Before Georgia’s season opener, Kirby Smart said something that might’ve caught some people by surprise.

He called Appalachian State’s defensive line “the fastest he’d ever seen on film.” Surely that message was relayed to Jacob Eason in his first start of his sophomore season. It’s safe to say Jake Fromm also heard his coach’s claim. Fromm took it all in stride when he was thrust into the starting role after Eason went down.

On Saturday, Fromm will make his third career start. He’ll do so against a Mississippi State line that Smart will inevitably heap praise on to. As he should.

Once Smart flips on the film and sees what MSU did to LSU on Saturday night, he’ll probably have another message for his young quarterback.

Fromm hasn’t seen anything quite like the MSU defense yet.

Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a limited sample size, but anyone that’s seen Todd Grantham’s defense can certainly tell his impact on it. MSU was relentless in its first three games, which included a true road game and a matchup vs. a top-15 team.

The numbers confirm what the eyes have seen thus far. That is, Mississippi State has been really, really good on the defensive side of the ball (the offense has been solid too, but we’re here for the defense right now).

Through three games, look at MSU’s defensive numbers compared to Georgia’s FBS opponents:

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If MSU keeps top-10 rankings in all four of those categories throughout 2017, it will undoubtedly be Alabama’s toughest competition in the SEC West. If MSU beats Georgia on Saturday, it’ll be Alabama’s toughest competition in the SEC. Period.

The challenge for Fromm is the same one that Danny Etling faced. It’s no secret that Georgia wants to run the ball and make things easy on its freshman quarterback. The question is how he’s going to beat a unit that’s going to dare him to throw. When he gets to those third-and-longs, can Fromm evade pressure and pick up a conversion?

That doesn’t look like a fun task against MSU’s front seven.

Jeffery Simmons and Gerri Green had the most production so far, but it’s been about more than a couple guys making the plays. Already, MSU had 16 defensive players earn at least one tackle for loss. Fromm could get pressure from every which way.

For the most part, Georgia has done a good job protecting Fromm. That, obviously, will be of the utmost importance in its SEC opener.

Finding some running lanes would go a long way, too. MSU completely took that away from LSU, holding Derrius Guice to 76 yards, which proved to be all she wrote.

Will the same narrative play out Saturday night? It absolutely could. Fromm figures to see plenty of heat against a more battle-tested unit.

If he can handle it and come out with another hard-fought win, Fromm will make his loudest statement yet — that he’s ready for the big time.