Before Jacob Eason, there was MATT STORM (1993-1994), Georgia football’s first signee from the state of Washington.

Hailing from Edmonds, Wash.—a town just north of Seattle—the 6-foot-6, 300-pound Storm emerged from Walla Walla Community College in 1993 considered perhaps the best JUCO prospect in the entire country. He certainly had the size, and was also rather quick but, perhaps more so, Storm had an enthusiasm for the game and a “team-first” attitude, which had major colleges drooling over the highly-touted defensive tackle.

Attending and playing for Georgia, of all places, Storm appeared in all 22 of the Bulldogs’ games in 1993 and 1994, starting 19 at left defensive tackle. He totaled 119 combined tackles, 7 sacks, 3 other tackles for loss, and forced 2 fumbles. After recording two sacks at Vanderbilt in 1993, and two more the very next week against Kentucky, Storm was already considered “one of the SEC’s best” defensive linemen according to the Atlanta Constitution. Since UGA began releasing individual game-by-game sack totals in 1989, Storm is one of only six Bulldogs to date to tally two or more sacks in back-to-back games. Unfortunately, his individual performances, like for a number of his teammates, were overshadowed by the 1993-1994 teams’ overall defensive performance—one in which allowed an average of 26 points and 388 total yards, including more than 200 rushing yards, per game.

After Georgia, the tattooed Storm, who had unorthodox body piercings and pets—like “Maddie,” a skunk, “the greatest pet I’ve ever had,” he says—spent an entire decade in professional football as player on NFL practice squads, in NFL Europe, the Arena League, followed by coaching stints in the Arena League for the Orlando Predators and the Cape Fear (N.C.) Wildcats.

A product of a broken home, yet one with “a loving and unbelievable mother” according to Storm, the essence of family has always been a major part of his life. From his immediate to what he considers his “UGA football family,” Storm has returned to the state where he now surrounds himself with both of his families, while cherishing every moment of it.

Matt and my recent conversation from his home in Marietta:

PG: So, Matt, you grew up in Washington and even had tickets to Washington Huskies football games growing up, but eventually would go to the University of Georgia?

MS: And, I actually signed with [head coach] Mike Price and the Washington State Cougars right out of high school. However, I didn’t make it into WSU. My SAT scores were fine, but my high school GPA was not, so I “Prop. 48-ed” (Proposition 48). Before being eligible to attend WSU, Coach Price wanted to send me to Coffeyville Community College—in Kansas! Instead, I signed with Walla Walla Community College which, granted, is in Washington but five hours away from my hometown. Before I got there, I knew nothing about Walla Walla except that’s where Drew Bledsoe is from, and it would be a heck of a lot closer for me to see my mom than Coffeyville, Kansas.

PG: So, how does one go from Walla Walla thousands of miles southeast to the University of Georgia?

MS: Well, for me, there were several reasons why. For one, Georgia is SEC football. Plus, the first national championship game I distinctly remember watching was from a firehouse in Washington when Georgia played Notre Dame in the ’81 Sugar Bowl. When I finally made it to Athens for a visit, I discovered a great town with great people. Its family-like atmosphere reminded me of home and the Northwest. Edmonds was a great town to grown up in and, at the time, a small community, kind of like Athens 25 years ago. So, I first visit Athens during the 1992 Georgia-Georgia Tech game and I get on the bus with other recruits at the Butts-Mehre building. I’m sitting there, thinking this is absolutely amazing! To drive from such great facilities to getting off the bus nearing the stadium, walking through Georgia fans 5-to-10 deep, and some of them actually knew my name?!? There were all patting us on the back, slapping hands with us—how nostalgic, and what an eye-opener and an honor. I remember thinking then, if I go to Georgia, whatever happens—however I perform on the field—I’ll have a “family.”

PG: Especially considering this was before social media and the like, how were you even discovered in Walla Walla by the Georgia program?

