If you’re a diehard Georgia Bulldogs football fan like myself, then you know exactly how I feel after yet another disappointing finish to a season that had so much potential and promise. Georgia fans have suffered through countless agonizing losses and disappointments since our last national championship in 1980. Recently, the 2012 SEC Championship and the 2017–2018 National Championship, were among the most painful defeats in the Georgia football program’s history. Few would doubt that Georgia is one of the biggest “what if” football programs ever, but they had a real chance to change all their misfortunes with just one player.
On October 6, 2017, star quarterback Justin Fields (the number one ranked player in the 2017 NCAA Football recruiting class) officially committed to the University of Georgia. Many in the college football world were surprised he chose to go to Georgia because they already had an established sophomore quarterback in Jake Fromm. However, Fields insisted that he wanted to stay home (he’s from Kennesaw, GA) and said he was promised a fair shot at the starting quarterback position from head coach Kirby Smart.
Fields immediately drew comparisons to Auburn great and former NFL MVP Cam Newton because of his size, mobility, playmaking ability and arm strength. Anyone who watched his high school highlight tape knew how special of a player he would be. He was a bonafide superstar in the making and generated a ton of buzz in his first few practices at Georgia.
What clearly set Justin Fields apart from Jake Fromm was Fields’ ability to make plays with both his legs and his arm. Fields has the elite ability to scramble, extend plays and run the read option, while Fromm is a pure pocket passer who is slow and has very limited mobility. In my opinion, Fields was the most talented quarterback Georgia ever had wear the red, white and black. More talented than Matthew Stafford, Aaron Murray, D.J. Shockley and David Greene? Yes, no doubt in my mind.
Despite Kirby’s claim that Fields had been given a “fair shot” at the starting job, Jake Fromm eventually was deemed the winner and claimed the starting spot for the rest of the season. It’s no secret Kirby favored Fromm from the beginning. In Kirby Smart’s defense, this was not an easy decision to make. The sophomore Fromm was just coming off of a national title game appearance (loss to Alabama) as a true freshman, where he actually played pretty well. He also led Georgia to its first ever College Football Playoff victory over Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield and Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl that year.
Kirby Smart and Georgia still wanted to get Fields some playing time in the 2018 season, so they would substitute him in here and there; mostly for him to run the “wildcat” running option formation or run the offense in “mop-up duty” when the game was well out of hand. Fromm ended up leading a supremely talented Georgia team to the 2018 SEC Championship game, where Georgia (once again) blew a double digit lead and lost to Alabama in a late game heartbreaker.
Although Georgia had been winning with Fromm at the helm, they just seemed like they couldn’t get over the hump despite all their talent and five star recruits. The offense was far from consistent and the unit didn’t seem to click as well as they could have. Many Georgia fans like myself couldn’t help but wonder how much greater the offense would have been if Fields was the starting quarterback, especially in that 2018 SEC Championship game against Alabama where Georgia’s offense could not close out the Crimson Tide.
On January 4, 2018, Justin Fields announced that he was transferring from Georgia to Ohio State. It was official, Kirby and Georgia had chosen to stick with Jake Fromm over Justin Fields permanently. Oh what could have been.. Fast forward to today and Justin Fields has just led the Ohio State Buckeyes to a 12–0 record AND to the number 2 overall seed in the College Football Playoff. Fields is currently ranked 3rd in the country in total QBR (quarterback rating) and has an incredible stat line of 50 total touchdowns and only 1 interception. He was also just named a Heisman Trophy finalist and has a legitimate chance to win the National Championship this year and beyond. Fields has one year left of college before he can declare for the NFL draft, where he is expected to be a top 5 pick.
On the other hand, Jake Fromm once again led Georgia to the 2019 SEC Championship game, where they got demolished by LSU 37–10. Fromm struggled the entire game and although Georgia was heavily injured at the wide receiver position, he still missed numerous throws and couldn’t impact the game on a superstar level. Ask anyone who follows Georgia football and they will tell you that Jake Fromm regressed this year. He finished the season with 22 touchdown passes and 5 interceptions, while being ranked 19th among all QBs in the country in total quarterback rating. Now is everything all of his fault? Of course not. Georgia lost a lot of veteran wide receivers to the NFL last year. Fromm is a good starting quarterback and despite his struggles, still had his fair share of great moments like wins against rivals Florida, Tennessee and Auburn.. but let’s make one thing perfectly clear: he is no Justin Fields.
Georgia made the biggest mistake in program history by letting Justin Fields transfer out of Athens. I understand that Jake Fromm has been a solid starter and a good leader, but anyone who follows college football could see how special of a player Fields was going to become once he was given the opportunity to start. Justin Fields could have changed the fortunes of the Georgia program forever with his rare and elite skill set. Kirby clearly thought he had a talented enough roster to win with Fromm at quarterback, but that appears to be not true based on what we’ve seen.
Fields is big time and has proven it time and time again this season with the way he has played at Ohio State. But instead, Georgia decided to stick with Jake Fromm, and that decision has resulted in 2 straight years of disappointments and an underachieving offense. One could only wonder if Fields would have been able to close the door on Alabama in that 2018 SEC title game, or go toe-to-toe with LSU Star QB Joe Burrow in the 2019 SEC title game. Wins in both games would have gotten Georgia back into the College Football Playoff, and would’ve given them another shot at the national championship.
We will never truly know what could have been if Kirby Smart had named Justin Fields as the Georgia Bulldogs starting quarterback in 2018. I firmly believe Fields and his superstar skill set would have led Georgia’s extremely talented roster to at least one national championship in the past 2 seasons. But despite all the speculation, we do know the results of Kirby Smart’s decision to stick with Jake Fromm, and to say that the past 2 years has been disappointing..is an understatement. If Fromm decides to come back to Georgia for his senior year and wins them the 2020–2021 national championship, then all will be forgiven and you can forget this article was ever written.. but the odds of that happening seem to be less likely than Bigfoot walking around Times Square posing for the paparazzi.
I’ll be rooting for Fields and Ohio State in the upcoming College Football Playoff. He is a great kid and deserves all the success and glory that’s coming to him. However, as I watch each game he plays, I will forever find myself wondering just what could have been if he had been starting quarterback of the Georgia Bulldogs. Hang in there my fellow Dawg fans, we’ll get to the top of the mountain one day.
