Extra Points: It's too late to wonder what if ... but what if Georgia had Justin Fields?
College football insider Matt Hayes breaks down what matters most ahead of this weekend’s college football slate.
Kirby’s moves that made the position
Remember this about Kirby Smart’s decision to stick with QB Stetson Bennett ahead of Saturday’s Cocktail Party date with Florida: It’s not his first controversial move at the quarterback spot.
Smart’s brief career as the Georgia coach has been defined by unorthodox moves at the most important position on the field.
Or as Georgia legend Lindsay Scott told me: “A lot of people think our (national) championship is up in Ohio.”
Consider these QB moves from Smart since he took over at Georgia in 2016:
— Walked into Georgia in his first season and started true freshman 5-star Jacob Eason.
— Signed high 4-star Jake Fromm – convinced him to back off a commitment to Alabama – and played him in Week 1 after Eason hurt his knee in the first drive of the season-opener.
— Eason, who beat out Fromm in the 2017 fall camp, never got back on the field in meaningful minutes for Georgia before transferring to Washington.
— Signed 5-star Justin Fields, the No. 2 recruit in the 2018 recruiting class.
— Smart never found a way to tweak his pro-style, run-first, throw off play-action offense to suit Fields’ obvious talent. Smart essentially chose Fromm over Fields, who left for Ohio State after the 2018 season and last year led Ohio State to the College Football Playoff semifinals — by throwing 40 TDs and 1 INT in the regular season. Georgia, meanwhile, lost to LSU in the SEC Championship Game and Fromm has his worst season at Georgia.
— In 2020, Smart signed Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman and 5-star USC transfer JT Daniels to compete with former Ohio State 4-star commit D’Wan Mathis. Newman opted out, Daniels may not be healthy and Mathis was benched after the first half of the season-opener for former walk-on Stetson Bennett.
— Bennett has not played well in the last 3 games, including an ugly loss to Alabama. But Smart continues to preach Bennett is his quarterback and he gives the Bulldogs the best chance to win. Not Daniels or Mathis.
So here we are.
Smart needs this win as much as Dan Mullen, who has pointed to this season as a breakthrough for the Gators. One of these coaches is going to be in a worse position with his fan base by early evening in Jacksonville.
Taulia creating his own story
After all that uncertainty and uneasiness about leaving Alabama, Taulia Tagovailoa stepped on the field 2 weeks ago as Maryland’s starting quarterback. And bombed.
Less than 100 yards passing and 3 interceptions in a loss to Northwestern. Certainly not a Tagovailoa-type game.
Then came last week’s home opener against Minnesota, and after Tagovailoa did what his more famous brother, Tua, did for 3 seasons at Alabama: hunkered down in the quarterbacks room, watched game tape and got better.
Taulia accounted for 5 touchdowns in a win over the Gophers, and Maryland – after an emasculating loss to Northwestern to begin the season – now looks respectable. And Taulia looks like a Tagovailoa – for now, anyway.
“He’s one of those guys who treats playing quarterback as a profession,” says Maryland coach Mike Locksley. And, yep, Tua was another.
Taulia gives the Terps something to build on in Locksley’s second season, and as much as anything, he gives the program a name and hope.
It’s a brutal climb for Maryland in the Big Ten East Division, and it gets tougher Saturday at desperate Penn State. After that, it’s consecutive games against Ohio State, Michigan State, Indiana, Michigan and Rutgers.
That looks a whole lot like one win remaining on the schedule for a rebuilding program. But Tagovailoa’s talent gives Maryland the ability to score points, something it struggled to do last season.
It also gives the program a name and a face, and helps Locksley do what he does best: recruit players to improve programs.
“We can play better this week,” Locksley said. “We will play better this week.”
Can Clay Helton make it at USC?
No one benefited from the delay to start the season quite like USC coach Clay Helton.
The narrative is he’s coaching for his job this fall (more on that later), and instead of a 12-game slog, his team – with its elite offense that can outscore any team in the Pac-12 – is instead staring at a favorable 6-game sprint.
This, of course, means the specter of Urban Meyer that has loomed over the program for the last year can be diminished beginning this weekend in the season-opener against Arizona State.
But understand this: USC, like most FBS schools, is financially-strapped because of the pandemic. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that Helton’s buyout is at least $20 million if he’s fired after this season.
