Ask Farrell: What does the future hold for Justin Fields?
MORE ASK FARRELL: Is Trevor Lawrence the best QB prospect of the Rivals era?
Justin Fields was ranked as the second-best prospect in the 2018 class, a special dual-threat quarterback who for at least some time was in discussion to be the No. 1 player overall.
It ended up being that five-star quarterback Trevor Lawrence was just too dominant and too rare to lose that spot to Fields, an early Penn State commit that eventually chose Georgia.
The one issue, and it’s a good one for Georgia, albeit a delicate one, is that sophomore Jake Fromm is the starting quarterback in Athens. He swiftly took the starting job away from Jacob Eason and led Georgia to the national title game last season.
In this his sophomore year, Fromm has led Georgia to a one-loss season so far and SEC East title. He’s completing more than 68 percent of his passes for 2,061 yards with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Fields has only been used largely as a Wildcat quarterback, a change of pace, in Georgia’s offense this season. Kirby Smart and his offensive staff have sparingly used Fields to deliver the ball downfield, instead bringing him in to run it in certain situations.
Then came Saturday’s 66-27 win over UMass where Fields did not start but played a good portion of the game, finishing 5-of-8 passing for 121 yards and two touchdowns, and also running for a game-high 100 yards and another score.
Heading into next season, will Fields compete for the starting job in Athens or has Fromm solidified that position regardless of Fields’ ability?
We ask Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell how he sees this situation playing out heading into next season.
FARRELL'S TAKE
“This is a tough one to figure out, but I see the competition between Fromm and Fields being very intense next season with Fromm winning out, Fields playing quite a bit and then Fromm heading off to the NFL. That leaves Fields to be the man for at least a season and perhaps two in Athens to make his own way and set his own path to the NFL.
"If Fromm wins out, my hope would be that Fields would not transfer and would remain patient and remember the many reasons he committed to Georgia. And if Fields wins out, I would hope Fromm would support him as Jalen Hurts has Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama. Both quarterbacks are needed in Athens and they can push each other to be great.”
