58
asking around for good hunting spots in the area. The
team trainer’s son, a walk-on long snapper, mentioned he
had a friend with a farm just east of campus. They made
plans to go dove hunting the Sunday after Georgia’s season
opener against Appalachian State. Then on the third drive
of the game, Eason sprained a ligament in his left knee,
and Fromm took over. He played well enough (143 yards,
one touchdown) to lead Georgia to a 31–10 win. The next
day, Fromm woke up early and visited his happy place
for the first time.
Over the next few weeks, as Eason remained sidelined,
Fromm eked out a 20–19 win over Notre Dame on the road
and throttled 17th-ranked Mississippi State by 28 points
at home. All the while, Smart kept an eye on his freshman
quarterback. “It was a matter of, Hey, if Jake struggles or if
Jake’s not the guy in a game, we’ve got to be ready to test the
other guy,” Smart says. “But that really never happened.”
Working through a typically treacherous SEC schedule,
Fromm showed poise beyond his years. He made good
decisions, completed a high percentage of his passes and
routinely checked into the right plays at the line. He seemed
to have a calming effect on the whole team, especially in
big games. He’d always be walking around, singing to
himself. It’s a habit, a sign he’s at ease.
Fromm has always been comfortable in the spotlight.
When he was 12, he led Warner Robins to the 2011 Little
League World Series. In four games in Williamsport,
Pa., in front of an ESPN audience, Fromm had three
home runs, eight RBIs and struck out 11 of the 19 bat-
ters he faced as a pitcher. “Jake handles pressure differ-
ently than anybody I’ve ever seen,” says Phillip Johnson,
Fromm’s LLWS coach. “I don’t know if it’s chemicals in
his brain, genes.”
As a freshman, Fromm didn’t put up flashy numbers
(2,615 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, a 62.2% comple-
tion rate), but he kept winning, leading the Bulldogs to a
13–2 record, including a win over Auburn in the SEC title
game. Eason, meanwhile, threw four passes in his only
two mop-up appearances after the opener.
At first Fromm’s sudden rise made things awkward in
the Georgia QB room. He admits that his relationship with
Eason “started a little slow.” As Fromm explains, “He’d
always been the big dog wherever he’d been, and I’d always
been the big dog wherever I’d been.” But once it became
clear that Fromm wouldn’t be unseated, Eason warmed
up and started giving
Fromm advice as they
prepped each week. “He
helped kind of mentor
me a little bit,” Fromm
says. “Helped show me
t he ropes.”
His run culminated
with a win over Baker
Mayfield and Oklahoma
in the Rose Bowl, and a
trip to the national title
game against Alabama.
Fromm had a 10-point
lead entering the fourth
quarter, and was posi-
tioned to win Georgia’s
first championship since
Herschel Walker won
as a freshman in 1980.
But Tua Tagovailoa,
A l a b a m a’s o w n t r u e
freshman who commit-
ted two months after
Fromm flipped to Geor-
gia, brought the Tide back
and stole the moment.
Afterward at the team hotel, Eason told Fromm he was
transferring. He would later announce he was heading to
Washington. They hugged, and Fromm wished him well.
S
MART HAD SEEN this all unfolding, Fromm
pushing Eason out, and he made a contingency
plan for Eason’s potential departure. Midway
through Fromm’s breakout season, Smart
secured a commitment from the top recruit in the country,
a dual-threat quarterback from Kennesaw, Ga., named
Justin Fields. Smart offered him the same opportunity he
had presented Fromm—a chance to compete for the job.
Like Fromm, Fields felt confident about his chances.
In many ways Smart handled this quarterback competi-
tion the same way he had a year earlier, giving Fromm, the
incumbent, the majority of the first-team reps in practice,
while rotating in Fields, the upstart freshman, every now
and then. The big difference was how Smart portrayed the
competition publicly. He didn’t name Fromm the starter
in July, as he had with Eason. He didn’t even name a
starter before the season opener. He let the public think
“THERE WAS A LOT OF
TALK,” FROMM SAYS OF HIS
POSITION BATTLE WITH
FIELDS. “I DECIDED I DIDN’T
WANT TO LISTEN TO IT.”
KEVIN D. LILES
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW
JAKE FROMM
ALL ABOUT
THAT BA SS
Fromm scares
secondaries, but he
terrorizes fish at the
pond he visits.
