Georgia football: Firing arrows at Kirby Smart over Justin Fields is misguided
So it looks like Justin Fields, the presumed future of Georgia football, is headed out of Athens before his quarterback career ever really got started. Let the finger-pointing and bashing begin.
The former 5-star recruit, considered one of the two best players in the 2018 class along with Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, was a major get for the Bulldogs last year. But after spending the vast majority of 2018 on the bench behind sophomore quarterback Jake Fromm, it looks like Fields is going to transfer.
People are slinging arrows at Georgia coach Kirby Smart over this transgression, and there are even some extremists who want him fired after losing a second 5-star quarterback in two years. The angst is real, and it’s getting loud.
You don’t have control of your program if you lose two 5-star quarterbacks in a year, they say. You’ll never get another 5-star quarterback again because this looks so bad, they say. You mishandled the whole situation and forced Fields out, they say.
Shame on you, Kirby, they say.
And to that, I say — shame on you for even thinking so.
The fact that Fields, like Jacob Eason before him, is transferring is not an indictment on Smart. This is more on Fields — who can’t handle that he lost a fair quarterback competition to Fromm — and more on the system. It’s outrageous hyperbole to think that Kirby Smart is becoming the next Kevin Sumlin who won’t be able to survive losing two stars, like Sumlin couldn’t at Texas A&M when he lost 5-star QB Kyler Murray, this year’s Heisman Trophy winner after transferring to Oklahoma, and Kyle Allen within a few months of each other.
You can’t put all these quarterback debates into one box and call them the same. This is not Texas A&M. This is not Clemson. This is not Alabama.
Here’s what you’re saying, and here’s where you’re wrong:
NEWS: Kirby Smart should have started Justin Fields over Jake Fromm all along this season so that a transfer would never be an option.
VIEWS: This is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Jake Fromm is one of the best quarterbacks in the country and he deserved to be the starter this year. He was better prepared to run the offense, looked better in fall camp and practice and played well all season, outside of a few glitches in the LSU game. I made the argument that Smart played Fields too much in the SEC Championship Game loss, putting the Bulldogs in down-and-distance holes too often when Fields failed to move the ball. There was a fair and true quarterback competition, and Fromm won. Insiders will tell you that it wasn’t even close.
NEWS: Alabama and Clemson handled their quarterback controversies better than Kirby Smart and Georgia did.
VIEWS: Wrong again. Let’s start with Clemson. It’s not the same as Georgia, because Trevor Lawrence, the freshman, was playing better than the incumbent, Kelly Bryant. Lawrence earned it — Justin Fields did not. And at Alabama, Jalen Hurts changed the entire narrative by bailing out Alabama in the SEC title game, and he earned that. Kudos to Nick Saban for keeping him around, but when Hurts transfers after the Playoff, is the narrative really the same? He, too, like Fields, lost the quarterback battle to Tua Tagovailoa.
NEWS: Kirby Smart will lose his job over this at some point, just like Kevin Sumlin did at Texas A&M, because you simply can’t lose two 5-star quarterbacks in a year.
VIEWS: More hogwash. You also can’t compare what’s happening at Georgia to what happened two years ago at A&M. Allen and Murray both left because Sumlin wouldn’t commit to either one of them. Communication between the coaching staff and the two quarterbacks was legendarily terrible. Sumlin was a recruiter, but no one calls him a great coach. At Georgia, Smart is doing just the opposite. He is committing to Jake Fromm, and with good reason. Fromm is 23-4 as the starter. And he will be the starter again next year. Why? He’s a better passer, and a better leader. There can only be one quarterback on the field, and that’s why there’s competition. I still firmly believe that Fromm gives Georgia the best chance to win a title in 2019.
NEWS: If he is indeed transferring, then Justin Fields basically lied when he said it was all about the team two weeks ago.
VIEWS: Look, I get it that you can’t fault a kid for wanting to play, and I don’t fault Fields for that either. He has a right to transfer, just like he had a right to go to any other school besides Georgia last year. He could have kept his Penn State commitment and replaced Trace McSorley next year as the starter. But he chose to come to Georgia, even knowing full well that Fromm was there and had led Georgia to the SEC championship and Playoff berth as a freshman. As I’ve said, Lawrence and Tagovailoa proved they were the better quarterbacks at Clemson and Alabama. Fields did not do that at Georgia.
NEWS: Georgia could have laid out a plan that made everyone happy.
