UGA QB Jake Fromm: Football, Faith and Family
NOTE: This is a multi-part feature on Georgia QB Jake Fromm. Please come back during the week as Dawg Post provides more insight into the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, and his journey from high school football to an NFL prospect.
Nick Saban suspected this phone call was on the way. It was spring of 2016, and the 478 number flashing on the Alabama coach’s cell was from Houston County quarterback and Alabama commit Jake Fromm.
It was time for Fromm to end things. Saban picked up, and the rising senior “did one of the hardest things I had to do at the time.”
“We talked anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour,” Fromm said of breaking up with Alabama and Saban. “It was pretty long. It was tough to tell him that I was coming to Georgia. I’m sure he didn’t like that very much.”
Jake Fromm was headed to Athens.
“He was still committed to Alabama, but we went on an unofficial trip to see the school after Kirby got there,” Von Lassiter, Fromm’s high school coach said. “We met with the staff and looked around. We were driving home, and he called coach Saban, and told him he was decommitting. And then he called Coach Smart and told him he was coming to Georgia.”
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Just like that, with Fromm riding down on a two-lane road toward home from Athens, Smart had won his first real head-to-head recruiting fight with Saban. It wouldn't be the last battle between Saban and Smart, but this was a big one - maybe one Saban couldn’t do anything about.
“I really think Jake loved Kirby a lot, and when Kirby went to Georgia, that had a lot to do with Jake going to UGA,” Fromm’s younger brother Dylan said.
Soonthereafter, Fromm let the world know what Saban and Kirby already knew.
“I am announcing my decommitment from the University of Alabama’s football program,” Fromm tweeted in a statement in March of 2016. “And with much thought and prayers from my friends, coaches and most importantly my family, I am so blessed to announce the commitment to my hometown team. I am verbally committing to The University of Georgia.”
“We thought he was a great player. We were excited to have him be part of our program,” Saban recalled. “But we understood when Kirby went to Georgia that Kirby was recruiting him, and there was a chance of that happening. We thought he was a fantastic player.”
What seems to be unmistakably clear is that Fromm isn’t like many quarterbacks to come along of late at UGA (or elsewhere). Culturally, on the field and off, Fromm has struck a nerve with the fans of UGA football. He had become well known in middle Georgia due to his heroics in Little League baseball, where he earned the nickname “Man Child” for his performances, and under Friday night lights where he took his high school team to heights it had never been and has yet to return.
Those teenage moments made Fromm a legend in that part of the state before he ever slipped on the Silver Britches - even if the path to slipping those britches on was a journey in itself.
After arriving in Athens, Fromm’s play on the field, coupled with his easy-going way has made him as popular as any Bulldog player in recent decades. That he’s from the state he plays for (Something Tua Tagovailoa, Trevor Lawrence, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield can’t claim) makes Fromm all the more popular with fans in red and black. That Fromm is the first quarterback to win an SEC Championship for the Dawgs since 2005 helps him too.
“I really want to go to the grocery store sometimes with mom” Fromm said, but admitted that it can be overwhelming.
“If you knew how many people asked me if I could get Jake to send a birthday card or a message to them,” Fromm’s paster Jerry Walls said. “Jake is famous. If he walks into Bass Pro Shop he’s bombarded. He’s a good-natured guy, but there has to be a point where that would be a burden.”
“I take it for what it is,” Fromm added. “I know God has put me in this position, so maybe I can shed a little light on him. I am super thankful for it.”
Fromm came one snap from being immortalized in UGA lore in 2017. That snap could be a kneel down this winter if everything goes according to plan for Fromm, Kirby and the Dawgs in 2019.
Still, Fromm was close to being the latest in what had become a growing line of signal-callers from the Georgia the Bulldogs missed on. Frankly, he could have spent the last few years starting for Alabama, or getting ready to start for the Tide this fall.
The path for Fromm to arrive in Athens wasn’t direct, but it was the one he was willing to take because it was the only one available to him. He would have to get around an inept coordinator at UGA and wait for a new head coach to offer him the scholarship he wanted so badly before he could commit to the Dawgs. Even after committing to UGA, there was a quarterback with NFL talent already on the roster.