Helton can end all the speculation by winning the Pac-12 with a talented team, and an offense that might just outscore everyone. And if the Trojans don’t win the conference?
While $20 million is a big number, don’t think deep-pocket USC boosters won’t find a way to come up with the cash to make it happen if the Trojans collapse this fall.
USC begins Helton’s 5th season with its best offense in nearly a decade. QB Kedon Slovis, who threw 30 TDs last year as a freshman, has 4 receivers who will play in the NFL – including Amon Ra St. Brown and Bru McCoy.
It will be Year 2 in offensive coordinator Graham Harrell’s Air Raid system for a strong group of elite young players. Typically, the second season in the Air Raid for most teams using the system (see: all of coach Mike Leach disciples) sets up for significant growth.
“They’re going to be incredibly difficult to defend,” one Pac-12 defensive coordinator told me.
Clemson’s QB factory: ‘Heaven help us all’
Just how impressive has D.J. Uiagalelei been since enrolling at Clemson? Listen to what one Clemson assistant told me earlier this season:
“Anybody other than (Clemson QB) Trevor (Lawrence), and he’s starting,” the assistant said. “He has been that good. We never had a doubt since we first began recruiting him, and he has delivered on everything since he stepped on campus.”
Translation: Uiagalelei, who didn’t blink last week when down 18 points to Boston College in his first start, won’t be intimidated by his second start this weekend at Notre Dame.
The arm strength, the athletic ability, the football IQ, the ability to pick up passing game concepts quickly and easily. It’s all there.
Uiagalelei broke all of Josh Rosen’s passing records at St. John Bosco Prep in Los Angeles, and threw 96 touchdown passes over his final 2 seasons. His first opportunity at starting for Clemson looked eerily similar.
He completed 30-of-41 passes against BC for 342 yards and 2 TDs, and 5 of the missed throws can be cleaned up: He missed badly 3 times on the same throw (from the right hash to the left numbers on a sideline throw), and 3 passes were dropped.
He completed 73% of his passes, and had a nearly flawless game. The Notre Dame defense, though, will be the toughest test Clemson has faced this season.
The Irish are 4th in the nation in scoring defense (10.3 ppg.), 6th in total defense (267.2 ypg.) and 9th in pass defense (173.5 ypg.).
“They’ll protect him early with (Clemson RB Travis) Etienne,” an ACC coach told me. “It’s a helluva luxury to have that cat in the backfield. Then you have to deal with (Uiagalelei). Shoot, it’s 3 years of (Lawrence) and 3 years of (Uiagalelei). Heaven help us all.”
Georgia would be a national title contenders and probably my pick to win it all if they had Fields, it’s that simple.
Agreed! This pain is gonna last a long time. As much as I liked Fromm, we didn’t even try (IMHO) to test Fields full capability. It wasn’t obvious to most then, but it surely is now. With the skill guys we have,the O-Line, Fields under center and that defense the Bama game would’ve been different, and UF wouldn’t even be in the discussion for the East.
Yep
I think Smart made the right move going with from but he definitely handlers the Fields situation wrong. Fields was never a fit for UGA based on his skill set so how Smart convinced him to go UGA is beyond me. It imo seems like he made promises he couldn’t keep. You could clearly see the frustration on Fields face during games as a freshman. Why would he think he would start over a QB that lead his team to a NC game. That is unless he was lead to believe that of course. I wasn’t just that Fields transferred it was how soon he transferred.
Also hearing rumors that Mathis might be transferring to. If true that means every black QB that Smart has brought in has either transferred or opted out of playing for UGA. And you can’t tell me Newman is worse than Bennet
LOL. So Kirby’s racist, now?
Just when you think the Floriduh ‘turds can’t get any more stupid, here comes some brand new stupid.
first off i never said Kirby was a racist but its not a good look and perception is reality. Trust me UF fans know alot about this. Second for you to call anyone stupid is beyond comical
Tua went to Bama after Hurts led them to the NC game in 2016. He stayed the course all 2017 season and it paid off and he won the job in 2018. Fields came in sat behind Fromm and then immediately left after. Kids want to play now and I don’t blame them for that but had he stayed for the 2018 season I believe Fields would have taken over as the starter at some point. I think Fields should have gotten more reps to throw and actually run the entire offense when he got into games too. Tua was slinging it around against Vandy in 2017 up 40.
