In the Week 9 36-17 win over Florida, Georgia fans were pleased with the outcome, but some were surprised with how the Bulldogs got to that result. True freshman QB Justin Fields, the top quarterback recruit of the 2018 class, did not get into the Florida game, which was especially surprising considering UF used the bye week to work its freshman quarterback into the gameplan.

After Saturday’s SEC East-clinching win over Kentucky, UGA coach Kirby Smart praised Fields for the way he went about his business after the Florida game in preparing for the UK contest.

“Justin, I told our guys, here’s a guy who didn’t play a snap last week,” Smart told reporters, per Dawgs247. “You didn’t hear anything out of him. All he did is come out and work this week. I thought he had his best practice of the year on Tuesday and he had a good practice on Wednesday. I told him, I said, ‘Man, this guy’s practicing. He’s buying in, he’s positive, cheering on the sideline and he goes in and plays well.”

Fields played six snaps against Kentucky, running the ball each time for a total of 26 yards.

Smart indicated he would like to get Fields more playing time in passing situations.

“I just wish we could get to the point that we could play him a little more because he’s getting better,” the coach said. “He does a lot of good things. And he doesn’t just have to run the ball. The situations today dictated that and he did a great job of doing it.”