Style Over Everything: AJ Brown Didn't Go To Georgia Because He Didn't Want To Wear Black Socks, Likely Cost Them A National Championship
Michael Chang. Getty Images.When you look good, you feel good. And when you feel good, you play good. And when you play as well as AJ Brown does? Well that's when the magic happens, and championships are won.
AJ Brown is a superstar. You could get one of your hands chopped off right now, and you'd still have enough fingers left to count all the humans in the world who are better at playing the receiver position than AJ Brown. Heck, go ahead and chop off your pinky on the only remaining hand you have left.
The man knows a thing or two about playing some high level ball. He knows what he needs to do in order to play to the best of his ability. And part of that equation is looking the part. If AJ Brown thinks he looks like trash, then he's going to play like trash. And nothing looks worse than black cleats with black socks.
This has to be one that still keeps Kirby Smart up at night. Sure, winning back-to-back national titles in '21 and '22 has likely helped cure the pain. But imagine if Kirby Smart went 3-for-3 in national championship games. He would have won in 2017 if AJ Brown was in Athens.
You had freshman Jake Fromm throwing to Riley Ridley, Terry Godwin, Javon Wims, and Mecole Hardman. Imagine if you threw AJ Brown into that mix. He had over a thousand receiving yards that season. That was good enough for top 10 in the country. Georgia got the ball first in that overtime, and they had to settle for a field goal after going three-and-out. If AJ Brown was on that team, they get into the end zone and put the pressure on Tua to deliver.
But Georgia wore black socks and black cleats. AJ Brown would never be caught dead looking that awful. It's like they had someone's grandpa design their uniforms. Ugly. Slow. Not exciting in the slightest. The complete opposite of everything that AJ Brown is about. So he went to Ole Miss and never got a chance to even play in a bowl game. But that's besides the point. Because AJ Brown still went on to become a Super Bowl champ. And right along there with him as a Super Bowl champ is DeVonta Smith.
Mike Ehrmann. Getty Images.Still would have looked a little cleaner in white cleats, but it is what it is.