What to Make of UGA's QBs
ATHENS - Who will start at quarterback this fall? It sure seems like we know the answer to that. That doesn't mean all the questions are answered.
We thought we knew the answer to that this time of year as well - then an injury sidelined Jacob Eason, and Jake Fromm took it from there. Not that taking it from there was all rainbows and unicorns. There were games early in the season where Fromm was unproductive - very unproductive. That could have been by design.
It will be far more complicated to be a run-only offense like the Bulldogs were much of the early part of the season. Fromm might have the best offensive line in the SEC coming into 2018, but he will have to be more effective this fall to replace the production of the Bulldogs’ top runners from last season.
Georgia will still be able to run the ball well, but losing Nick Chubb and Sony Michel will bend production for sure. The passing game, and therefore Fromm, will have to pick up the slack. Fromm wasn’t asked to carry much of the load before November - averaging 157 passing yards a game on only 16 attempts and ten completions a game. From the South Carolina game on he was asked to do more, and he did.
His averages moved up by more than 23% in yards, attempt and completions for the final seven games of the season. My view is that Georgia would not have beaten Oklahoma without Fromm’s steady hand (20 of 29 for 210 yards and two TDs).
How, in any way, would creating some form of rotation with Justin Fields effect Fromm? Why change the quarterback in an offense that was as efficient as UGA was last fall? Would Fields’ all-around abilities help the Dawgs enough to remove Fromm from snaps?
That’s the question: If Georgia is scoring 35.4 points per game why change? The simple answer is to average 36.4 points per game.
We don’t know what we don’t know. Maybe Fields will jumpstart the Dawgs when Fromm is having a rough night. Maybe Fromm will go on to win the Heisman - he has 14/1 odds, which is about 4th best right now (D'Andre Swift is listed at 20-1).
We can’t know, but we can guess or suspect.
Fromm improved as the season went on in 2017. Regressing would not only put Georgia’s shot at winning it all in dire straights, but would also damage the likelihood that he would continue to hold Fields off the field.
If we’ve learned anything from Kirby Smart’s first two years in Athens it is that anyone can lose their starting spot, and that noting is guaranteed.