Coach Smart was impressed with the play of true freshman, early-enrollee Jake Fromm. Fromm led the number two offense in Saturday’s G-Day game and performed well even though the running game was limited by design and quarterbacks were not subject to live tackling.
“Just watching out there, he managed the pocket well. There were two times – that Steve Shaw and I discussed – it probably was a sack that might have been drive killers. D’Andre Walker got back there a couple of times, and it probably was a sack, but it’s part of it, were not playing live, maybe he would’ve missed him, and the guy would’ve escaped.”
“He’s kind of done that in the two scrimmages we’ve had. He’s made some good throws. He understands the game. He knows where he wants to go with the ball. He sees people open. Early in the game he came out firing the ball and made some good hitch throws. A couple of his receivers broke some tackles for him.”
“I’ve been pleased with his growth and think he’s got to continue to do that.”
When asked to further elaborate on Fromm’s growth this spring, Smart allowed:
“He is a great competitor. He loved the game. In the huddle he’s got spirit, he’s talking to lineman, he’s talking everybody, he’s excited. I had to jump him in the 2nd scrimmage because he thrust touchdown pass he started yelling at the defensive end, and I told him, ‘We don’t do that here.’ We don’t talk to the opponent.”
“I don’t want to take the fire out of the kid, but he’s got that in him, he’s got a little moxie about him. He likes that. He gets juiced in competition, but he’s got to learn to control that part of the emotion.”
“He understands the offense really well. He knows the system; he understands what coverages he is seeing. I’m excited about Jake Fromm. The guy has grown up a lot in 15 practices. He’s got a lot of things to work on. He still got the deer-in-the-headlights when somebody comes free, and that pocket and he wants to sit there and hold the ball. If we were live today, he would’ve gotten stroked a few times.”