UGA hadn't done that specific play against Auburn before with Jordan Davis. In the 2021 National Championship game, Georgia ran the exact same play which allowed Zamir White to score. Seeing that happen was one of the coolest, full circle moments I've had. Something I'd talked about over a year ago was once again relevant. Even though I wasn't working at that point, I shouted at the TV as soon as it happened and saw Davis lined up where he was.
2021 Bobby Bowden Player Interview Part 2
Now that I had Dexter talking, it was time to really dive into the stories that only someone who knew Bobby Bowden would really know. My strategy was 2 pronged: not only did I want to get Dexter comfortable talking with me, but I wanted to make sure I respected the man that was clearly very important to Dexter. In my rough research, I learned just how important faith was to Bowden, and wanted to let that part of his story be told. From what I also came to understand, Bowden never had a moment where he broke from his faith while coaching. All of what Dexter had to say about his former coach was lining up. I began reading "Make the Call" by Mark Richt in January of 2022 and so much of what Richt wrote matched what Carter was saying here.
2021 Bobby Bowden Player Interview Part 3
This interview went on longer than I expected it to. When I saw that I had 27 minutes of interviewing to transcribe, I was shocked, but also very excited. One of the most important questions you can ask someone is, "Is there anything else you want to add?" or "Is there anything that we didn't talk about that you would like to say?" Many times, you get some of your best answers here. In this case, Dexter talked about Seminole Nation, but then again, we'd talked about just about everything else there was to talk about by this point. Of all the interviews I conducted, the only one that comes anywhere close to the level of special that I hold this one to is Kelsey Spurlin and Eric Stokes. Kelsey was a volleyball player who was blind in one eye and also went through some other health scares. She graduated from USC Aiken with a 4.0 and went on to become a teacher. In the two UGA games I covered in 2019, Eric was the first person I talked to. After the Auburn game, there was no one in line to talk with him and I got to talk to the future Packers first round draft pick 1 on 1.