Diff is Tua would have stayed even if he didn’t start that year.
Tua said if he didn’t play in the NC game vs UGA then was going to transfer.
Tua definitely said he would have transferred if he didn’t get to play.
theres a difference in saying things and doing things. Just because he said that doesnt make it true. Im sure saban would have had no problem convincing him to stay
And just because you say “he would have stayed even if he didn’t start that year” doesn’t make it true. You can believe what Tua said or not but it is widely known he was gone had he not played in the NC game.
I’m sure Kirby Smart tried to convince Fields to stay too but it doesn’t always work that way.
Yea I’m gonna go ahead and believe what Tua said he Tua do over what you said Tua would do.
i think one should also look at his younger brother as proof that the tagovailoa family has little reservation about transferring out if they don’t feel there son may be the starter
I have no idea what may have or have not been conveyed to fields in getting his commitment, but as for any ill feelings between the two…especially from fields if he really felt miss-lead, i believe that theory is squashed by the fact that he came back to athens this summer and hung out with the team and watched a scrimmage/practice session.
i don’t see cks agreeing to fields back on campus if there was concern that he was (still) disgruntled and a threat of him saying such to his former teammates or fields wanting to be around cks if he felt that he really got a raw deal from him.
Fields sister still plays softball at UGA so no surprise he’d spend some time in Athens….
i think you missed the point. it would however be surprising for fields to be invited and/or attend a private scrimmage of the fb team if there were any bad feelings amongst the two.
I think about this every Saturday. Georgia would be on top if Kirby’s last name spoke true.
What if Napoleon had a B-52 at Waterloo?
What if pigs could fly?
What if birds were afraid of heights?
And what about the frogs?
If Napolean had a B-52 at Waterloo and maintained his French Empire into the mid and late 1800’s, Prussia likely would not have been in a position to fill the Germanic power vacuum created by the weakening of Austria’s power. The German Empire of the late 19th century might not have been nearly as formidable, if it existed at all. WWI and the 20th century could have looked a whole lot different…
But according to Florida fans history only started 30 years ago and the all time series against UGa is 21-9…so…we have been in no world wars
Actually, you can go all the way back to 1936 — the year Jesse Owens ruined Hitler’s Aryan superiority myth at the Berlin Olympics — for the year after which Florida has won the most games in the series.
True …but that likely would have meant the SR’s & Bolsheviks movement in Russia would have have overthrown the Romanov Tsar empire decades earlier, going unchecked. Marxism-Leninism would have had a tighter grip on Europe without much opposition.
Let’s just agree it would have sucked either way. But interesting ‘what if’ thought Box
Best comment of the week, Box.
I didnt read the article but good grief that horse has been beaten and beaten into a greasy spot on the road. What if. You can what if everything and every team.
Heres one for ya – what if trump wasnt such an arrogant, narcissistic, egotistical , name calling, child. he would have been re-elected and he could have accomplished more. I voted for trump but many who voted for biden voted against trump, not for Biden. he is experiencing the same thing hillary did in 2016. In 2016 ABH and now ABT. Too bad. Too bad fields left uga. What if I won the lottery. What if the nazis won the war…
What if Mullen took over for Meyer or even for Muschamp
If Mullen had taken over for Meyer and Florida never experimented with Muschamp or the shark guy, the 2010’s would have been so much different for Florida and the SEC East. Plus, I think Richt would have been fired earlier.
i agree. Mullen is an offensive mastermind and there was so much more talent on those rosters than now especially at the skill positions and all over the defense. Jordan Reed, Trey Burton, Jeff Driskell, Jacoby Brisset, Will Grier, Demarkus Robinson, Antonio Callaway, Mike Gillisse, ect. And those defenses had top 5 talent both times. Also would have given Mullen a drastic leg up on Kirby by one having the program drastically ahead of UGA by the time Kirby got there and our program would have never fallen as far as it did in talent and just national recognition
I totally agree. Mullen and Will Grier would have been a lethal combo.
Even Mullen with Driskell. Driskell is exactly the type of QB mullen loves
I still don’t think Mullen would be the coach he is now. I think he needed the additional years in Starkville to become more polished.
Maybe but even if we got him after Muschamp I think we would be in a better spot.
Agree Vol. The Fields stuff just never ends. Kirby’s handling of the QB spot has been discussed ad nauseam. We get it – Fields is better.
