It was never a battle.

You see, a battle implies that there’s a legitimate decision to make about a Week 1 starter. Kirby Smart never had to make a decision about his starting quarterback this offseason. From the time that he walked off the Mercedes-Benz Stadium field to now, nothing changed in terms of his quarterbacks’ résumés.

Jake Fromm was the quarterback who earned Freshman All-America honors and led Georgia to its first national championship berth in 37 years.

Justin Fields entered his college career as the No. 2 recruit in the 2018 class. Unfortunately for him, the only time he played in “live” action in actual SEC atmosphere was in Georgia’s spring game. Obviously.

Those two facts were never going to change this offseason. Barring a complete 180 from Fromm this offseason — it would have been an unbelievable storyline if he showed up to fall camp, like, 280 pounds with 40 percent body fat — that wasn’t going to change. No amount of Fields hype was going to change that.

So to answer the overblown question, of course I think Fromm is Georgia’s starter for Week 1 against Austin Peay. And of course I think we’ll still see Fields’ debut, as well.

Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

For what it’s worth, that’s not my way of saying that true freshmen can’t start in the SEC. Obviously Fromm was more than capable of that, and Fields probably is, too. But to suggest that a true freshman would start in the season opener after what Fromm did last year would be a bit much.

While Smart still didn’t name Fromm the starter — that’s more of a South Carolina strategy play than an Austin Peay play — he did basically tip his hand that he’d be the guy. Smart said as recently as Monday that Fromm was getting the first-team reps. I mean, why wouldn’t he?

Smart’s ideal scenario would probably be Fromm throwing roughly 5 passes before Georgia has a 4-touchdown lead. In would step Fields and off the hype train would go.

I fully expect that to happen Saturday.

That’ll be the unique thing about this opener. We’re going to see Fields get plenty of snaps, and he could even get more opportunities to throw than Fromm. Shoot, he might even look better than Fromm.

What would that mean?

Well, it would certainly only add to the belief that Fields is going to be special. Many will bypass the fact that it’ll be against an FCS team. That’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with getting excited about Fields’ potential, as long as it’s known that Fromm is Smart’s guy until his play falls off significantly.

Keep in mind that Fromm’s situation, while similar, has a key difference with what Jalen Hurts experienced last year. Fromm can make every throw on the field. As we saw against Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl, Fromm is someone whose limitations (running ability) aren’t going to prevent a comeback like Hurts’ would have. In other words, Fromm shouldn’t be looking over his shoulder after every interception he throws.

Georgia fans shouldn’t assume that Fromm is one bad half away from getting benched for Fields. If Smart is going to make that move, it’ll be made because he feels like Fromm is in a serious rut that has been developing over time. That was the case for Hurts, who clearly didn’t improve as a passer and ultimately had some weak passing numbers in his final 8 games against Power 5 opponents last year:

  • Completed 15 passes once
  • Threw for 200-plus yards once
  • 56.7 percent passer
  • 7.3 yards per attempt
  • 144.3 passing yards per game

Smart and Saban are different people (allegedly), but a similar school of thought would make sense. You don’t bench accomplished quarterbacks for one bad half. Smart will exercise that with Fromm, no matter how many sideline shots of Fields with his helmet on that we see.

Barring injury, nothing Fromm is going to do in Week 1 is going to change his status as the starter. Fields will get an opportunity to get those valuable game reps and take on a role similar to what Tua Tagovailoa’s was in the middle of last year.

It’ll be interesting to see how Smart plays this for the simple fact that Fromm and Fields are his only scholarship quarterbacks. Keeping them healthy is something he’ll have to think about against teams like Austin Peay, when it probably doesn’t matter if a walk-on is playing in the fourth quarter with the Dawgs up big.

That’s my way of saying, yeah, I actually think we’ll see 3 Georgia quarterbacks in the opener.

Which of Georgia’s walk-on quarterbacks wins that opportunity?

Now there’s a battle.