Jake Fromm held off a challenge from Justin Fields last year and now the Georgia football team needs him to become the face of the program.
Jake Fromm might be the most underrated QB in college football. Going into his junior season, most national sports writers can’t seem to stop writing about the two players that he beat out for the Georgia football starting QB job. Fromm was forced into the starting lineup in 2017 after an injury to Jacob Eason and never looked back. He then held off Justin Fields all year in 2018 despite the fact that most would agree that Fields was the more talented player. In both cases, Fromm held off players that many seem to think are going to be guaranteed top 10 draft picks.
With the NFL draft now rolling around, I’ve seen several analysts poking fun at Fromm. It seems that, among some parts of the media, he’s considered a bit of a joke who simply can’t play at the next level. I find that to be utterly baffling. This is a guy who took his team to the national championship game as a 19-year-old. He played quite possibly the best game of his sophomore season against an Alabama defense that had multiple 1st round draft picks on it.
This year will be the first where Jake Fromm is THE guy at Georgia. In 2017 this was Jacob Eason’s team. Last year, a huge segment of the fanbase wanted Justin Fields to start right away just because they liked the idea of him being a dual threat guy. Now, Georgia only has one QB on the roster who can actually take this team to the playoff. Fromm has never been in a position where everyone is pulling for him. I can’t foresee that being anything but good for his performance this season.
Not only does he have that level of support, but Fromm is also a year older and smarter. He’s always been a cerebral player, who can forget him making run play checks that just gashed Florida in his freshman season? But spending time in the film room and time with his teammates will just help him get better. He’ll also be working with James Coley as his position coach for a second season and I have no doubt that should bring more familiarity to the games most important position.
Fromm has played the majority of every single game the past two season. Still, he goes into his Junior year finally secure as the face of his home state program. He has a chance this year to go down in school history as perhaps the greatest player of his position should he be able to continue to elevate his play. He’s beaten out quite possibly the two most talented QB’s UGA has recruited since Matthew Stafford. Maybe it’s time to give the guy credit for being a little better than some in the national media seem to think.