I didn’t vote for Trump, but you’re spot on. The Dem’s have had 2 elections they could have easily won and the best they can offer us is Hillary and Biden? That’s why Trump won in the first place. People weren’t voting for him, they just couldn’t stand Hillary, now the tables have turned. They’re not voting for Biden, they just can’t stand Trump. Both parties a are a complete joke and literally have zero people worth a dam to lead this country.
Booches…I actually agree with you this time. Good analysis.
Booches, 100% spot on
Bingo
Ross Perot, where are you?
Ross Perot died in 2019.
Ross Perot Jr where are you?
What if liberals weren’t such condescending hot tempered individuals? Biden would have never won
Says the side that is armed and showing up to demand to stop counting votes in some states and to count all the votes in other states.
what if trumpitstas weren’t so dumb. what if they understood facts aren’t maleable. what if they understood science actually matters. Biden would have won. it wasn’t the trumpistas suddenly raising their collective iq. it was the rest of us saying NO. anyway… congrats to the gators for your win today. great team. as a uga fan, it will be hard to pull for you, but i think you are the team to pull down Bama. Good luck
I hope the Braves keep Ozuna. He is going to demand a bunch.
ATL has been mentioned as a suiter for the Waino/Molina package deal. I’m not sure they can swing that and keep Ozuna also.
The Nats want Ozuna badly.
I hadn’t heard that but it makes sense, help themselves while taking great production away from a division rival. I think he’s a good fit in ATL, but you’re right he’s going to be expensive. He took a one year deal and bet on himself and had an outstanding year. It will be interesting to see how this covid year treats free agency though.
Amen. Not only did he have a great year, but I think he’s a tremendous presence on that team.
Braves have to spend money this year, as their window is definitively open. Ozuna’s value completely depends on the presence of the DH in the NL, however. If the NL brings back the DH, bring back Ozuna. Aside from that, the Braves need to:
-Push for a short term deal with Josh Turner. I’m not saying Riley will never be a good 3B, but I don’t know if he pulls it all together in time for Atlanta.
-Sign one more accomplished SP, even if he’s past his prime, so long as he can pitch to a 4.00 ERA or better (Wainwright).
-Keep the bullpen in tact, generally speaking.
-Trade Ender to anyone.
-Call up Waters and have him start taking over LF for Duvall.
-Re-sign Flowers for one more year.
-Extend Freeman
I heard of a left handed to platoon with Duvall.
Would like to see them grab Morton.
Nice to see the Braves bringing together CFB rivals
Beats rehashing the Fields topic for sure.
Brilliant. comments only about the braves in response to the next fields article might actually tip off sds just how tired everyone is about these articles.
Whatever happened to “developing a Quarterback” instead of immediately scanning the transfer-portal for your next QB ? Many QB’s have sat for a year or two and developed as quality QB’s. But in today’s world it is…
more of a now/now/now not wait-till-later type of athlete.
AFan – Like Jalen Hurts or Joe Burrow? Using your logic Bama and tOSU don’t develop QB’s either. There is no asterisk on LSU’s 15-0 season b/c JB was a “transfer” QB.
Jake Fromm finished THIRD IN THE NATION in passing in 2018.
If you’re sitting the third best QB in CFB for a true freshman who couldn’t beat him in camp, couldn’t beat him in practices, and who didn’t know the offense, you’re a moron, Matt.
Kirby didn’t make any decisions. Jake Fromm beat out Fields in Fields’s freshman season, and then finished as the third best QB in CFB, and then Fields left.
Also, if you think Fields has anything even close to the success he had in Day’s tailor-made offense playing in Coley’s lame offense, you’re an even bigger moron than I think you are. FFS, you people are so stupid.
Sometimes you gotta rob Peter to pay Paul…
The offense Georgia ran was never going to fit Fields.
The offense they run now would fit him much better, but it’s still not Day’s offense.
You know who would be amazing in Monken’s offense? Jake Fromm.
You want to blame Kirby for something, blame him for not being upfront with Jake Fromm after the Sugar Bowl, not letting him know he was replacing Coley, because the only reason Fromm left is he know if he played in Coley’s offense for another year he wouldn’t get drafted at all.
I blame Kirby for that.
I was going to make a comment about how Jake could beat any bad to average team but lost to the good ones, but then remember he lost to South Carolina so I’ll just keep quiet I suppose.
