This is the best story I’ve seen on Georgia’s quarterback battles over the last two seasons. In particular, 2018 sounds like a frustrating experience for several.
In private, though, those closest to Jake could tell he wasn’t entirely thrilled with the arrangement. He felt that leaving the game intermittently messed with his rhythm, and at a certain point, he thought he had played well enough to end the competition. “He was definitely frustrated at times,” says Woerner, Fromm’s fishing buddy, who’s a tight end on the team. “He felt like he was doing all he could, and Justin would still get reps. [Jake] is a competitor. He wants to be The Guy.”
… With Fields pushing him, Fromm improved across the board as a sophomore, throwing for 2,761 yards, 30 touchdowns and a 67.3% completion rate. But Smart continued rotating in Fields all the way up to the SEC championship game, a rematch against Alabama. The stakes were high—win, and Georgia would make the College Football Playoff for a second consecutive season—and Fromm played a great game, throwing for 301 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. But on fourth-and-11 from midfield with 3:11 to go in a 28–28 game, Smart subbed in Fields, who had taken three snaps all day. Emerson Fromm compares it to benching a hot three-point shooter. “Would you pull Steph Curry out?” Emerson asks. “He’s just hit four threes in a row, and you pull him out with three minutes left to go? I just think…. Hey, coaches get paid big bucks to figure that stuff out. It’s just, I’ve never seen a two-quarterback system work.”
Lined up in punt formation, Georgia snapped to Fields on what appeared to be a designed run, and Alabama swallowed it up immediately. On the next possession the Tide scored the winning touchdown.
In the aftermath, Fields and his father reportedly had multiple meetings with Smart. “Justin was definitely frustrated,” the coach says. “He wanted to play. He was the eager freshman, which is probably the same way Jake would’ve been with [Eason], if he hadn’t been playing.”
I give Kirby some credit for how he managed the situation. It’s gonna be inevitable when you recruit highly rated quarterbacks in successive years that there will be tension over playing time, but it doesn’t appear to have bled over into the team’s chemistry in any serious way.
Still, I bet Smart doesn’t mind taking a break from that particular balancing act this season.
Get The Picture 
This makes it sound like Fromm was pulled for fields on 4th down. The steph comparison makes no sense.
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I had the same thought. Fromm never wouldve been in there.
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True, but you’re forgetting one important thing: all criticisms of that play call are valid, no matter how spurious.
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I’m pretty sure Fromm didn’t take the second down snap on that drive either.
Fromm was the best player on the field that day and we had him on the bench for 2/4 plays on the critical drive.
Kirby has done an incredible job, but I thought we used Fields on too many wasted snaps all year. Glad this is Fromm’s team this year, I think we win it all
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Kirby handled the QB situation in 2018 with one thing in mind, recrootin’. He was trying to prove to recruits that everybody gets to compete for a job no matter how deep a position is. It screwed with both Fromm and Fields IMO and didn’t make much sense.
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Smart maybe gets some credit for how he handled it with the media or the locker room, but in-game management of the two QBs left a lot to be desired. I can’t count how many times I wanted to throw my remote at the TV when I saw Fields come in on a 3rd down in the middle of a drive. I absolutely believe it screwed up Fromm’s rhythm. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call it a shit show, but it was handled poorly IMO.
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Imagine what his fifth best passer rating in the country could have been if only he’d stayed in rhythm.
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He probably wins the Heisman, Dawgs win the natty, and they declare peace in the Middle East. Thanks a lot, Kirby!
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I legit “LOL” at your post. Well done sir.
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That’s pretty funny.
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Yep. CKS botched it from the jump last year. RS Fields (who said publically he would be ok with that) would have been the best option
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The same Fields who says to OSU reporters that he is competing to be QB1 in Columbus?
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I…guess? What point do you believe yourself to be making?
Quite a difference between the QB room at 2019 tOSU and 2018 UGA
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Exactly this. If Fields was going to play, better to let him have a drive from a natural break in the action. Sending him in to run the ball on 2nd down did nothing for the team, for Fromm or for Fields. I think it definitely hurt the team last year.
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Thank God the prima donna and his father are gone.
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Exactly. I have no idea about Fields ability or character, but the phrase “Fields and his father” tells me all I need to know.
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Yet there is Jake’s Dad, quoted in the article, criticizing the coach.
Hmmmmm
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I’d be a liar if I said I had never criticized one of my son’s coaches for pulling my kid or not playing him how I thought he should, usually after the fact and in person. I would also be a liar if I said I never thought my kid should have been playing over another. What I never did was bring my kid in front of the coach and lobby for playing time over another.
There’s a difference in what Field’s old man did and what Emerson Fromm said. YMMV, of course.
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Probably called and asked about it by the guy writing the article. I’ve heard from several very reliable sources that Fields’ dad has been a major problem and pain in the ass since Fields was in middle school.
