After Jake Fromm led the Bulldogs to its first national championship game in 35 years, the starting quarterback job should automatically be his. However, will it? The underlying question this fall camp will be if Fromm keeps his spot or will Justin Fields swoop in become head honcho?
In my opinion, its Fromm’s job and he will pick up where he left off last season.
Fromm put together one of the most impressive freshmen campaigns in Georgia’s history. Last season, he completed 181-291 passes for 2,615 yards 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Fromm completed 62.20 percent of his passes and held a 160.09 quarterback rating. Statistically, he put together an impressive freshman campaign and needs to mimic that his sophomore season. Fromm must continue growing as a leader and be the game manager Smart needs him to be. I don’t see Georgia handing over its offense to another true freshman quarterback after having to do it two seasons in a row. Fromm’s made the relationships with his receivers and offensive line, so why mess with the mojo?
However, Fields comes in as the 2018 No. 1 rated Dual Threat quarterback in the state of Georgia. Once he committed to the Bulldogs, the underlying question of who would start began to stir across the Bulldog nation. Fields has the wheels to make defenses miss, but he has a cannon for an arm too. He enrolled in January, so he has extra time to learn the playbook. Similar to Fromm, he needs to come in and learn the system and impress the coaches.
Georgia only has two scholarship quarterbacks since Jacob Eason transferred to Washington. Fields will become the starter one day, but he needs to take a page out of Fromm’s handbook and learn as much as he can as the backup. To add to the discussion, Georgia has walk-on quarterbacks, Mason Wood, John Seter and Matthew Downing. The three walk-ons give Georgia some depth and could help Fields out along the way. These three should challenge Fields enough to keep him hungry.
Although Georgia is slim at the scholarship quarterback position, there is a lot of talent there. Barring injury, Fromm should lead the team this season, and I believe his strength will continue to get better. He should add to his touchdown numbers, and the interception shouldn’t increase. Georgia finally has an offensive line that can protect the quarterback long enough to make plays happen. Fromm has a year under his belt, and a pretty hefty resume to back it up, so Fields best bet is to sit back and take in all the knowledge he can.
After 14 practices of fall camp, the competition seems to be neck and neck between the two. Regardless of how tight the competition is, Fromm is likely to start against Austin Peay on Sept. 1, but I thoroughly expect Fields to see some significant playing time this season.