The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five-star logjam at QB
Smart expects Fields to push Fromm, Eason for playing time in 2018.
Justin Fields wasn’t showing any teeth on his early signing day at Harrison High School in Kennesaw. He’s not one to break out that big smile on a photo opp.
That did change when his teammates showed up, though.
There was a Bulldog in the auditorium. The five-star QB took a lot of pictures. He signed his letter of intent to play for Georgia but then had to go back and add the time and date.
It was a relief.
Fields signed with UGA and then made a few things pretty clear.
■ He is glad to be a Bulldog.
■ The nation’s No. 2 overall prospect for 2018 will make up his mind about enrolling early next week.
■ Fields will not participate in the Under Armour All-American Game. The risks of playing in that game are just not worth it.
■ He is very excited to see all the prospects that are stacking up for UGA in the class of 2018.
There was never really any reason to worry about those late pushes made by the new coaches at Florida and Texas A&M. He had been and was still going to be committed to playing for Georgia.
A few hours later, coach Kirby Smart walked off the practice field in Athens on Wednesday afternoon, when last year’s heralded freshman QB signee Jake Fromm was leading the team in preparation for the Rose Bowl, only to be hit with questions about the guy
who will try to take Fromm’s job next year.
Such is the nature of the new early signing period. And Smart understood it.
That puts Smart and the Bulldogs in the enviable position of having to decide next year between Fields, who some consider the best recruit in the country, regardless of position, and Fromm, who led Georgia to an SEC championship and College Football Playoff appearance. (And that’s not including Jacob Eason, the five-star recruit two years ago who was this year’s starter before losing his job only to injury.)
So why did Smart pursue Fields when he already had Fromm and Eason?
“Because you never know,” Smart said. “It’s alm o st like why did we recruit Jake Fromm when we had Jacob Eason? Because you never know. And I think back, aren’t you glad we did?
“There’s only so many guys like Justin Fields. That’s a tal-
ented young man. And so is NCAA rules, to talk about Jake Fromm. And I’ll bet you Fields. Asked about him, anything that Justin Fields the first word he uttered makes Jake Fromm better, was “exciting.” and Jake Fromm makes JusThen Smart mentioned tin Fields better. And Jacob seeing Fields at the recruitEason makes both those guys ing events such as the Elite better. So you start looking 11 and The Opening — and at the dynamic, competithat Fields stood out. tion breeds success. We’ve “He was one of the Alpha sold this program on com- Dogs of the Alpha Dogs,” petition, and I think those Smart said. “He took over guys are going to make each The Opening. He won a lot other better.” of games. He made throws.
This was the first time And he did it all while keep- Smart was allowed, per ing a calm, cool, presence that is kind of unmatched. He’s never real high, never real low. He’s really exciting. He can win the game with his feet but he can win the game with his arm.
“He’s not afraid of com- petition. He’s been very adamant that he wants to come in and compete. And he knows we’re going to give him the opportunity to do that.”
Smart was effusive about Fields, but also the entire class.
“Every good college coach tries to use the momentum and use the alpha dog, the leader, to go out and get guys and bring them with them. I did not think we had that as much this year as we had last year.
“I thought Richard (LeCounte) was unique in some of the things he did and did a good job. Jake (Fromm) did a good job. Justin (Fields) and Kearis ( Jackson) were great. They were both awesome, but they didn’t over- step themselves. I think they let kids make their own decisions. I think the university sold itself. I obviously think that our momentum on the field — because there were numerous kids that, when we recruited them in the summer, they said ‘Coach, I really want to come to Georgia. I just want to know that we are going to play for championships and that it is going to be special.’ The year that we had kind of created some momentum and tidal wave effect to bring in some extra guys.
And here is what Smart wants fans to know.
“We are working on us. We are working internally on our organization and our development of our team. If you take care of your team, if you take care of what is inside your house, then things outside your house will do well. And we played well. You say ‘How did we get from that point to this point?’ We played well. I think people saw the success we had and they saw a lot of the games we played and they want to be part of that winning program.”
Reports are from Seth Emerson in Athens and Jeff Sentell in Kennesaw.