But that did not deter Fromm.
Jake Fromm Through the Years: Photos
"I don't think Jake Fromm cares about the depth chart,” Kirby said after Fromm signed with the Bulldogs. “The best quarterbacks that I've ever been around are the ones that don't care. I don't think he ever cared. He loved Georgia. The kid has loved Georgia since he was growing up, and he has wanted to be a Georgia Bulldog all his life, so that is what he chose to do. It didn't matter who was here. He is pretty confident in himself and the best ones are. That's what he made the decision based on.”
“Jake Fromm's story is incredible. Everyone is thinking that Jacob Eason is going to chase kids away, and here comes (Fromm),” ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said.
From the look of it on the outside, Fromm was going to have to scrape his way to any meaningful snaps he could get before the 2019 season. But Fromm came to campus ready to fight. He had no problem with that. And UGA was fortunate he was ready to do so.
Before he signed, the consensus was that Fromm was the ultimate hedge for something going wrong with the gifted Eason. Fromm’s initial role was to be a highly-talented signal caller backing up a first-round prospect.
Things would not wind up that way.
THE WINDING PATH TO UGA
The Matthew Stafford era at UGA produced some of the most exciting times in recent Bulldog memories, and Jake Fromm was watching and mimicking the Dawgs all he could.
“I remember just being in the house and watching Stafford, Knowshon and A.J. Green go out and play. I remember the Sugar Bowl when they played Hawaii,” Fromm said. “And then going in the yard and just trying to be like those guys… and be as good as those guys.”
In middle school, Fromm was starting to show that it wasn't out of the question that he could be as good. His first national exposure in sports came on the baseball diamond. He hit three home runs and knocked in eight RBI while striking out 11 of 18 batters faced in the 2011 Little League World Series. Warner Robins lost in the United States Semifinals, but Fromm’s prowess to perform on the biggest stage was starting to be noticed.
As impressive as it was for Fromm to help Warner Robins climb that far in Little League Baseball, his most notable influence was on football at Houston County. The school, which started playing football in 1991, had only one 10-win season to its name. The Bears were typically the sacrificial lambs in that football-crazed part of the state.
But two things happened that changed the trajectory of Houston County football for a period of time: Von Lassiter took over as head coach and Jake Fromm started playing quarterback. Rather than trying not to get blown out, the Bears were hunting on the gridiron for the first time in their existence.
“There was just a culture change,” Fromm remembered of the start to his high school career. “Coach did a great job coming in and changing the culture. And when you add a couple decent football players that are all striving and working for the same goal, I think it It definitely helps.”
Houston County went from being the new, forgotten-about school in the county to a powerhouse. Lassiter took a program that went 3-7 in 2012 and turned it around to go 7-4 a year later. The Bears made the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
“That was a fun time,” Fromm remembered. “You know, coming up and playing football and playing with your hometown guys. We just want to play football and play to our best, and we were playing for a great coach.”
That happened, in part, because of freshman Jake Fromm, who had been recruited by Lassiter to come play football for the Bears while he was still in middle school.
“I went over to his middle school and got him out of class when he was in eighth grade,” Lassiter remembered. “At the time it looked like he was only going to play baseball. I brought him into the office, and he assured me that he wanted to play football, and that he always had. He said he enjoyed baseball, but that he was a football player. His dad started bringing him up there in the mornings so he could do quarterback workouts. He was there religiously. He worked during the baseball season, too. Our relationship formed then. I knew he was going to be something special when he looked me in the eye, shook my hand and told me his name.”
In 2013, Houston County started the season 3-3. The Bears had already been blown out by local power Northside 45-10 and taken a one-point loss to Lakeside in Evans. The season appeared to be going the way that most do at Houston County - about .500 with the playoffs sinking away as the season went on. The result from the Northside game didn’t give much hope things would turn around.
After all, at 1-2 in the region and with a game against undefeated Warner Robins up next, the Bears would not only have to shock the region by beating the Demons but win out the rest of the way.
Something that had never happened before at Houston County was suddenly possible with the new culture.