VIEWS: Really? Come on. There are two guys, and one football. I wrote a story Monday that’s worthless and unpublishable now after the Fields transfer news, and it’s in the electronic trash can. What I basically said was that the best way to keep everyone happy is for Fromm to start in 2019 and then go pro. Fields could redshirt, and then have three years to be the starter from 2020 through 2022. With that, Georgia would be in position to contend for national titles for five years in a row with absolutely zero quarterback concerns. If Fields transfers, he’s sitting out 2019 anyway, unless he goes the junior college route. Why not just stay at Georgia, then play yourself for two or three years? It seemed logical to me. Especially if you say team does matter.
NEWS: Recruiting multiple 5-star quarterbacks never works.
VIEWS: I’m starting to believe that’s true. Whether some guys should have been labeled 5-stars at all is a story for another day, but it’s true that 11 of the 19 most recent 5-stars on the 247Sports composite since 2011 already have transferred from their first school. Some transfers — like Murray and Shea Patterson (Ole Miss to Michigan) — work out just fine. But it’s hard to keep two guys happy. Maybe the most logical approach is to not take 5-stars in back-to-back classes, but it’s really next to impossible for coached to turn down talent. That’s recruiting. They’re all movable pieces. Georgia will bring another quarterback to campus as soon as Fields leaves, more than likely.
NEWS: Finally, it is a fact that Smart has lost two 5-stars in the past 12 months, and you can’t deny that.
VIEWS: Yes, I acknowledge the fact itself, but that’s because he’s also remained loyal to Fromm. Eason left because of that loyalty, and now Fields will too. But why is that loyalty to a winning quarterback who’s a great team leader possibly a bad thing? I actually feel worse about Eason’s transfer, because he basically lost his job due to injury, and I don’t always think that’s fair. But I can’t really fault Smart — or Eason for that matter — for his transfer.
He went home and will play next year at Washington. Again, it all comes down to only having one football. Fields has options, and he could have stayed just as easily as he is leaving. To me, that’s not on Kirby. You may disagree with me that Fromm is a better quarterback than Fields. That’s your right. But to me, Smart has cast his lot with Fromm, and Fields can’t handle that. That’s more on Fields than Smart. Blame the kid, not the coach.
Just wondering how long it takes Field’s to claim this one:
1. The transfer is due to documented mitigating circumstances that are outside the student-athlete’s control and directly impact the health, safety, and well-being of the student-athlete;
He’s not sitting out next year if he doesn’t have to. Have to believe the baseball player incident is coming up, again.
I think Fromm is the right guy (although he has had trouble sealing the deal, not that Fields would have, we’ll never know). UGA is just dealing with over-recruiting which is not a bad thing because at least you have the kid there and can make the choice who you want to go with.
Bama has been pretty good at succession planning, but it’s easier to keep big talent on the bench when they see the championships rolling in. We’ve had big stars wait to play for one season before going pro, and there is an art to this: the guys have to believe they are playing for/with the best and that they can get a ring, be a first round pick despite only playing 1-2 seasons, etc.
Also, I agree with Brew that the way Fields was used this season was just odd and unproductive. If you’re serious about keeping someone like him on the roster, then you have to get more creative than just having him come in randomly to hand the ball off.
Alabama QBs who transferred under Saban:
Star Jackson
Phillip Sims
Phillip Ely
Alec Morris
Luke Del Rio
Parker McLeod
Cooper Bateman
David Cornwell
Blake Barnett
Jalen Hurts?
Please elaborate on how easy it is to keep talent on the bench because it seems like Saban has a QB transfer every other year.
Also this isn’t to bash Bama but to point out that any team that recruits at a high level year after year has to deal with this, great players want to play, not sit on the bench for 3 years.
I didn’t claim we’ve kept every single player ever recruited under Saban. That’s retarded. I’m saying that Bama has over-recruited for a decade now and considering the unbelievable amounts of talent coming in, has done a good job of keeping most players happy. Jalen Hurts is an example of a star staying when it didn’t make sense, but did so for reasons not available or known to TN players.
The use of the word “retarded” is politically incorrect, you podunk redneck.
You stick to your PC ways, most of us will stick to being ourselves.
@Alatide…Yea it’s called MONEY!!!! Satan either game them a little bonus or maybe a FREE TRADE IN ON THAT NEW CAR THEY ALREADY GOT FROM HIM!!!!!!
I’m a UGA fan. But oh how I can’t wait to see bama shining shoes again as mediocrity returns soon!!!!! If you didn’t have ESPN and SEC/BAMA NETWORK constantly recruiting for you. Then you would have ALREADY BEEN BACK TO MEDIOCRITY!!!! Bunch of bumpkin saban worshippers!!!! Pretending it’s not over!!!!!! LOL
” SABAN ” not SATAN!!!!! Spellchecker did it. Saban probably gave them a bonus is what I said, not SATAN. But hey, why haggle over tiny differences LOL. JK SORT OF.
