Brandon Kublanow had a tough decision to make this week. Georgia’s starting left guard is Jewish and Saturday’s game falls on Yom Kippur, a day of atonement for Jews to ask forgiveness for sins of the past year.
Georgia coach Mark Richt was asked how Kublanow and the Bulldogs plan to handle it.
“I haven’t sat down (with Kublanow) and said, ‘this is what we’re going to do on Saturday,’” Richt said on Tuesday. “He has a right to do what he wants to do. I think he wants to play, which will be great. But if he came to me today and said he didn’t feel right playing (Saturday), we would honor that. So it’s whatever he chooses.”
Kublanow talked to the Athens Banner-Herald last week about the conflict and told the newspaper he plans to play ball. That means he won't be able to fast from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, as is the Jewish custom.
“My Mom’s been talking to me about it,” Kublanow told the Banner-Herald. “Every year that it happens — it happened in high school — Yom Kippur would fall on the same day as a game and she’d be like, ‘You’re not playing.’ ‘Mom, come on. Let’s be realistic. I’m playing.’ ”
So Kublanow won’t fast from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday like is the Jewish custom.
“I would love to try,” said the 6-foot-3, 294-pound sophomore. “But realistically I’m not going to. I’ve got to be ready for the game. It is what it is.”