“That Warner Robins game was Jake’s coming out party,” Lassiter said. “He had like 260 yards and something like three or four touchdowns. We beat them for the first time… it might have been school history.”
Lassiter, Fromm and the Bears were only starting their journey of rewriting history at Houston County.
“When he got to Houston there was a really good senior quarterback who had started the year before. We wanted to afford that senior the opportunity to continue to be the quarterback. Knowing what we knew - that Jake was going to be a really, really good quarterback - we didn’t want to just throw him out there,” Lassiter said. “We started him out with every other series. And then we rolled him in and out to get his feet wet. He was the first one at every meeting. He was the first one on the field. The guy who was going to encourage his teammates. He won the offense much like he did when he got to Georgia.”
That’s another reason why Fromm and the Bears’ 27-23 win over Warner Robins was so stunning. A freshman quarterback gave Warner Robins its only loss in league play. Warner Robins went on to win the region, but Houston County went on to its best run of football in school history.
“I remember going out there - you're throwing a couple balls in some windows and you really don’t know what's going to happen,” Fromm said of that important game. “Warner Robins was good. No, they were a very, very good football team. And I remember throwing a couple plays and really just some tight windows. I remember getting hit (after throwing) and getting back up like ‘That guy caught the ball? Holy cow!’ I think we played a great football game that night. Super fun.”
That’s when Lassiter knew what he had.
"After that first part of his freshman year we knew that he was the guy,” Lassiter said. “He won the job against Warner Robins, and was the starting quarterback from that point on.”
A year later Houston County humbled Northside 34-13 to win the only region title in school history. The Bears bowed out of the state playoffs in the AAAAA quarterfinals. Despite the early exit, Fromm and the Bears were scoring like crazy again - this time accounting for 40 points a game.
Houston County, under Fromm and Lassiter, was off. The Bears ended the four-year run with Fromm under center with a 35-12 record. It is the most successful time in school history.
The Bears weren’t the only thing in Fromm’s life that would undergo a fundamental change. A year into his high school journey, Fromm and his family were “late again” to a Sunday morning service at Southside Baptist in Warner Robins. While the tardiness wasn’t uncommon, the message Fromm received that morning moved him like he had not been moved before.
MESSAGE RECEIVED
It is hard for Tim Lee to go unnoticed. Legless, and preaching from a wheelchair, the Vietnam War veteran was a victim of a land mine explosion as he was leading his platoon. His testimony is unlike most.
After losing both legs, Lee has a simple way of explaining his relationship with God: “I quit walking for myself, and started running for God.”
That run, which started in southeast Asia decades ago, reached middle Georgia when Fromm was a year into high school.
“I was sitting in the back, and I remember sitting there crying and balling and sweating. I was sitting next to mom and my brother Dylan, and just really thinking about them, and just really thinking that was kind of where my heart set,” Fromm remembered. “That's when the message - it just spoke so clearly me. I just gave me my heart to Christ that day, and I haven't looked back. It's been amazing, and a great transformation for me. It has been awesome.”
“It clicked with him,” Fromm’s paster Jerry Walls said of Fromm’s come to Jesus moment. “Jake gave his life to Christ that day. Tim asked: ‘Where would you spend eternity?’ At that time I don’t think that Jake thought about that.”
Walls recalled that Lee’s sermon moved many at Southside Baptist that morning.
“Jake was one of probably 100 folks who came that day to be with Christ,” Walls recalled.
“If you’re here this morning and are ready to give your life to Christ I would like you to come do that with me today,” Lee told the congregation.
That message spoke to Fromm.
“Jake left his seat - left on his own - and came forward with all of the others and asked Christ to be his Lord and savior,” Walls said, adding that someone in Fromm’s position might not be as eager to do so.
“It’s really hard sometimes for good kids to see their need for the Lord because they are raised in church,” Walls added. “The role models he’s had have had a major influence on him. And giving his life to Christ - living within him - makes a big difference. We all have to make decisions, and Jake has made the decision that he’s going to walk in the word.”
Fromm admits that walk isn’t always easy.