The problem with sealing the deal has less to do with Fromm than it does with the defense simply running out of gas late in the game and not being able to stop Bama. Fromm doesn’t play defense so…
Yeah, but in both games against Bama he just stopped scoring completely in the second half. It’s odd.
The Alabama defensive coaches are better at making adjustments in the second half than are the Georgia offensive coaches.
Alatide, unfortunately Smart has absolutely no ability what so ever to get creative with offense. It’s not surprising at all the way Fields was used. Smart’s going to live and die by running the ball, so you either fit the system he’s going to force feed or move on. UGA just needs to worry about keeping the running back train rolling into Athens, cause as soon as that team starts struggling with running the ball, they’re going to nose dive into irrelevance. All they need is a Qb who can hand the ball off to 5* running backs and make a few easy throws every now and then. They don’t need the best QB in the nation. Any future elite Qbs should stay as far away from this offense as possible if they have any aspirations of throwing a lot of passes.
But …. nah, too easy. Why fix what aint broken? Fromm is elite and hasnt had to throw a million passes to show it. If Fromm went down this year and Fields was forced into action, you don’t think the offense would’ve changed around his skill set? I personally think they do.
What we don’t know is what Fields is thinking. Some of these kids feel as if they never received a fair shot at beating out the starter… Does he believe he didn’t get a fair shake from Kirby? Who knows….
I still don’t see the comparison with hurts or Bryant… Both of those players were starters and played multiple years… This was Fields first season….
True. A backup is never going to get the reps that a starter is-that’s why it’s hard to crack the lineup as a 2nd stringer. That said, Fields has his reasons and so be it. My best to all involved. And RTR!
I do not think there is anyway Fields gets an exemption from the NCAA to play next year so what would be the point in transferring? Fromm is going to be draft eligible next year and will be a high draft pick and Fields will have had two years of work in this offense with these receivers and RB’s. I think UGA has a chance to improve how Fields is worked into games and Fields talents are not going anywhere. The NFL is not looking for talented running QB’s they are looking for talented QB’s that can pick up defenses and make the right choice on a pass. If that QB can escape pressure or make a few 1st downs on his own all the better but that is not what will make you a high draft pick.
Funny… 3 alabama fan comments before any georgia ones on a georgia article… but you guys will pretend you arent hoping something keeps us from challenging you year in and year out. Personally until this has been officialy verified by the university or fields i wont believe it. Could have easily just have been made up to do some negative recruiting against uga right before signing day. Why would uga or fields announce this 3 days before signing day?! It makes no sense. Dude couldn’t wait a bit?
No one howls at the moon like the Dawgs. 2nd and 26 and now 4th and 11 and you got us on the run.
It’s ok, go back to bed and dream of Fields jumping around in an UGA jersey. Bama (having recruited like this for years) understands this type of thing, but you’ll get it eventually.
Cry us a river… Not a single post was negative and they were all on topic. It’s a CFB forum and Fields transferring is the hot topic atm and people are talking about it… Stop crying.
Also if it was made up UGA would have said something by now.
Sure got your attention. Obviously you care. You didnt deny it. I personally dont care whether he leaves or stays we can find another. But again this still hasnt been verified yet everyone is talking like it was months ago… talk about running away with a rumour. Funny timing isn’t it?
Deny what? We know you’re a dumba$$..
Stay classy bumtime.
Dumba$$
UGAgrad, you are asking for a lot from Bamatime.
UGAgrad, you pissed off the inbred army, good job.
Lol look at all of you triggered because i called you out. Sad.
What did you expect the responses would be? You show up crying about people posting on an article and you want a pat on the back? It obviously only took a Bama fan to post on the article to trigger your dumba$$..
Here my man i have some tissues for you.
You should use them… A dumba$$ UGA fan shows up and takes everything off topic…Typical
I stayed on topic did you read my first comment? We went off it because your diapers got in a wad as usual.
The first half of your post has nothing to do with the topic… we went off topic because you started off posting like a crying b!tch because UGA can’t beat Bama.
Whatever man you post on every single uga article multiple times. Obviously you are the one bothered by us not the other way around. Either that or you literally have no life. You are very sensitive and angry for a grown man. Its a pretty sad look.
I post on numerous articles involving multiple teams… You started off like a b!tch. People can talk football without having to be worried or scared…. dumba$$
Lots of snowflakes in Alabama this winter, look at all of them emerge from mom’s basement!
Lots of losers in TN always.
Does the vols still field a team? I only hear about Vandy these days…
Snowflakes proving my point, its so easy with these clowns
Also BT I think you meant “Do the Vols still field a team?” We speak english here, not inbred.
If you’re planning on being the grammar police you need to make sure your posts are error free….
The worlds sorest winners strike again.
