ESPN analyst drags Kirby Smart for picking Jake Fromm over Justin Fields

Ryan Clark reminds us that Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart picked Jake Fromm over Justin Fields to be his starting quarterback.

ESPN’s Ryan Clark chose violence this morning, as he tweeted about how Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart picked Jake Fromm to be his starting quarterback over Justin Fields.

While Fields looks to be the greatest quarterback in Chicago Bears history one preseason game into his NFL career, Fromm has been Steven Glansberg eating dessert by himself at the Buffalo Bills facility since he was drafted in the fifth-round. Clark may have tried to second-and-26 Georgia again from a keyboard this morning, but he is letting hindsight clearly get the best of him.

As painful as this is for Georgia fans, here is why Fields was never going to beat out Fromm.

Ryan Clark napalms Kirby Smart for picking Jake Fromm over Justin Fields

Fields may have been a five-star recruit coming out of high school in the 2018 class, but Fromm had guided Georgia to a national title appearance as a true freshman in 2017. Georgia was one play away from winning its first national title since 1980, but Tua Tagovailoa, DeVonta Smith and the rest of the Alabama Crimson Tide had other plans. Timing is everything here with this debate.

Fromm had already forced former five-star Jacob Eason to transfer to Washington after he convincingly took the job away from him throughout the 2017 campaign. It stinks to see a player lose his job to injury, but that is exactly what happened to Eason. As for Fields, he was not ready to play in the SEC as a true freshman in 2018, and he was not usurping Fromm as the starter either.

Fields’ signature play at Georgia was getting tackled for a turnover on downs in the 2018 SEC Championship loss to Alabama. Once again, Smart’s decision-making was brought into question, and rightly so on that play. What was he thinking there? He wasn’t. Where this becomes a debate is if Fields could have beaten out Fromm for the starting job in 2019. Yes, it could have happened.

However, we will never know. What we do know is since that 2019 college season Fields has been the infinitely superior quarterback over Fromm. While Fields flourished in his two years at Ohio State, Fromm regressed in his final year at Georgia. Fields has a chance to be the best thing to happen to Chicago sports since Michael Jordan. Fromm may never get to start an NFL game…

Ultimately, this is not the first time a head coach has made a questionable quarterback decision, in hindsight. Urban Meyer went with Dwayne Haskins over Joe Burrow in his final year at Ohio State. One won a Heisman Trophy and a national title, while the other got cut by his first NFL team two years in. There is also another major quarterback decision brewing involving Georgia once again.

Depending on how this season goes, Clay Helton may wish JT Daniels never left USC after he tore his ACL. Daniels projects as the best quarterback Georgia has had since … Fields, while Kedon Slovis has certainly made the most out of his three-star status coming out of high school. Once again, you have to try to put yourself back at the time when these tough decisions were made.

Until Smart wins a national championship, people like Clark will rip him to pieces over Fields.

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