Georgia football: Breaking down the Justin Fields aftermath

Should Georgia have even brought Fields in back in 2018?

That’s an interesting question isn’t it. After all of the craziness that the last few months have brought, should Kirby Smart and his coaches actually recruited Justin Fields in the first place? I mean at the time it was a no brainier right, generational talent, local kid, said he wanted to be a part of bringing a championship home, should have been a slam dunk. But the past month have shown that was certainly not the case.

I’ll go out there and say it, yes the Dawgs should have brought Fields in. The plan of having him learn behind Fromm and push for the job was a good one. If Fromm held him off, he’d likely go pro in 2020 and then Fields could take the reins. All of that required Fields being prepared to be a part of a team and not ‘the guy’. There were lots of indications before he signed that he was like that. I therefore can’t criticize Smart for making the decision that he did.

But this has been such a negative ending. Fields put Smart is a really bad position and to be honest, I think Smart has done well to keep the damage from this saga to a minimum. Whether it was having the story leak 48 hours before signing day or wanting to go to the Sugar Bowl but already basically being committed to OSU, Fields constantly seemed to make decisions that made life hard for his head coach and the team. Whether those things happened on purpose or accident isn’t the point. We’re all responsible for our actions.

But that ending shouldn’t change the fact that UGA should always go after the best players it possibly can. Sure, sometimes there will be bad experiences, like with Fields, but that doesn’t change the fact that you need the best players to win the big games in this sport. Kirby and his coaches did the right thing bringing Fields in, it’s just a shame that he decided that he wanted something that they couldn’t offer him.