Georgia needs to unleash Jake Fromm to reach championship potential

The Georgia Bulldogs have the pieces to win a national title, but if they are going to win their first since 1980, they will need to unleash Jake Fromm.

For a few minutes there, the Georgia Bulldogs were actually down in this ball game. The No. 3 team in the nation trailed the Tennessee Volunteers 14-13 in the second quarter in Knoxville but then would proceed to score 30 unanswered points to win this one in a laugher, 43-14.

We all know that Tennessee has struggled this year under head coach Jeremy Pruitt, as the Vols fell to 1-4 on the young campaign. Of course, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart doesn’t want to reveal an absurd amount offensively against a team that isn’t going bowling. That being said, for Georgia to win its first national title since 1980, they must unleash quarterback Jake Fromm.

Fromm is a true junior out of Warner Robins, Georgia and has been the starting quarterback for the Dawgs since the famous Notre Dame game up in South Bend over two years ago. His precision passing, overall composure and cerebral nature pre-snap will make Fromm a first-round pick in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft should he leave school early.

While he has a lot of traits that NFL scouts are looking for, you don’t see Fromm put up gaudy numbers in this Georgia offense. There are a few reasons for this.

One, Smart is a defensive-minded coach, preferring to play great defense and win with ball control offensively. Two, Georgia has a new offensive coordinator in James Coley and he’s trying to figure out his play-calling style in his first year in the role. And three, have you seen this stable of running backs Georgia has? Let’s not forget about those big uglies in the trenches they run behind, too.

So it’s understandable that Fromm’s passing numbers don’t rival those of Jalen Hurts at Oklahoma, Justin Fields at Ohio State or Joe Burrow at LSU. Those three national powers don’t have the defense and running back combo of Georgia. That being said, there will come a game or three that Fromm will have to win it with his arm. He can do it, but Georgia has to let him let it rip.

Fromm had arguably his best game of the young season in a road rout of Tennessee. He completed 24 of 29 passes for 288 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Fromm averaged 9.9 yards per attempt and had no issues whatsoever carving up Pruitt’s Tennessee secondary.

However, he was a tad too dink-and-dunk in the first half. ESPN has that of his 20 first-half passing attempts, of which he completed 16, 15 of those attempts were on throws of less than 10 yards. Fromm also only completed 40 percent of his throws beyond that threshold in the first half. Of course, Georgia outscored Tennessee 17-0 in the second half once the game opened up.

The reason this is important is that Georgia will eventually face a team that will neutralize the Dawgs’ ferocious rushing attack and Fromm will have to carry the offense with his arm by throwing the ball downfield.

Games that potentially have this feel are in Jacksonville versus the archrival Florida Gators, on the road against the cross-divisional rival Auburn Tigers down on The Plains and whomever Georgia theoretically would face in Atlanta in the 2019 SEC Championship versus Auburn, the Alabama Crimson Tide or the LSU Tigers.

No, this does not mean that Georgia can’t beat any of these teams with its same recipe for success that has led the Dawgs to a 5-0 record and a No. 3 ranking. It just means that there will inevitably come a time where Fromm has to beat the opposition with his arm. If he can do that, Georgia can win a national title and Fromm can be a top-10 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Fortunately for Georgia, the Dawgs will have the advantage at quarterback for the rest of their regular-season games. Signal-callers like Florida’s Kyle Trask, the Missouri Tigers’ Kelly Bryant and Auburn’s Bo Nix could make things interesting, but Fromm is in another class beyond those three.

However, he will need to rise to the occasion if Georgia were to face Burrow’s Tigers or Tagovailoa’s Crimson Tide in Atlanta. Those two quarterbacks are putting together Heisman Trophy-worthy campaigns. Fromm has shown that he can win big games with his arm in hostile environments. The Dawgs have to let him do it when the time comes. He’ll be ready, but will they?

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