Justin Fields has risen to the top spot in the latest 247Sports national rankings.

Let me say that again: Harrison High QB Justin Fields is rated by 247Sports as the nation’s No. 1 player for 2018. 

That drops Cartersville senior QB Trevor Lawrence to the nation’s No. 2 player for this cycle. The Clemson commit had been the nation’s No. 1 recruit since the rankings for the class were introduced.

That’s a nod to the incredible run this spring and summer that Fields has had on the showcase camp circuit and his performances at every 7-on-7 tournament.

I’m not sure I totally agree with the rankings. At least right now. I feel Fields still needs to put together more of the resume Lawrence has on the high school level.

These rankings all are designed to foster an expectation level for a player’s potential in 11-on-11 footballI shared those thoughts after The Opening Finals last week.

Cartersville has a much more developed football program than Harrison has. We are not at an apples-to-apples comparison here between those two, but that’s a valid reason why Fields has not achieved the same things Lawrence has on Friday nights to this point.

Lawrence has not specialized in 7-on-7 football this spring, either. That’s a least some of the thinking as to why he didn’t perform as well as Fields did at The Opening last weekend.

Fields is certainly deserving, but I just can’t discount what Lawrence has done over the last three years, too.

That said, the team at 247Sports have vetted this decision. Barton Simmons is one of the evaluators I respect the most in this business. He just didn’t hiccup this decision out to pump up the July page view traffic.

He presents his reasons for moving Fields to the top spot. They are logical and concise. It is certainly a healthy debate right now.

Justin Fields is set to visit UGA again this weekend 

Fields is set to visit both Auburn and UGA this week. He will visit the Tigers first and then head back to UGA for an overnight visit on Saturday and Sunday.

Georgia also is actively recruiting Matt Corral for this class. Corral is a 5-star prospect for the 2018 cycle from Long Beach (Calif.) Poly.

It should be noted that the rankings drop for Lawrence is just for his 247Sports ranking at this time. The 247Sports composite, which is a blend of all the rankings from all the recruiting services, still has Lawrence as the nation’s top-ranked player for 2018.

The 247Sports decision is just the beginning of what a lot of folks are thinking about right now about Fields and Lawrence.