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Glad he is gone too, but I put more blame on Smart than I do Fields…he fostered all of it.
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Can’t say Kirby didn’t give Fields a chance. In hindsight it’s easy to say it was a mistake bringing him into the program in the first place given his expectations. While I think Kirby is probably going to be more strategic signing QB’s in the future I don’t think he’s ever going to be done with the balancing act due to how much he likes internal competition as a means to develop talent.
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Was it? If getting his commitment created momentum for other recruits to sign on with UGA and those players are still here, was it so bad? Fields on-field contributions (fake punt notwithstanding) were largely positive when he got significant time. I think the notion is debatable.
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Agree….the only thing that I disagree with was how Fields was inserted into the lineup throughout the season.
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Exactly! If Kirby wanted Fields to play, he should have handled it the way Richt handled Greene and Shockley. Give him a couple of series a game or red shirt him. IMO, the way Fields was used did neither he nor Fromm any favors.
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What dawgman said!
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Perfect time to ask, whose decision was it on how to give Fields reps during games? Smart or Chaney, both?
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I don’t think Kirby deserves much credit for handling the QB’s. In fact I think he mishandled Fields and the argument could be made that he mishandled Eason. If Eason gets his job back, then we are probably looking at a Fromm vs Fields battle this year. Instead we’ve lost 2 5-stars and have nothing behind Jake.
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Huh? You think Kirby should have just given the job back to Eason after he got hurt?
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So you think Eason leads us to within a hair of the national title in 2017?
And that Fields signs with UGA with Eason and Fromm on the depth chart, knowing that he will redshirt his first year?
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My son had a buddy that was a trainer on the 17 team. She said Eason was kind of a dick but Fromm was universally well liked and respected. As soon as Eason opened the door it was Fromm’s team. She said some other things about it but net-net? The team wanted Fromm.
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That IF is huge….because it didn’t happen. Not sure I get the point you are trying to make.
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Is Eason definitely winning the starting job in Washington ? I really don’t care to follow it but did hear on XM Radio about 2 weeks ago that it was a legitimate battle………now, are those radio talking heads being serious ? Don’t know.
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Eason’s accuracy came and went, and he wasn’t particularly good at reading a defense as a freshman. If he hasn’t improved that much in those areas, he could certainly lose the position battle at Washington, regardless of how good his arm is.
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This is the point I’ve made to my buds. Eason held the ball too long, he didn’t consistently make good decisions on where to go with the ball, and his accuracy was hit and miss. Fromm on the other hand, from the get go showed poise, decisiveness, good decision making ability, accuracy, take what the defense gives. Oh and don’t forget the leadership thingy.
That said, I wish Eason good luck. I thought it telling that article mentions he came around and helped Fromm. So good on him.
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Pablo Fields was a total jerk in the whole situation. He refused to see that his precious little boy got beat out by a more experience QB.
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Rewatch the AU game from last year…the ONLY pressure situation Fields was put into was a first and goal from the 2…it immediately because 2nd and goal from the 17 or so. Prince of Panic is a deserved nickname. Very glad he and his overbearing Father are gone.
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I forgot about that, that’s a good observation.
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I’d like to remind everyone who critcizes Fields as one who “panics” or the even better dog whistle “Can’t read defenses” that his stats last year were:
27/39 for 328/70% completion/8.4 yards a pop, 3 TD, 0 INT, long of 57
I love JF11 and am excited for this year, but the JF1 criticism is over the top and revisionist imo
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Has to be racism. I think being unable to read defenses is a misunderstanding of what was going on, but I don’t think it’s a dog whistle. When he was inserted into games and a pass was called, he looked immediately to run if his first option wasn’t there. He usually calmed down if he got multiple series, though, and tried to go through progressions.
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Dog whistle? Dude jam that shit up your ass. If you really think people’s preference for Fromm was based on race and not what Fromm had done on the field to lead them to believe he was the better option, you are just looking for things to be offended and outraged about.
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As usual, your dumbass snowflake self is just begging for reasons to be offended in the comments
Read better. I’ll help you with the big words if you need it.
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Whatever you say, comrade. You’re right. There’s a Klansman hiding behind every curtain and everything is about race. Even quarterbacks. You are clearly the smart one here.
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You intimated that people critical of Fields are racist. I can’t imagine why they’d take offense.
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Looks like you need help too.
I hinted that the “can’t read defenses” criticism may have some basis in racial bias, as in it’s not backed up by the stats in any way.
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You just repeated what I said and threw in the word “may” as if you qualified your dog whistle statement. Your statistical argument doesn’t support a charge of racism, so we’ll just ignore that. But thanks for the help.
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If you hear the dog whistle, doesn’t that make YOU the bigot?
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ah, the “you’re the real racist!!1!” argument. Love it.
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Where did he help the team when the game in doubt?
