Fromm brings the ‘Juice’
When Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm took the field against Notre Dame in 2017, he did so as an inexperienced freshman making his first career start. He didn’t have the best night, but he led his team to victory.
In 2017, Fromm completed 16 of 29 passes for 141 yards. He threw an interception, but also had a memorable touchdown pass to Terry Godwin.
Saturday night’s matchup against the Fighting Irish resulted in a 23-17 win, but the level of Fromm’s performance told a different story than the 2017 contest.
He ended the night having completed 20 of 26 passes for 187 yards and a back-shoulder touchdown to Lawrence Cager. The numbers aren’t mind-boggling by any means, but the manner in which he accrued them was one which has become commonplace for this quarterback.
He was the decision-maker at the line of scrimmage. He checked when necessary. He wasn’t afraid to take the short routes and put his skill players in space. Fromm was even a ball carrier at times, absorbing hits in an attempt to gain a first down, which lit a fire under himself and his teammates.
“I really thought I had it. I was pretty juiced after that,” said Fromm.
When Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm took the field against Notre Dame in 2017, he did so as an inexperienced freshman making his first career start. He didn’t have the best night, but he led his team to victory.
In 2017, Fromm completed 16 of 29 passes for 141 yards. He threw an interception, but also had a memorable touchdown pass to Terry Godwin.
Saturday night’s matchup against the Fighting Irish resulted in a 23-17 win, but the level of Fromm’s performance told a different story than the 2017 contest.
He ended the night having completed 20 of 26 passes for 187 yards and a back-shoulder touchdown to Lawrence Cager. The numbers aren’t mind-boggling by any means, but the manner in which he accrued them was one which has become commonplace for this quarterback.
He was the decision-maker at the line of scrimmage. He checked when necessary. He wasn’t afraid to take the short routes and put his skill players in space. Fromm was even a ball carrier at times, absorbing hits in an attempt to gain a first down, which lit a fire under himself and his teammates.
“I really thought I had it. I was pretty juiced after that,” said Fromm.
Cager, who finished the night with five catches for 82 yards and a touchdown, was pleasantly surprised to see Fromm tuck it and run.
“He’s been talking about pulling it, but it’s Jake, you know what I’m saying?” joked Cager. “I was like ‘Ooh, alright Jake, let’s go.’ I think that energized the whole offense really, because it was like, ‘Wow, Jake pulled the ball.’”
Aside from the touchdown drive in the second quarter, Georgia’s offense struggled to obtain a rhythm in the first half. Georgia gained just 19 yards in the first quarter and only had the ball three times during the first half. Fromm said the first quarter wall that the team hit was due to that lack of rhythm.
“In the first half, I never really felt like we had the football,” said Fromm. “You know, we’d get out there and run a couple plays, then jog back to the sideline. We never really got in rhythm. That kind of got us there a little bit.”
The steady knocks that took place in what was an extremely physical football game are what allowed Georgia to get going in the second half, according to Fromm.
“We knew we were close,” said the junior quarterback. “It was the body blows. The physicality. We just kept hitting ‘em, hitting ‘em, hitting ‘em, and it finally started wearing on them. We were able to run the ball more. We started making plays.”
Fromm’s performance was nothing new to head coach Kirby Smart, who says he and the coaches were the ones who had to get better.
“He played really well. I thought that he managed the game,” said Smart. “There were some times that the play clock was down on him. We always talk about, with this kid, you’ve got to give him a chance to work. You’ve got to let him make decisions. We didn’t do that real well tonight. We didn’t allow him the time to do what he does best. We’ve got to do a better job managing that as coaches, but Jake takes things that are broken and fixes them. He makes wrongs right. I’m glad he’s on our team, because he’s a leader. He’s a commander-in-chief. The guy makes good decisions.”
The praise that Smart heaped upon his quarterback was similar to the praise Fromm heaped upon the atmosphere as well as the importance of a win of this magnitude.
“It’s a blessing,” Fromm said. “Praise God. This is unbelievable. The atmosphere we’ve had tonight; the game we played. It’s just unbelievable. I’m so thankful to be on the field with my teammates playing for dawg nation.”