It fits right in with the posts from the sorest losers like you…
No offense, but this Bama fan is not worried about Kirby or UGA X as long as Coach Saban is on the sideline for the Tide. The fact that Bama fans comment only says we’re on this site because of our passion for college football. Don’t get big-headed thinking we’re concerned about the Bulldogs. Trust me, we respect what Kirby is doing. But the Bama nation is not fearing what’s going on in Athens.
You’ve gotta give the puppy fans a little slack. It’s been quite a long time since they’ve had much success, so they’re not really quite sure how to handle it. They’re like UCF fans, they have a couple good seasons and suddenly believe they’re the most dominant college football program in the history of college football and everyone else wishes they could be them. It’s pretty hilarious actually!
That’s rich, a Florida fan talking about lack of long term success at Georgia. Should we rehash recent Florida records?
Well it kinda sounds like he’s as good as gone.
This makes getting John Rhys Plumlee to commit to the G very important.
Also maybe get that kid from Hawaii.
I read an article recently about how Georgia asked Plumlee to blueshirt, I wonder if that is the plan moving forward in light of Fields’ transfer. I know Georgia is tight on numbers for the recruiting class this year, but getting two QBs would be great.
Fields will transfer ONLY if he is sure about NOT having to sit out a year. He has one goal – get to the NFL as soon as possible. He will transfer, play two years in 2019 and 2020 and then leave as a Junior.
Tua and Lawrence competed and won. Fields competed and did not win. That says something about Fromm and Fields. You hate to lose good athletes, but he should do whatever he feels is best for him, not UGA. Both will be fine.
Fromm did not win the job as he was gifted with the starting role and the guy who was injured never got a fair shake to win the job back…so Fromm hasn’t actually beat anyone out because i really doubt if Fields was really given a fair shot to win the job in camp. Granted Fromm took his opportunity and did well with it, but technically he didn’t win the job it was presented to him instead!!!
Wrong. You doubt? So, you really have no idea. Right?
You very clearly have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, and are more than likely a GT fan trolling.
There is no other way to read this situation (if true) other than UGA has ascended to the highest level of recruiting and roster talent.
A QB probably needs at least 2 years as a starter as prep for the NFL. Fields doesn’t see that as a given at UGA.
Yes, but he may come to find out that it is not a “given” anywhere.
Sets up a great situation for UGA to recruit another great QB either this season or next.
Maybe Ryan Hillsinki (spelling?) revisits UGA. Plumlee definitely gets a scholly and signs with UGA.
Hilinski.
I don’t know what the song and dance is about. I COMPLETELY understand his desire to transfer. I’d do the same if I were him. I’m glad he came and took his shot and I hope he doesn’t truly feel any ill will towards the university, staff, or his teammates. This is the decision that’s probably going to work out best for him and that’s fine by me. I’ll root for him like I’ll root for Eason. I hope he can play right away too.
Most leveled UGA comment I’ve read. No mention of how it hurts him, how he’ll never be as successful, not “we have more recruits coming.” His transfer hurts because I’ve been such a fan since before he stepped on campus (QB1, Elite 11 shows) but I completely understand. I never watch Washington but you can bet i’ll follow them next year to see how Eason is doing. I hope he sets the Pac-12 on fire next season. All hope for Fields staying isn’t lost yet but if he does transfer, I’ll wish him nothing but success. Unless it’s against the Dawgs. Then i’ll hope for a Fromm vs LSU situation.
I’ve got an idea and bear with me: Justin Fields is an 18 year old college student who doesn’t owe anyone anything, especially Georgia fans. Whether he’s right or wrong, he’s doing what he thinks is in his best interest. It’s not like he gets paid to play
^^^ agreed. Would love to keep him but I completely understand. I hope whatever he decides works out in his favor. All these bitter posts are sickening. Praise him for coming then bash him for leaving.
I’ll go along with your idea. Urban Meyer is a grown man who didn’t owe anyone anything. Whether he was right or wrong, he did what he thought best for him by “feigning illness” then going to OSU.
Your logic can literally be applied to anyone in any situation. Fact is, he went against his word if he does transfer and people, especially Georgia fans, have free speech to point that out and criticize him for it.
Obviously HOW you leave says a lot as well. We see how the Urban situation played out but we’ve yet to see how this saga ends. I just think the criticism is unwarranted. As far as going against his word, plans change. I suppose he felt like his goals were in danger of being accomplished by his current situation. Nobody is at fault here, sometimes these things just dont work out the way everyone envisioned.
I have not heard a single arrow slung at Kirby over this and I have been listening to sports talk radio most of the day here. Fabrications to produce and article.
The Alabama defensive coaches are better at making adjustments in the 2nd half than are the Georgia offensive coaches.