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How dare you call me rasist . Use white supremacy from now on dbag
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At least 75% of Fields’s snaps came in mop-up duty or in situations where we might’ve used the wild dawg. So we’re talking about the other 25% of plays Fields was used in lieu of Jake. And some of that 25% came in games where the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
Fields presented a good opportunity to challenge the opposing defense using a different QB’s skill set. I think the frustration lies in that Fields came in and ran the same plays Jake could’ve handled. So the blame is squarely on the coaches, particularly the offensive coaches who failed to use the great skills both QBs possessed to best advantage.
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“The plan is there is no plan.” That was Kirby’s QB mantra last season, and it showed.
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Yeaaa I wouldn’t say Kirby handled the situation “well”. My recollection is that he would randomly pull Fromm when he was doing fine to give Fields a couple series, which understandably probably threw Fromm off, or he’d put Fields in during garbage time but not let him throw and get those reps.
Then when Fromm wasn’t getting it done, no sign of Fields (LSU game? Might have been some disciplinary matters at play?). I’m not saying you bench your proven starter for good but there were instances when a change of pace/spark would have been helpful (I think the Tennessee game had some good usage – Fields came in and jump started the offense a few times but Fromm was clearly still The Guy).
Doesn’t sound like the Fields camp handled it well but I understand their frustration over how he was used.
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And he didn’t help himself by repeating, ” The plan is, there is no plan.”. I think the management of the situation got away from Kirby before he even realized it. The media drummed up a controversy before one truly existed asking, “How is Georgia going to keep Justin Fields happy?” Before the season even started.
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“I give Kirby some credit for how he managed the situation”
The only credit I give him was keeping the team together as you mentioned, but I also give credit to Fromm for that too.
Smart definitely screwed the pooch the way he subbed Fields last year. I hope he has learned from this.
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There is no way to defend that fake punt. Kirby made a dumb ass call and we all know it. He should have kicked it, played D, and if he was itching to take risk, he should have called a jail house break, full on blitz the next passing down. I hope he grows out of this Les Miles type crap.
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No pressure from behind on Jake this year. He will have his best year yet. He was putting ona show last year in the Championship game Then Chaney took his foot off the gas.
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Someone took their foot off the gas but who. Was it Chaney (the easy target) or Smart.
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I think it was Smart who made that call as well, but we’ll probably never know.
Not trying to draw any comparisons, but I remember when Bobo was taking criticism for his play-calling and people would ask Richt how involved he was with the offense. He’d usually say that he (Richt) makes the high level decisions such as when to go for it on 4th down and such, but beyond that he lets Bobo call the plays. I suspect it’s similar with most coaches. Smart may have told Chaney that he wanted to protect the lead and kill as much clock as possible.
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What most folks here forget is that Fromm was on the bench for the first play of about 4 or 5 second half drives. He had to start 2nd and 9 , 2nd and 10 , 2nd and 10 , 2nd and 10 or something like that because we put fields in and he ran into the line each time . That is what his dad was referring to not 4th and 11. How many plays did fields play in The Florida Game .? 0. Why would you break Fromm’s rhythm and let him start 2nd 9,10,10,10,10 . Because sometimes coaches make fucn mistakes . Even one that is paid millions. I like what Kirby is building, but that was the dumbest plan of his entire tenure as head coach and it cost us the game. You can tell not many of the people posting here ever played one down of high school football .
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Yep…..but how bout “John Madden”, does that count??
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Just watched Fields’ SEC CG “highlights” on youtube. Your recollection was pretty close.
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This was perfect example of when you try to keep everybody happy, you usually wind up with nobody really happy.
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Well said.
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Fields was given his opportunity here. It didn’t work out for him.
He has the good fortune to get a second opportunity faster than most. His ability to respond to honest assessment will determine the amount of success he achieves.
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What is the meaning of “dog whistle” as used above?
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A thinly veiled racist remark.
People are getting tired of being called racist..thus the push-back from decent posters that just don’t deserve that.
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Agree, it was a BS remark.
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LOL it’s Mike Cooley (the real one would absolutely loathe this guy btw). If there was only a way to check post history here…
And I never called him racist or anything of the sort but boy he was all over that comment wasn’t he?
As my grandmom used to say, “A hit dog’ll holler”
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No, you just called everyone who has ever said Fields couldn’t read a defense a racist. That’s much better. And just so we’re clear, I think Fields will end up being a good player at Ohio State. Attributing the worst possible motives to people’s reactions is shitty.
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100% didn’t do that. I said that’s a racist trope.
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BTW, Fields is talented, no doubt, but lets get real. He is not gonna pull the ball down and Michael Vick everybody’s asses all the way to the goal line. Not against a real defense.
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I have no problem with the balancing act. We just have to recruit kids with Character. Kids that are not selfish and that know if you don’t beat the guy in front of you then you wait your turn.Fields was not that kind.
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We’ll see in a few years during the Beck/Williams competition just how much Kirby learned from last year.
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