“It's really tough. The word tells you to do one thing, and the world tells you to do another thing,” Fromm said. “So it's very tough kind of battling that. And I really think it comes down to who you surround yourself with - what kind of crowd you're going to run with? And for me, I have some great teammates, some great friends and I'm really thankful they can help me pull me out of the mud sometimes, and make me who I am today.”
“Jake has a relationship with Christ that is impeccable,” Lassiter said. “He shows that in everything he does.”
“Jake is very strong in his faith,” Kirby said this summer. “He lives it. And he breathes it. He does that with our players in a way that is not rubbing it in their face. I have a lot of respect for his ability to be who he is, be confident in who he is and still lead our team and not create any jealousy while he’s doing it. There’s got to be a lot of credit given to his parents for his upbringing because they have done a tremendous job with all of their sons.”
Fromm was growing into the person many know today. But his future on the gridiron was still up in the air. Fromm and Houston County had turned many heads, but college recruiting is a very different ball game - one that is often difficult to understand.
The few years that culminated in the impressive turnaround at Houston County wasn’t enough for UGA to offer Fromm a scholarship.
That confused many in middle Georgia, but excited Fromm’s preacher.
“I am a big Alabama fan, and when I say a big Alabama fan I mean a big Alabama fan,” Walls said. “I was so excited at the time. I was so thankful. I kept thinking: ‘Thank you Mark Richt for not recruiting him.’”
How much of that was the “fault” of Fromm is hard to calculate. Brian Schottenheimer had just been hired by Richt, and he was in charge of identifying and recruiting the quarterback to Athens that he and the program wanted after Eason. Nearly nothing in that process went well - Fromm was passed over; Trevor Lawrence, who just completed an undefeated season at Clemson, was treated as a “normal’ camper at big recruiting events.
Schottenheimer wasn’t much of a recruiter, and Fromm saw that first hand when he drove up to talk with shop with the new assistant coach heading into his junior year. Schottenheimer asked Fromm if he had any college offers.
It was a bizarre way to open up a relationship with a player. Either UGA’s staff had not prepared Schottenheimer to know the answer to that question, he had been prepared by UGA’s staff and didn’t pay attention or he wasn’t used to the intricate dance that is recruiting because he spent so much of his time in the NFL.
Fromm’s experience with the Schottenheimer was just the first indicator of how unequipped he was for the college game. Schottenheimer repeatedly proved he was a horrible recruiter. Later that fall he frustrated those in the program with a lack of offensive production and nearly no quarterback development.
But in that moment, before all of those problems became obvious to the masses, one of the first red flags arose. Georgia, the school Fromm had dreamed of playing for, had a problem - the person recruiting him for his position.
"Jake is pretty quick," Jake Fromm’s dad, Emerson Fromm, told ESPN in 2017. "He either likes you, or he doesn't. When Schottenheimer asked him that, it just really turned him off. Jake was just disinterested after that."
“Jake wanted to be at Georgia,” Lassiter said. “He grew up a UGA fan. He always wanted to be the quarterback at Georgia, but he didn’t have an offer from Georgia.”
“I’m sure it touched his confidence a little bit and made him think about a lot of things. But for the most part, it’s very motivating,” Fromm’s younger brother Dylan said of the meeting with Schottenheimer. “It makes you say ‘Hey, I don’t care about what you think. I’m going to keep doing what I do and make the best of this regardless.’”
From there, Fromm visited South Carolina a few times (Steve Spurrier was still the coach in Columbia), Florida, Ole Miss and eventually Alabama. The Tide and Fromm hit it off - specifically Fromm and Kirby. It came down to the Rebels and Tide. But by October, after several visits to Tuscaloosa, Fromm knew where he wanted to go with Georgia not on the table.
The Tide.
“He loved Kirby, and it was a very good day,” Dylan Fromm remembered. “I mean, considering everything, now going into his third year as a Bulldog, it’s weird to even think that he was ever committed to Alabama.”
But Fromm was to be the quarterback of the future in Tuscaloosa.
“I love Bryant-Denny. I love the coaching staff,” Fromm told Chad Simmons later that fall. “I want to win a national championship. There’s pressure to win.”
