By Wednesday afternoon, Kirby Smart hopes that he can exhale.

The Georgia coach won’t exactly take a load off in Day 1 of the first Early Signing Period, but he will certainly be in a better place once Justin Fields signs on the dotted line. The 5-star quarterback, who committed to the Dawgs in October, will make his college choice official at noon Wednesday.

That will take care of one of Smart’s top priorities. That is, fending off everyone in America to land the nation’s top dual-threat quarterback.

But with it, a new set of circumstances will arise. The quarterback debate can officially get fired up again. Georgia will have a pair of 5-star quarterbacks as well as Jake Fromm, the true freshman who just led the program to arguably the team’s best season in 37 years.

It’s an embarrassment of riches at the game’s most important position that every program wishes it had. Well, some already do.

Look at Ohio State. The Buckeyes’ starter of the future, Dwayne Haskins, is already generating all sorts of buzz. He’s backed up by former Gatorade Player of the Year and Texas A&M pledge Tate Martell, who took a redshirt in his first season in Columbus. That quarterback room will be loaded with talent for years to come.

Alabama also shares that “problem.” With 2016 SEC Offensive Player of the Year Jalen Hurts and 5-star true freshman Tua Tagovailoa, Nick Saban isn’t exactly lacking in talented quarterback options, either.

In fact, the more one looks at Alabama’s 2017 scenario, the more it looks like Georgia is copying yet another Alabama trend.

Many expect that Fields’ signing would ultimately be the last straw for Jacob Eason to stick around in Athens. While we don’t know what the future holds for the former 5-star quarterback recruit, we do know what history indicates. That is, if you’re a 5-star quarterback, you go where you’re wanted even after you sign your letter of intent.

Take a look back at the career paths of the 5-star quarterbacks from 2013-16 (it hasn’t been enough time to evaluate the 2017 class):

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So if Eason does indeed transfer, 75 percent of the 5-star quarterbacks from 2013-16 will have finished at a different school than they signed with. If you want to bring that back to Fields, that means he’s more likely to transfer than he is to finish at Georgia, at least based on recent history.

Of course, Georgia fans don’t want to think about the idea of Fields or Fromm leaving. The perfect scenario is Fromm starts 2 more years, wins a bunch of games and then leaves for the NFL. Meanwhile, Fields redshirts, then becomes a true backup as a redshirt freshman and is willing to wait to step into the starting role as a redshirt sophomore.

Back in the day, that used to be the norm. But now with transfer rates at an all-time high, that path is more the exception than the rule.

Just ask Alabama, which was completely caught off-guard by the 2016 transfers of Barnett and Cooper Bateman. In 2017, Saban managed his quarterback situation much better. Hurts was still the guy, but Tagovailoa got plenty of meaningful reps as a true freshman. The Tide could follow a similar plan next year, too. If Hurts doesn’t lead Alabama to a national title, you can bet there will be plenty of Tide fans calling for Tagovailoa (in case there weren’t enough after the Iron Bowl).

That’s essentially the situation that Georgia could create with Fields and Fromm. Even for an established starter, the margin for error is that much smaller when there’s a 5-star backup waiting to be unleashed.

Of course, the circumstances could change between now and the time that decision needs to be made. Injuries happen — something Eason knows all too well — as do other unforeseen events. That’s why you load up at quarterback and try not to predict what dilemmas will unfold in a year or two.

To his credit, Smart did that. When Fields signs with Georgia, he’ll have pulled off one of the more impressive recruiting feats in recent memory. In an age where so many recruits base decisions on how long they’ll have to wait to start, Fields will have enrolled at Georgia knowing that there’s an already-decorated quarterback who is just one year his senior.

As Saban often says, in-house competition is what breeds success. Establishing that culture is easier said than done. In Year 2, Smart appears well on his way to doing just that at Georgia.

Consider it yet another page taken out of Alabama’s playbook.