Three-Point Stance: Justin Fields, transfer proposal, Allen in NFL

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s thought-provoking Three-Point Stance is here talking about Justin Fields' interesting choice, the new transfer proposal and thoughts on the NFL quarterback debate.

MORE FARRELL: Podcast | NFL Draft Preview | Three-Point Stance

After de-committing from Penn State, five-star quarterback Justin Fields decided he was going to take his time with the process. That has turned out to be a blessing and a curse.

The curse? All the attention he is receiving and of course being asked the same questions over and over again.

The blessing? Now he will have a much better idea of what he’s getting into at Georgia or Florida State, the two leaders, more than he would have with a commitment prior to the season.

Why? Because of season-opening injuries to Jacob Eason at Georgia and Deondre Francois at Florida State.

Now he gets to see if true freshman Jake Fromm is the real deal and would perhaps block him from playing time even longer than perhaps Eason would have. Or perhaps Fromm will falter, Eason will take charge and the depth situation at Georgia might not be so intimidating.

And at Florida State, with Francois out for the season, Fields gets to see how true freshman James Blackman will be utilized in the offense and if he will be a guy who could cement himself as a future starter for three years.

So which team, Georgia or Florida State, now has the advantage following these injuries? It’s the Seminoles, as we know Francois is out for the season and we have to assume Blackman will be serviceable but also a bit over his head. With Eason, a week-to-week prognosis could lead to a bit of back-and-forth at UGA with two different five-star quarterbacks getting quality time. To me, that would be a bit more intimidating to navigate as a true freshman next season. But who knows? Maybe this benefits Auburn, the true darkhorse here with a much clearer path to playing time for Fields and perhaps a more suitable offense in the end. Or maybe, just maybe LSU can pull the upset with the news that Fields is now taking an official visit there this weekend. UGA and FSU have long been considered the two finalists but maybe that's not the case?

The NCAA is proposing a change to the Division I basketball and football rules and it’s an interesting topic to discuss. Now I don’t know or care much about basketball, but obviously football is my life so would the new proposal that would allow football players to transfer without losing a year of eligibility as long as they meet minimum GPA requirements and are on course to graduate, be a good or bad thing for college football?

The answer is, unfortunately, both good and bad.

The good: Well, that’s obvious. If a regular student who couldn’t throw a football to save his life isn’t happy at a school – say he doesn’t like his math teacher or a professor he was really looking forward to learning from takes a job at another school – he can leave and start studying at another school right away. There is no sitting out a year. So why should football players be treated differently? If you’re not happy, for whatever reason, you should be able to leave and play right away. That’s common sense.

However, there is a con as well because this is a slippery slope. What’s next? Allowing players to play right away when transferring during the season, suiting up for Alabama one weekend and Georgia the next? Or how about trades? Let’s just treat them like pro athletes and if they aren’t happy, colleges can just trade them to another school perhaps for another player or two and two future scholarships, right?

Of course I’m being a tad ridiculous, but honestly if you make it too easy for players to quit and head elsewhere, then how do we avoid players suiting up for multiple schools in their four- and five-year careers? Making them sit out at least challenges them a bit and slows them down from perhaps making a rash decision. For every kid who is unhappy and transferred to another school, there is likely one or two at the same program that thought of leaving but stuck it out and realized it was the right decision. And maybe, just maybe, it was that one year missing the game they loved that pushed them through second thoughts.

Washington State head coach Mike Leach, as always, was outspoken on this proposed rule change, stating that he’s fine with graduates transferring if they have eligibility left but otherwise, “if you commit to one school, you should have to stay.”

I’m not going that far, but this rule change needs to be looked at very carefully with all the pros and cons considered before its enacted.

I’m not ready to buy into the hype. I’m talking about the hype around Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, who many NFL Draft pundits have as the top pick in the 2018 NFL Draft or at least one of the top two quarterbacks. And why am I not buying in? For a few reasons. First off, in two games in his career versus Power Five teams, he has completed only 54 percent of his passes with one touchdown and seven interceptions. Secondly, his career completion percentage overall is 56.3 percent with 28 touchdowns and 17 interceptions against weak competition. And finally, every year there seems to be a guy with whom NFL experts fall in love early as the No. 1 pick and they end up dropping like a rock (Christian Hackenberg, Brad Kaaya, DeShone Kizer).

Oh and I forgot the fourth reason – the 2018 NFL Draft could be loaded at quarterback. Consider these other names – Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, Mason Rudolph, Jake Browning, Luke Falk, Lamar Jackson, Jarrett Stidham, Nick Fitzgerald, Baker Mayfield and others. Now, of course, not all of the names I mentioned are surefire first-round picks or franchise guys as there are plenty of question marks surrounding the pro potential of Browning, Falk, Jackson, Stidham, Fitzgerald and Mayfield. But all of them play Power Five competition regularly and have upside.

Allen could end up being the guy in the NFL. After all, I was a big proponent of Jared Goff over Carson Wentz for many reasons, including the competition difference and so far it looks as if Wentz has 10 times the NFL potential than Goff. But for all the reasons above, I’m sticking with my pecking order of Rosen, Darnold (1A and 1B) and Rudolph before I even consider listing Allen. And yes, I expect Allen to put up huge numbers and redeem himself somewhat against an awful Oregon defense on Sept. 16, but I still don’t think it will change my mind much.

Sometimes, in college scouting and high school scouting, people tend to look to “discover” guys rather than see what’s right in front of their faces.