Dawghouse: Father of Justin Fields makes strong comments about championship game, Jake Fromm
Around the Dawghouse will bring you daily updates from what people and publications are saying about Georgia, from inside and outside of Athens.
Pablo Fields had some strong comments about the UGA quarterback situation
ESPN’s David Hale wrote a lengthy article profiling Justin Fields and Trevor Lawerence and the possibility that they could end up forcing a Tua Tagovailoa-type situation at Georgia and Clemson respectively. Lawerence and Fields were the No. 2 and No. 1 overall prospects in the 2018 recruiting class and grew up about 30 minutes from each other.
Fields’s father, Pablo, was quoted in the piece and there were two particular noteworthy comments made. The first had to deal with Saban’s decision to swap out Jalen Hurts for Tagovailoa in the championship game.
“It wasn’t an Einstein move,” Pablo Fields told Hale. “They weren’t going to win that game without the switch. They just weren’t. But I hope that opens eyes because teams will do it in every [other] spot — tackle, guard, center. They’ll figure a way. But playing the best quarterback, sometimes there’s a big blowback — especially if it’s an unseen commodity.”
Everything Pablo Fields said in that comment is correct. Alabama would not have beaten Georgia had it stuck with Jalen Hurts. And he’s also right that swapping out a quarterback in the middle of the game will cause some pushback. Still it’s interesting that Fields made these comments, given that there’s a chance his son could find himself in a similar situation.
The second comment was when Hale posed the question of whether or not Georgia could or would actually bench Fromm, given that all he accomplished a season ago.
“That’s a roll of the dice,” Pablo Fields said.
Again, what Fields said is correct. It would be a gamble to bench a proven quarterback, even for someone who is as talented as Fields.
Nothing that Pablo Fields said is wrong, and he was very diplomatic when discussing Fromm. Obviously Pablo Fields would love to see his son start for Georgia, but it seems he has a good understanding of why it will be a difficult decision for Kirby Smart to make.
It’s Georgia preview day for Bill Connelly
No one does a better job of previewing the upcoming college football season than SB Nation’s Bill Connelly and today he broke down Georgia.
Connelly’s numbers, the S&P+, project Georgia to be the No. 6 team in the country. But it’s worth pointing out that Georgia is a favorite in every game, and only in two of them is the projected margin of victory less than 10 points. Those two games are at LSU and home against Auburn.
He also touched a little bit on Georgia’s missed opportunity in the national title game last year, but adds that Georgia is still extremely well positioned for the future.
“Despite favoring UGA heavily in most games, S&P+ still says the average Dawg record is closer to 10-2 than 12-0,” Connelly wrote. “That’s why it hurts so much to miss a title opportunity — even if you remain awesome, you don’t know for sure when you’ll get another one.
“Make no mistake, though: Georgia is going to be within range for the foreseeable future.”
Deandre Baker will have high expectations
In addition to extensive film work on both the college and NFL level, Pro Football Focus puts in a ton of work with regards to the NFL draft. And to start the 2018 season, PFF has listed Georgia cornerback Deandre Baker as the country’s top draft eligible cornerback.
Baker made the decision to bypass the 2018 NFL Draft and it looks like that decision could pay off with another strong season. Baker was excellent last season, particularly in the national championship game.
PFF wrote that Baker’s strengths are that he “Shows the ability to stick with receivers in man coverage. Moves well and has good ball skills, leading to 10 pass breakups and three interceptions in 2017.”
Offensive line expert names Lamont Galliard the SEC’s top center
In the early days of Kirby Smart, the offensive line was pretty routinely criticized. But that doesn’t look to be the case anymore as the offensive line is loaded with current and future stars.
ESPN’s Cole Cubelic gave some pretty high praise to one current member of the Georgia offensive line, as the offensive line guru named Lamont Galliard as the SEC’s top center.
MY top 5 SEC centers entering 2018:
1) Lamont Galliard, UGA
2) Elgton Jenkins, MsSt
3) Ross Piershbacher, ALA
4) Trystan Colon-Castillo, MIZZ
5) Drake Jackson, UK— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) August 15, 2018
Galliard is a multi-year starter for the Bulldogs and should be a key piece on Georgia’s excellent offensive line. DawgNation’s Mike Griffith caught up with Cubelic to give some more in-depth thoughts on Galliard.
National media”expert” gives bold take on Georgia’s season
Most expert Georgia to have a great season and coast to an SEC East title. Sure there might be some tough games against Auburn and a trip to LSU but it isn’t unrealistic to expect a 12-0 or 11-1 record at the end of the regular season.
But to lose games to multiple SEC East foes? According to Collegefootballnews.com’s Pete Fiutak, he thinks that is a real possibility. Even to someone like Florida, a team Georgia beat 42-7 just a season ago.
"I think Georgia is going to lose a few games this year. Maybe to South Carolina & I'm bullish on Florida" – @PeteFiutak pic.twitter.com/fQbIJjE9ji
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) August 14, 2018
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but if this were to happen, it would certainly be a bummer of a season.
