How Kirby Smart took Georgia Football to the No.1 ranking

The emergence of Jake Fromm:

When Jacob Eason went down in week 1, Georgia could have been in trouble. To be honest, if Mark Richt was still around, they likely would have been. Fromm was not offered by Georgia until Kirby Smart was hired. Smart offered Fromm as soon as he took the UGA job and took him away from Tuscaloosa and brought him to Athens.

Now I’ve written a few times that I don’t think Fromm is the finished product yet. But I do think he deserves a huge amount of credit for what he has done this year. Georgia would never be undefeated if he hadn’t been calm, avoided mistakes and made big throws when needed.

He’s had plenty of help. His receivers have made some legitimately amazing catches this year that have bailed him out a few times. But he’s given them that chance and he’s learned from past errors.

From a scheme perspective, I also think that the ‘RPO’ that Georgia runs with him is making a difference. Yes everyone knows that he is a pass first QB and that 99% of the time, he’s handing the ball off. But he has shown that he can run if he needs to and I think that is opening up the running game a little bit more.

He’s helped to make this a better football team than it was last year. That’s not a slight against Eason and it’s not crowning him as the next great thing. But he’s been a difference maker and opposing players can say what they want about his arm. He’s one of the reasons why his team is undefeated so far this season so I doubt he cares what they think.