Hey folks - as a member of the DawgNation community, please remember to abide by simple rules of civil engagement with other members:
- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
Kirby Smart reveals Trevor Lawrence's early success affected Justin Fields' at Georgia
System
Posts: 11,462 admin
Kirby Smart reveals Trevor Lawrence's early success affected Justin Fields' at Georgia
Georgia fans will likely always wonder what would have or could have happened had Justin Fields chosen to stay in Athens and compete for the quarterback job in 2019, but on Monday night he will be playing for a national championship at Ohio State
Comments
Still scratching my head as to why Jake decided to go pro early. Our season would have been a bit different if he had stayed. Whoever is advising some of these young men is giving questionable advice.
Mike Griffith, well done.
And I would add, I think Fields would've never left UGA if not for the NCAA breaking their own transfer rules, in a very obvious attempt to bail out Ohio St. Meyer had just left in disgrace, and to make matters even worse OS didn't have a viable QB prospect on the roster.
What would the B1G be without a top 5 Ohio St.
My only complaint with how Smart (and Chaney) used Fields is that when Fields was inserted, it was as predictable as the sunrise what play would be run, and that was just a simple QB run, almost always to the right side.
They didn’t use him like an immensely talented dual-threat QB, they used him like running back running the wildcat.
Justin had/has incredible athletic skills. The main issue in 2018 & even today is between his ears. It's even mentioned in this article. When Lawrence got on the Field, Justin felt like he should be playing as well. If Fields had put forth an effort remotely similar to what Jake Fromm had done in his freshman year, he would have taken the job at UGA. The execution on the fake punt was representative of his effort all year. The same effort & attitude followed him to Ohio State nearly costing him the starting job there. The game against Clemson, his best yet, shows how good he can be. He even indicated he had worked harder than ever to prepare for that game. It's sad he had not made that type of effort before now. If Fields continues to improve on his pregame effort he can be a great NFL QB. If he reverts back to his normal ways, hc could be the next great first round bust. I'm hoping he continues to mature & becomes the great QB that the Falcons need!
Justin should have played and had a role his Freshman year - Kirby didn’t allow for it and it cost him a Natty. The fear of a QB controversy by allowing Fields meaningful time in the offense and game plan costed Kirby a couple of shots at a Natty.
Live and learn. I believe Kirby has probably learned from his mistakes but it will never be aired in an interview or a quote. Prior to this year, the last 3 years in a row the Heisman winner was a transfer QB - Burrow, Murray & Mayfield. When you have a special player - he has to play.
For the record, Betheridge below has no idea what he is talking about.
I agree that CKS has learned from this experience! What a dilemma to have, two top tier players capable of playing for a top tier program. How everything played out, is the gift that keeps on giving. Some have said that there were "other" reasons that played a role in all of this, not me! Others imply that their was a steep learning curve with the Chaney offense, maybe. And the final note that keeps getting brought up, CKS wouldn't allow it happen, that he wasn't capable of making a change of this magnitude, maybe!
What I do know, we just lost the Natty and had the starter returning at QB. Unless there was a noticable difference in all of the intangibles, how can you make that change.
I believe, I would rather have that level of competition, than not have it. I also believe that we don't want to be like other teams with a lack of talent and have to go through what we went through this past season.
Some of us want there to be something wrong or right about what happened. I am just happy that we have what have right now, this next season will be speicial.
I agree. People who wake up in the morning hoping to find an article on DN that will allow them to criticize Kirby have blocked from their memory that virtually every time Fields got on the Field as a freshman he panicked even before getting his feet set to deliver the ball and tucked and ran, most of the time for only a short gain. The fake punt against Bama was only the most obvious example of him panicking and freezing up.
Talking to high school football coaches here in the northern Atlanta suburbs, no one doubts Fields's talent. The biggest critique from these local coaches is Fields's inability to go through his progressions in passing situations. On film, as a high school player, he was all too quick to tuck the ball and run when his first receiving option was covered. He never made it to his second or third read. Maybe this is the curse of a developing dual-threat QB...you have a tendency to want to prove it on your own two feet and give up on the pass if you don't immediately see what it is you're primarily looking for. This instead of patiently waiting in the pocket for one to two more seconds for the play to develop as your route runners are trying to get into space. Oh well. It sure would've been nice to have had him in the red and black. He was dominant against Clemson, and it will be fun to see what he can do against Alabama.
Actually, they did have a decent qb on the roster... Joe Burrow. He left when Fields came. So if Fields stays he possibly starts the next season, especially when Fromm faltered, and lsu doesn't win the championship. Not sure if Burrow would have developed at o state like he did at lsu and won a championship, but we'll never know....
I don't remember that as much, but I do remember him taking off darn near every pass play, and only gaining like a yard or two. He looked very slow to be a dual-threat qb. I'll have to look at him very closely in the natty. o state and okl are known for producing prolific quarterbacks, but they don't have the same success at the next level. That scares me, especially when they talk about the Falcons wanting him.
Does anybody grade the advice given to perhaps give a scorecard for these advisors? If someone consistenly gives bad grades, perhaps they should be excluded as an advisor, or at least let the kids know to do the opposite of what the bad advisors say. They have all kinds of metrics in sports, this should be an important one. Anybody ever do one on Mel Kiper? He had Fromm going 75th and he was picked 167th. Fromm did seem to decline a great deal his last season, but how was Kiper so far off? Seems like a lot of UGA players fall further than expected. May be that teams are discounting their potential because they think the program (being so good) may be hiding their flaws.