Georgia Football: Don’t believe Kirby Smart, he has a plan at QB
Georgia Football head coach Kirby Smart has spent a lot of time selling his ‘no plan’ line regarding his QB’s, but don’t believe it. He has a plan.
I’ll give Kirby Smart some credit, the guy knows how to get reporters to tow the line. After Saturday’s victory over Tennessee, the Georgia Football head coach was asked a whole lot of questions about the quarterback position. He rather grumpily banged on about how he ‘didn’t have a plan’ for the position and that the decisions that they made were all about ‘feel’.
Yeah sorry, but if you believe that, I’ve got a wonderful bridge to sell you. Kirby Smart and his coaching staff are planners. That’s kind of their schtick to be honest. They work their tail off on the recruiting trail and with their players to have them prepared and ready for any potential situation. Are we really expected to believe that those same coaches don’t prepare and plan for what to do at the games most important position?
Well, they do. In fact, I would go so far as to say that a great deal of Jim Chaney and James Coley’s time goes into creating multiple different plans for what they are going to do with both QB’s in each game. I just can’t imagine them suddenly deciding to throw a QB onto the field with absolutely zero plan. That just doesn’t make any sense.
The real question isn’t whether there is a plan or not. It’s what exactly that plan entails and how much we can expect to see both QB’s as the season goes on. Because ultimately that’s what everyone is wondering right now. Are we really going to see two QB’s play significant snaps this season? Is Justin Fields going to take the job or is Jake Fromm going to remain the starting QB for the entire year?
Look, I’ve written how I feel about this topic already. Fields is electric and has all the talent in the world, but there is a reason that he’s not throwing the ball around when he comes in. He’s still just a freshman learning a very complicated offense and it will take him time to figure it all out. Fromm is still one of the best QB’s in college football and knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s the starter for a reason and is going to be for the rest of the year.
But Fields is going to play, it’s just a matter of how much. The Georgia coaching staff will have a plan for Fields going into every game this year. This week against Vanderbilt, they will give him full drives at different times of the game so that he can learn to work on his progressions and gain valuable experience. The following week against LSU, I expect that they will have a plan to put him in for 10-25% of the snaps to run the RPO offense. The playbook that he has and the situations that he goes into will all be pre-prepared.
If UGA’s offense is humming along, Fields is not going to get many touches. If they’re struggling like they were at times on Saturday, he’ll get more. That’s a plan and it’s one that everyone on the team can get behind. Fromm wants to play every snap, just like Fields but both of them can understand that the team comes first. That’s been the mantra that Kirby Smart has pushed since the day he arrived. Neither was sold a bill of goods regarding playing time. It’s always about what is best for the team.
If Fromm is playing lights out, then leaving him in there to tear teams apart is what’s best. Fields can learn a lot from watching a QB run the same system that he is currently learning and that will make him better in the long term. If Fromm struggles, it’s in his best interest that Fields steps in and loosens up the defense with his running ability. We saw against the Vols how much easier it was for Fromm after Fields had got the offense moving.
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Both players benefit from playing with each other right now which is why unlike some media hacks out there, I still don’t see a QB controversy right now. There is a very clear plan that Smart and his coaches are using to help both QB’s but they just do not want to share that with anybody else. That’s fine, it’s their prerogative as coaches even if it is a bit annoying. All fans can do is is trust that their coaches are making the right decisions and so far, the results suggest that is exactly what UGA is doing through 5 games this season.