JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jake Fromm has certainly had some big games in his one-plus year as the quarterback of the Georgia Bulldogs.
Saturday’s 36-17 win over No. 9 Florida qualified as one of his most satisfying.
“That was a fun one,” said Fromm, who led the Bulldogs to Saturday’s 36-17 win by completing 17 of 24 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns.
“It was really enjoyable there at the end,” he continued. “For me it was physical, all the way down to the wire in the fourth quarter.”
Wide receiver Terry Godwin, who caught one of Fromm’s three touchdown passes, liked what he saw.
“Tonight, it was Fromm being Fromm, doing what he normally does. Everybody is going to have an off day. People are just blowing it up because he’s the quarterback and it’s a dominant position. He showed who he really is.”
Fromm's 24-yard touchdown pass to Godwin extended Georgia's lead to 29-17 with just over eight minutes to play. His first two scores went to Jeremiah Holloman on passes of 16 and 12 yards.
It was certainly a different Fromm than the one Georgia fans saw in the Bulldogs 36-16 loss to LSU, a game that saw Fromm struggle and inspired some to call for freshman Justin Fields.
Those calls continued prior to Saturday’s game, but head coach Kirby Smart was undaunted, sticking with Fromm for the entire game.
The decision paid off. All three of Fromm’s touchdown passes came on third-down plays.
“It was all about execution,” Fromm said. “The offensive line blocked, the receivers ran great routes. The plays worked because everybody worked together.”
Smart said he never doubted that Fromm would be able to rebound with a strong effort against the Gators.
“I thought Jake’s a competitor. Jake works as hard as anybody on our team. He believes in the players around him. He understands what we want to do offensively and he did a good job dealing out the ball,” Smart said. “When he had the opportunity, he made some big throws tonight to guys who were open and guys who were in tight coverage. Jake continues to get better.”
Smart was asked if he’d heard the noise over the past two weeks calling for Fields to see more extending time as quarterback.
“I haven’t, because I really, really ignore the noise. I don’t get into that, because I don’t think that helps me make a good decision,” Smart said. “The decisions that we make for our team in all positions should be based on what happens in practice, what happens in games, and how the flow of the game is going. But the outside noise probably affects the players more than it does me.
“We make our decisions based on what affects our organization the right way. Jake Fromm is a high-character kid that works his tail off every day, and I’m sure he felt and heard the noise, but he continues to work and get better.”
Fields, who did not take a single snap, also drew praise from Smart.
“Justin Fields continues to work and is getting better, too,” Smart said. “For the last two weeks, that kid got a lot of reps and he got better. I’m disappointed he didn’t get a chance to play, and I’m sure he’s disappointed, too. But he's a competitor, and he continues to get better. We have a situation where I think we have two very good quarterbacks.”
Fromm said he had no idea going in that he would be getting all the reps or that Fields would not see action in the game.
“My mindset is to control what you can control,” Fromm said. “I obviously didn’t know a whole lot. I just try to go in and make the best of each play that I’m given. I just knew I was going to play some football today, that’s all I knew.”
