Fromm plays coy
When asked what a James Coley-led Georgia offense will look like this upcoming season, junior quarterback Jake Fromm simply offered a smile.
“We’ll see," Fromm told reporters during Monday's media session previewing Saturday's season-opener at Vanderbilt (7:30 p.m., SEC Network).
The charming confidence that exudes from Fromm when he answered the question should be a telling sign. He is excited. Although Fromm obviously isn’t going to divulge the entire playbook, we know the offense this year will not be the same as previous offenses under now Tennessee offensive coordinator Jim Chaney.
Coley’s offense should feature a tad more passes than Chaney called at Georgia, based on his percentages as Miami’s offensive coordinator in 2015. Running wise, Coley implements more power and fewer inside zone looks for his running backs than Chaney.
Judging by his history, Coley is more fond of play calling that puts his backs in space, with the opportunity to make plays--while Chaney was more run-up-the-middle, with a zone look.
Fromm wasn’t willing to go in-depth on these sorts of statistics, obviously, but the offense will look different, he said.
“From the outside looking in, depending on football knowledge, it could be different. For us, we want to be fast. We want to be physical," Fromm said. "We want to get better as far as scoring in the red zone goes. We want to get better on third downs. Those are the goals we have in our mind right now on offense, and get ready to attack and go into the first week.”
Fromm's looking forward to the challenge against the Commodores.
When asked about the advantages of beginning the campaign with an SEC foe, Fromm said “You set the tone early. That’s what we want to do as a team. We want to get tested early, and we want to set the tone early," he said. "Anytime you play a game here in the SEC, it’s going to be a tough and physical game, so we’re trying to get our bodies ready and our minds ready to go out and play a tough opponent.”
Head coach Kirby Smart is looking forward to seeing what he has on his hands, as Georgia will open the season against an SEC opponent for the first time since 1995 (South Carolina).
“As far as traveling, the biggest thing is the new guys: the freshmen who have not gone on a road trip with a college program and may not know the demeanor with which we travel, the demeanor with which we do walk-throughs, how we handle ourselves at the hotel," Smart said. "A lot of our leaders have to handle that. You find out a lot about guys. We have a lot of guys who haven’t had their feet in the fire, who will get to have that. You try to simulate that in scrimmages, but there’s only so much you can do. We try to make scrimmages as tense as possible to create that feeling, but ultimately we will find out a lot about our team.”
One of the leaders Smart was referencing was Fromm. Entering his third season, Fromm is more mature and will be the first to tell you. When asked about the difference in himself leading up to this season, the Warner Robins native said he feels like a veteran.
“More experience. To be able to go through all the different scenarios we have in camp, understand the grind of it, understanding how to take care of my body was a big one, how to take care of my arm," Fromm said. "And really, getting to help out and reach out to the younger guys was a big thing for me to learn this camp.”
Being the leader on the team, Fromm takes control of guiding the younger guys into what they’ll face on Saturday by assimilating them into what he describes as Georgia’s culture.
“It starts with our culture,” Fromm said. “How can we get these guys guys in our culture, understand what we’re about as a football program and as a team? How can they get in, assemble with us, and understand ‘Hey, it’s win now! Win now!’ and hopefully they’re ready for that.'"