MS: Basically, by accident. I was the sixth man on the Walla Walla basketball team and had a job at the athletic facility there running the laundry room. I would practice my dunking by dunking laundry, and it usually made a loud, echoing sound. Bob Pittard was Georgia’s Recruiting Coordinator at the time, and he was there checking out a sophomore or two (Storm was a freshman at the time), heard me dunking, and asked, “What’s that noise?” That pretty much started Georgia recruiting me. And, in turn, I thought, how cool is it that a team across the entire country wants this kid from Edmonds, who is attending little Walla Walla Community College?

PG: Did then-head coach Ray Goff actually ever come out to visit you in Washington?

MS: Yes, Coach Goff came out to our house, and I remember we had lasagna. We were all there: my mom, dad (Storm refers to his stepfather as his dad), little brother, and sister. At the time, I had a beard. And, Coach Goff said, “Son, you know Georgia has a no-facial hair policy during football season… You can have a mustache that doesn’t go past the corners of your lips, but no beard.” I thought, I can do that, but then will grow my beard back during the offseason.

PG: How was it to arrive to a program in 1993 that had gone 19-5 the previous two seasons, and was ranked No. 13 in the country entering the year, only to start off your first season losing four of five games?

MS: I had no animosity. I looked at it as I was playing for one of the best programs in the best conference in front of more than 80,000 people. I think back to the season opener in ’93—a heart-breaking [23-21] loss at home to South Carolina, getting beat on the last play. And, not knowing what it’d be like facing our fans, when we’d have to walk from the Butts-Mehre back over to McWhorter Hall (the athletic dormitory at the time). Yet, it was the most heart-warming thing. People were still tailgating, and they aren’t happy with the game’s outcome, but they’re clapping for us, offering us food, saying “don’t worry, we got next week.” That was the neatest thing in the world to me—fans still supporting you no matter what. Losing that game, and a lot to begin my first season at Georgia, we (the players) may have felt like we let everyone down. However, we knew the fans were there for us 100 percent, and no matter what.

PG: Matt, you got to tell me your opinion of what I’ve been wondering for more than 20 years: What happened defensively in 1993 and 1994, especially featuring guys like Randall Godfrey and Phillip Daniels—Georgia players who would start in the NFL for a decade—and other defenders who’d go onto some type of NFL career, like Mitch Davis, Greg Tremble, Whit Marshall, Carlos Yancy and, well, you?

MS: Well, first off, we knew we had talent, it was just a matter of putting it all together. Nothing against Coach [Richard] Bell (Georgia’s defensive coordinator in 1993) and Coach [Marion] Campbell (DC in ’94)—they were great coaches, and I loved them both—but, in a sense, I don’t think the schemes they ran facilitated the collective talent we had. They were both hard-nosed coaches, and they each had their own philosophies. We did what was asked of us, and their philosophies weren’t going to change. Also, despite having some really good backups, we had little rotation back then, especially compared to what a lot of defenses have now.

PG: What was your biggest moment as a Georgia Bulldog?

MS: Definitely beating Tech both times. The first time [in 1993], over there at Bobby Dodd, or whatever their stadium is called (chuckling), we beat the crap out of them [43-10]. And then, my senior year [in 1994 on Senior Day], having my family there, including my mom who never missed any of my home games, and winning then too [48-10]. I know there are the rivalries with Tennessee, Florida and Auburn, but beating someone who is in-state and only an hour away is special. It was great [in 1994], walking off the field, grabbing a piece of the hedge, seeing my family, all while knowing I had never lost to Georgia Tech.

PG: Although not drafted, you did get an NFL tryout. At that point, were there any regrets you had attended Georgia instead of another school?