I understand why Kirby started From and From deserve it. If Georgia wins this Saturday, all noises will be gone at least until SEC Championship game. Otherwise, this question will be brought up at a higher level. Same can be said for Dan Mullen, already heard some Jim Harbaugh noise
Wtf. Lol I think Mullen is an odd dude, but he’s a better coach than Harbaugh.
These type of hypotheticals serve absolutely no purpose. Not to mention is nearly impossible to analyze the decisions made without imbuing it with knowledge of the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
Scary to think. Thank goodness Smart is stuck on old style offense still. Or is he changing on that point.
Tired of hearing about these mega huge buyouts. College football has got to find a solution to these unwarranted buyouts when the coach is not performing. No one was more undeserving than Chad Morris, the poster child for this buyout mess.
TN started the trend.
Has Smart even shown he has the ability to develop elite QB talent? Sure Fields could have stayed, but is there anything to suggest he would have developed into the QB his is currently?
If aunt sally had nuts she’d be uncle sally
Tired of the Fields UGA stories.Ancient history. Time to move on.
yeah, it does kinda make you wonder though what if FLA didn’t start out as a swimming and diving school and Hershel Walker actually went there?
LOL
How Mark Richt handled David Greene and DJ Shockley is the blue-print, gold standard for how to handle 2 very talented QB’s competing against each other. In 2001-2004 the racial component was also a bigger factor than it is today.
David Greene was 1 year ahead of Shockley and Greene was a consistent, mistake-avoiding, game manager. Greene also had a knack for winning games late, i.e. Greene to Michael Johnson against AU. When Greene left UGA he was the all-time winningest NCAA D-1 QB with 42 wins, SEC Freshman of the Year, SEC Championship game MVP, 1 time All-SEC 1st Team, 2 time All SEC 2nd team, Citrus Bowl MVP and Johnny Unitas finalist.
DJ Shockley was more athletic and dynamic than Greene. Shockley was a true hybrid, he could operate as a dual-threat or a pure pocket passer. Shockley had more upside than Greene and everybody knew it. Shockley played many snaps as Greene’s back-up and was the starter in his 4th and final season. Shockley was 1st team All-SEC, Sugar Bowl MVP and a Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Finalist his senior year.
IMO opinion the best thing that Richt did was allow Shockley to run UGA’s offense, not just “special packages” and hand-off duty. Richt also rotated Shockley in throughout a game, not just in mop-up time. Richt was very open about both QB’s and what his plans were. No doubt Richt also communicated in detail and honestly with both Greene and Shockley
Where Smart has dropped the ball:
Not rotating either Eason or Fields during prime-time. There were many games in 2017 and 2018 where Eason and Fields could have gotten significant snaps with no risk of losing the game. Smart’s attempt to avoid drama only created drama.
Not allowing Eason or Fields to run the true offense when they did come in. A 5-star coming in during mop-up duty only to hand the ball off is insulting and demoralizing to the player, not to mention a waste of valuable learning time/snaps. If the plan is to only hand the ball off then let a walk-on do it as a reward for playing scout team. The one game were Fields was allowed to run real plays, U. Mass, Fields looked great.
With transfer rules what they are now, especially for QB, not sure that scenario could ever be played out again but if Smart doesn’t try then we’ll never know.
Excellent post, TD. Smart may have learned the ‘leave the QB in’ mentality from Saban. And I agree that if you give others besides the linemen quality playing time it helps the players feel like part of the team.
Well said, the special packages garbage doesn’t work and I think is a little bit demoralizing for a QB to be relegated to just running. They want to be a QB for a reason, to do it all. No QB is going to feel like they’re getting a fair shake if their in game snaps are all run plays.
We already know what happened when they had Fields. He rode the bench. Trolling aside, since we’re playing what-ifs..If UGA had kept Fields, they would’ve had a good shot at beating Bama and likely make it to the play-offs this season.
Fields in UGA offence is not the same as Fields in Ohio State offence. K Smart made his offensive bed, now he has the opportunity to lay in it. I doubt it’s very comfortable.
It’s never too late to wonder what if. Us Vols fans do it all year long. My favorite what if is what if Lane Kiffin didn’t tell Tajh Boyd to open back up his recruitment? Would that change the Vols? Or even better would it have changed Clemson? I feel like he was the qb for Clemson that got the qb machine and success up and running.