Georgia lands Fields as Smart picks up biggest recruiting win
Five-star quarterback Justin Fields committed to Georgia on Friday, giving UGA its third straight signing class that will include a five-star quarterback. After landing Jacob Eason in 2016 and Jake Fromm in 2017, the Bulldogs will add the talented Fields to the quarterback room in 2018 should the No. 2 ranked player in the nation follow through and sign with the Bulldogs.
It will be the first time in the Rivals era a school signed a five-star QB in three straight classes.
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Fields committed to Penn State in December, but backed off that commitment on June 6. Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Auburn and LSU were all heavily involved with Fields. He took official visits in September to LSU and Alabama. But his connection with home-state Georgia was always strongest.
Fields visited Athens more than any other college city, he is close with numerous Bulldog commits, and some Georgia targets had even mentioned that Fields was doing a little Georgia recruiting going back to early August.
Has there ever been a recruitment tracked like this one? His father Ivant started handling all media the last six weeks or so. Once the season started, the older Fields kind of took over, letting his son focus on his team, his work in the classroom and still, just try to be a kid.
That was hard.
Fields is like a magnet. He draws others to him. So many want to play with him for different reasons. And with that said, now that he is committed to Georgia, it could be a true domino effect.
This is Kirby Smart’s biggest recruiting win to date as Georgia head coach. From now through Signing Day, Fields’ commitment will be felt. Guys will sign with the Bulldogs because they want to play with Fields. Expect him to immediately to start to recruit [publicly] for Georgia. James Cook, Luke Ford, Jamaree Salyer are just some of the names to watch, but there are more.
Georgia now has two five-star commits (Zamir White and Fields), but they will add more. Sure, the Bulldog coaching staff will have something to do with that, but so will Fields. He will have a major impact on how Georgia closes out this 2018 class and it won’t stop there. The 2019 class has taken notice as well.
With two five-star QBs already on campus, Fields’ path to the field isn’t an easy one, but he brings a different skill set than Eason and Fromm. That is why Georgia (and so many others) went after him so hard. Georgia was not going to take another quarterback commitment until Fields made his decision. Why? Because he is that dynamic.
He is something Georgia has never had. He is what college football is all about right now. He is the type of quarterback who has beaten Nick Saban and given Smart fits in the past.
Fields has taken his game to another level as a passer over the past 9-10 months, and when you combine that with his athleticism, his ability to move on the ground and how he processes everything between the ears — he is something different. Something special.
With his ability, his smarts, his drive, his confidence and his different type of skill-set than what the others have at the quarterback position between the hedges, it will be a very interesting summer of 2018 when he begins to compete with Eason and Fromm.
The full effect of Fields choosing Georgia won’t be felt until he hits the field in Athens, but a lot of other SEC coaches just got a little more worried about those Bulldogs with this announcement today.
With the way Georgia is playing this season, the fire they are showing under Smart, how the Bulldogs have recruited the last two cycles, and now with them landing Fields, things are trending up in Athens.