Junior defensive tackle Ken Veal has emerged from a crowd of backup players to start seven games for Georgia this season and record 38 tackles.

Veal, a former Cedartown High standout, emerged from the crowd again during a team dinner at Praline Connection that provided the Bulldogs a chance to relax as they prepared for last Wednesday night’s showdown against Florida State in the Sugar Bowl.

After the meal, Veal spotted a karaoke microphone and im-mediately launched into a ren-dition of Prince’s “Purple Rain.”

“It was fun getting the party going,” Veal said.

Others followed Veal to the stage, but in this case the open-ing act was the hit of the night.

“(Veal) acted it and sang it,” said fellow defensive lineman David Pollack. “It was hilari-ous.”

Added Pollack: “Pooh and Kojak took the cake.”

Pooh, as in Winnie the Pooh, is Veal’s nickname. He even has a Pooh tattoo — with the bear, not just the words, on his arm.

Kojak is the nickname for freshman defensive tackle Darrell Holmes, who earned honorable mention honors from Pollack by singing a Boyz II Men song.

“We called out freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, grad assistants, trainers and we even called our bus driver up there,” Pollack said.

The performance by Veal was not a surprise. Veal always sings around teammates.

“He’s the karaoke king,” said linebacker Boss Bailey. “The guy is a show-stopper. He goes up there and just takes over. He’ll sing in front of anybody if he’ll sing in front of us.”