There was pressure to win in Athens, too. While winning games was happening, winning games that mattered wasn’t. By 2015 Mark Richt’s program had gone ten seasons without winning the SEC. A national title was left in the shadow of the end zone at the Georgia Dome in 2012 against the Tide.
Coming into 2015 the pressure was on for UGA. The Dawgs were ranked No. 9 to start the season and picked to win the SEC East. No other program from that side of the conference was ranked in the top 20. It was Georgia’s to be had - or so it seemed.
Three seasons after the nightmare ending against Alabama in 2012, longtime offensive coordinator Mike Bobo departed for the head coaching gig at Colorado State. He had been a part of the staff at UGA since 2001, and had successfully recruited and developed quarterbacks in Athens that entire time. The two seasons before 2015 were hindered by injuries and trouble with the NCAA.
By October 2015, Georgia had been waiting three long years to get another shot at Alabama, but it wouldn't have many bullets in its chamber. Still, the Tide looked human, which had not been the case most of the decade. Alabama had been stunned by No. 15 Ole Miss in September. They arrived to a soggy Sanford Stadium with their season on the line against No. 8 Georgia on October 3rd. The Dawgs had looked sloppy in their opener at Vanderbilt, but blitzed lowly South Carolina to make things seem better than they really were.
As Jake Fromm and some friends settled in to watch the for the afternoon game on CBS on their back porch, Georgia was a one-point favorite over Alabama. It was the first time the Crimson Tide had been underdogs in years. That prognostication turned out to be very, very wrong. Alabama made sure the Dawgs knew were they stood - demolishing them 38-10 in a rain-soaked bludgeoning that Richt’s program never recovered from.
Fromm committed to Alabama seven days later.
That same day UGA, after holding a 21-point lead in Neyland Stadium, collapsed in Knoxville. The Gators ended any hope of UGA winning a game that mattered in 2015 after Schottenheimer fell on his sword and started the Bulldogs’ No. 3 quarterback Faton Bauta during an ugly 27-3 loss in Jacksonville.
Georgia was a mess, but it still had hope for the future. Way out west, 5-star quarterback Jacob Eason, the top pro-style quarterback prospect to commit to Georgia since Matthew Stafford, was on the way. Eason had given his pledge to Bobo and the Dawgs in the summer of 2014, but things were about to get complicated, and not just for UGA, but for Eason, too.
The mess on the field in Athens in 2015 only raised expectations for what Eason could do in 2016 when he arrived on campus. But Eason’s commitment was sent into a tailspin on November 30, 2015 when UGA athletic director Greg McGarity fired Richt after a 9-3 season.
“We mutually agreed that he would step down as head coach and would have the opportunity to accept other duties and responsibilities at UGA following the bowl game,” McGarity said in a statement.
Richt would never coach for the Bulldogs again after agreeing to become Miami’s head coach a few days later. Meanwhile, Eason was exploring all options. The main reason he had picked UGA was because of Bobo and Richt, and if Richt was out at Georgia, the Washington native needed to make sure the new coaching staff at Georgia was right for him.
Six days after Richt was let go, UGA officially named Kirby Smart its 26th head football coach. Kirby knew college football well, but had particular expertise about things at UGA. He was signed by Ray Goff (1989-1995), played for Jim Donnan (1996-2000) and got his first coaching job with Mark Richt (2001-2015).
Smart knew how to turn on the faucets at UGA that had been left dry for so long. He knew the power brokers that had to help move Georgia from being OK with being OK to a program that was feared.
Smart didn’t hesitate. He knew the first move he had to make was getting his quarterback situation settled down. Eason was taking a trip to Florida because of all the chaos that goes with a coaching transition. Losing him, at the time, would have broken the internet. And time was running out. Eason was set to enroll at either Florida or UGA within weeks.
The first recruiting weekend of the Kirby Smart era was unique to be sure. Smart changed the entire notion of what a recruiting event should be like in Athens. Instead of touring countless facilities, Eason and other critical recruits were hosted by Smart and the Bulldogs’ new staff in UGA’s Skysuites above Sanford Stadium.
“Man food” - things like lobsters and steaks - were served instead of typical recruiting food used by UGA over the years. Smart, with the help of newly-hired Jim Chaney and Sam Pittman, were easing concerns Eason might have had about the new situation at Georgia.