MS: On Georgia’s Pro Day, I obviously was positioned as a defensive lineman, and actually graded out pretty high. Some old guy smoking a cigarette comes up from behind, taps me on the shoulder and said, “Storm, get over here. I want to work you out as an offensive lineman.” I immediately knew it was Jim Hanifan, then the offensive line coach for the Washington Redskins, but I informed him it hadn’t been since high school that I had played offensive line. Still, he told me that I was a “true” offensive lineman, and not a defensive lineman. And, all I could think about at the time was when I first got to Georgia a couple of years before, I had a similar experience with [offensive coordinator] Coach Wayne McDuffie. He told me that I should forget playing defensive line—that he thought I could have a professional career as an offensive lineman. I told him, “Coach, with all due respect, I came down here as a defensive lineman, and that’s how I’m leaving out of here.” And, all he said back was “Alright, I’ll see you out on the war field!” So, I really didn’t have any regrets but maybe, let’s call it, a bad judgement call on my part.

PG: Still, you lasted in the NFL for a good while, right?

MS: Well, after not getting drafted, I did have three offers on the table as a free agent, and I went to where there was the biggest signing bonus: the New York Giants. Although I made it to the last cut, I was cut, but Washington brought me in for a tryout. There, ironically, I ran into Jim Hanifan, who said to me, “I told you that you were an offensive lineman!” I signed on with their practice squads in 1995 and 1996. Through Washington, I eventually played for the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe, and that was one of the coolest things. The Redskins eventually cut me, but I was picked up by the Pittsburgh Steelers, where I was a member of their practice squad for a year and a half. So, in a nutshell, I certainly didn’t have an acclaimed NFL career—not even close—but, dang it, if I wasn’t part of the less than one percent that “makes it” into the league... And, I find myself very fortunate when it comes to that.

PG: You eventually went onto play for the Orlando Predators of the AFL for a few years and, while there, got into acting. How did that come about?

MS: I was living in Philadelphia during the off-seasons. Just prior to returning there, an Orlando teammate of mine, quarterback Pat O’Hara, asked me what I was doing that off-season. “Oh, probably working in construction in Philadelphia while living with my girlfriend,” I said. Pat then asked me if, instead, I wanted to film a movie—one by Oliver Stone, Any Given Sunday. I was told they were looking for NFL-like linemen during their filming in Miami. I had to tryout, and I made the role of a tackle for the “Miami Sharks” for six months of filming. It was a really cool thing. It eventually led to me going up to New York and getting acting gigs on small movies and national commercials.

PG: What’s been going on with you lately?

MS: I have a 12-year-old daughter, Hannah. Her mother and I divorced when she was three. Eventually, a girl I knew down in Orlando when I played for the Predators, Jenn, reached out to me through Facebook. And, come this April 10th, we will have been married for six years. We live in Marietta, and Jenn’s mom only lives a mile and a half away. Two miles the other way lives my mom, who eventually moved from Washington. So, close by, we have my mom and her mom, and I just love that. I work for a plumbing company as a plumbing supervisor. And, I still do some acting. I just did Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk—an Ang Lee movie. It comes out this Veterans Day. I’m the defensive coordinator of the Dallas team. And, I’m hoping my lines make it into the final cut, so I get paid more money (laughing).

PG: Through my work covering UGA football, I’m aware that you’re rather involved with the program.

MS: Yes, I’ve played in the lettermen’s flag football game [held prior to G-Day] ever since my wife and I married and we moved to Georgia. My wife is a Georgia Bulldog through and through. Since moving back, I tried to be involved with the program in anything I can, in any sense. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I missed out on so much [while playing football and living outside of Georgia]. Our president [of the UGA football lettermen’s club] and Sally Haugabook (secretary) are probably tired of me calling them constantly, asking if there is anything I can do. It’s something I do enjoy as it allows me to stay close with my UGA football family.

PG: In closing, to you, what does it mean to be a part of the UGA football family?

MS: You know, I traveled 3,000 miles from Edmonds to Georgia, and got here without knowing a soul. And, it’s now my home. I call myself the first northwestern southerner. And, it seems wherever I go in this state, I still get recognized by some Georgia faithful. All I got to say is usually just my last name, and I’ll then get asked, “Didn’t you play at Georgia—maybe during the ‘90s?” When I first walked from the bus to the stadium as a recruit in 1992, right then, I found a family down here. And, it’s been my family ever since.