But what made Kirby’s first weekend of recruiting in Athens so odd was that Richt, now the coach at Miami, was in town with Georgia’s 2015 team to celebrate the dismal season at the annual senior gala. The head coach of another program was in town at an official UGA football function.
At the time insiders said that Smart wanted nothing to do with the oddity that was the gala hosting Richt. Kirby’s focus had everything to do with recruiting - for that weekend and beyond.
Smart’s event at Sanford Stadium worked. A few days later Eason reaffirmed his commitment to Georgia. The heir apparent was locked and loaded for Smart and the Dawgs—apparent being the keyword.
Meanwhile, Fromm was still committed to the Crimson Tide, but Kirby was steadily working his magic to get Fromm to Athens.
“I think it was the second or third day on the job that Coach Smart called me,” Lassiter remembered. “He wanted to set up something with Jake. He wanted us to know that he was offering Jake to come Georgia. Georgia had not offered Jake before that.”
Finally, Fromm he had something he had wanted for a long time, but never held - a scholarship offer from Georgia. It took Fromm about three months to make the move from Bama to UGA.
By the time Fromm committed later that year, Eason was on campus. But Smart knew what he could get with the addition of Fromm. Fromm had been viewed by many as Kirby’s guy. The duo had a strong relationship from the time both were focused on Alabama. Fromm was so critical to the future that he was the first recruit Smart offered a scholarship to after taking the Georgia job. Smart had been the Alabama defensive coordinator under Saban for nearly a decade and was the primary reason Fromm had committed to the Tide.
“(Kirby) gave me the opportunity to continue playing the game I love at the school that I have rooted for my entire life,” Fromm said.
“He was being recruited the entire time while he was committed to Alabama by Coach Smart,” Lassiter said. “It was a no brainer. He wanted to be at Georgia. Now he had a Georgia offer, and he was going to be the quarterback at Georgia.”
The future of the quarterback spot (or so it seemed) was about to enroll at UGA. Eason would have to beat out two reserve quarterbacks to get the starting job in 2016. After that - perhaps even before that - Eason would have to handle the massive expectations lumped on him by a starving UGA fanbase.
2016 would be full of ups and downs for Eason and the team. Greyson Lambert started the first game against No. 22 North Carolina, but the No. 18 Dawgs used Eason to jumpstart them in the second half along the way to a 33-24 win.
A week later Eason got the first start of his career, and the No. 9 Dawgs seemed to be on their way on the first drive as Eason drove UGA down the field in five plays - buoyed by throws of 12 and 36 yards - to score. But lowly Nicholls fought UGA, and the Bulldogs had to hold late on to win 26-24.
It was hard to know what to make of this UGA team.
Eason showed that he could produce magic in 2016 with late-game scoring drives against Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. But he struggled against South Carolina, Ole Miss, Florida and Georgia Tech. Georgia wound up 8-5 after upsetting No. 8 Auburn and winning the Liberty Bowl against TCU.
Fromm would enroll a few days after UGA’s win in Memphis.
Kirby knew that someone would have to play quarterback after Eason, and he knew what Fromm would bring to the table. Kirby was ready for his quarterbacks to compete during the spring and summer.
Fromm had always come up big in big moments in his athletic career - even before starring in the Little League World Series. He didn’t seem to get nervous. He understood how to communicate the correct way to his peers. It appeared Fromm seemed born to do this - something those close to him say is only a result of hard work and preparation.
Meanwhile, Alabama had moved on from losing Fromm. Two months after Fromm flipped from Bama to UGA, 5-star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa picked the Tide over a slew of other schools. It was hardly a consolation prize for Alabama.
By January 8, 2018 both quarterbacks were facing off against one another in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in Atlanta. Two years into college football, Fromm and Tagovailoa have both won SEC titles and lost in the national title game as starting quarterbacks.
Still, that development - Fromm and Tua fighting for it all in a culmination of the 2017 season - was nearly impossible to see happening at the start of that fall.
NEXT: UGA’s Wild 2017 Season as Eason Gets Hurt, Fromm Takes Over