Where does Jake Fromm already rate among Georgia’s all-time QBs?

Could the following quote apply to Georgia junior QB Jake Fromm?

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Mark Twain gets the credit for it. But Google has Twain borrowing that phrase from British prime minister Benjamin Disrael for the record.

Is that in any way like Fromm and the talented backfields Georgia has brought to bear over the last two seasons? Was that (mostly) Nick Chubb and Sony Michel and D’Andre Swift and an ascending O-line carrying the heavy loads there?

How much credit should Fromm get for elevating the program since he took the reins in 2017?

The All-American candidate has a sterling 24-5 record in two seasons as the quarterback of record for Georgia. That mark will include the following contests which can be defined as some true degree of difficulty games:

• 1 National Championship against Alabama
• 2 SEC Championship games
• 1 Rose Bowl against a Heisman Trophy QB and a future No. 1 overall pick
• 1 road game against a Top 10 team in Auburn
• Another road game against a Top 15 team (LSU) in one of the SEC’s toughest venues
• 2 Georgia-Florida tilts in Jacksonville
• 1 Sugar Bowl against Texas

Of course, the record points to the Bulldogs owning a 4-5 record in those contests. Some draw a parallel to Fromm not being able to close out those big games. A truly great quarterback would do that, right?

That’s a popular topic to some. Yet they don’t apply the same logic to the other end of that argument.  If an elite run game actually carried the Bulldogs to those big games, why is Fromm’s resume saddled with not being out to close out the big ones?

Is he a first-round pick? The NFL scouting opinions do vary. Of course, those talking parts are all highly subjective.

Opinions also vary across the Georgia fan base with that, too. Those “damned” statistics are a lot less subjective. Those are just cold hard numbers.

Check out the roll call below of what Fromm has done so far in the SEC. He’s accomplished it all in what should be the two worst years for any college quarterback.

When placed against the backdrop of the greatest QBs in Georgia history, his stat profile already holds up with the best to ever play the position at Georgia.

That matter appears to be a lot less subjective.

SEC Titles

(Starting QBs that led their teams to this feat at UGA)

Fromm has put together two strong seasons, but the rest of his career remains to be seen. Perhaps the only proper statistical tool is to gauge how Fromm stacks up compared the all-time greats with what they did in their first two seasons in Athens.

For the purposes of this exercise, some might send some four-letter words this way when they see true greats like Zeke Bratkowski, Mike Cavan, Ray Goff, Andy Johnson, Johnny Rauch and Fran Tarkenton missing from this comparison.

Buck Belue is a good example here. The 1980 national championship QB (3,864 career passing yards) played in a different era of college football and his time was already 39 years ago.

It is an even bigger leap for a lot of those all-timers.

Tarkenton, a Hall of Famer in both college and pro football, threw for 2,100 yards and 18 TDs after his three-year Georgia career wrapped up in 1960. If someone was able to devise a formula to adjust those numbers to 2019 standards in the same manner we see with inflation, it would be an interesting find.

That said, there are a number of notable Georgia QBs who competed in the modern era of SEC football where it was a small matter to see a quarterback attempt 25 passes every Saturday afternoon.

It is a tough list. Georgia’s Mike Bobo, who only threw for more than 2,500 yards and 15 touchdowns one time in his career, does not even crack it.

Where does Fromm rank among the likes of Quincy Carter, David Greene, Aaron Murray, Matthew Stafford and Eric Zeier? (NOTE: Murray and Greene had redshirt seasons before they emerged to claim the starting job.)

Completions

(after their first two seasons)

Attempts

(after their first two seasons)

Yards

(after their first two seasons)

Completion percentage

(after their first two seasons)

Won-loss record at QB

(as primary QB after their first two seasons)

Touchdown-to-interception ratio

(after their first two seasons)

Average yards per attempt

(after their first two seasons)

QB rating

(after their first two seasons)

Enough with the statistics, right?

Sometimes smart folks can make them dance around in whichever way they desire to make their point. That critique might even apply here. The clear logical arguments might be that Fromm has played on great teams, but it can be safely argued that Greene, Stafford and Zeier played on some of the best ones of the last 40 years at Georgia during this small sample size, too.

Georgia will also always have players. Especially skill players on offense to help a quarterback move the ball. It can even be said that every one of this quarterbacks on this listing has played with an all-time great WR at Georgia during one of their first two seasons.

The same cannot be said about Fromm.

With all of that, there is another metric worth a visit here. We can scan names like Greene, Murray,  Stafford and even Zeier and yet none of those columns were able to show off their best years as Bulldogs.

How do those compare to what DawgNation has seen out of Fromm? (NOTE: When scanning these numbers it is important to consider that Carter and Zeier both competed in the world of 11-game regular seasons.) 

QB rating

(Career season)

Touchdown-to-Interception ratio

(Career season)

Average yards per attempt

(Career season)

Completion percentage

(Career season)

Passing yards

(Career season)

For those who feel the ultimate arbiter of a quarterback is leading his team to championships, then Fromm is only one of four quarterbacks in history to steer the Bulldogs to a final game which went on to determine the national champion.

A closing opinion on Jake Fromm

This seems the time to address the “game manager” label with Fromm. CBS lead analyst Gary Danielson went to great lengths to debunk that topic around the SEC Championship Game last December.

That term is overused in football today. A “game manager” applies to a quarterback who guides their team with effective play. They will not offer up overwhelming physical tools and are a part of teams where a stifling defense and an impressive ground game is called on to win the big ones.

That signal caller isn’t asked to do more than protect the ball and preserve field position. For those that have been watching, that is not the way Fromm has operated at Georgia.

The ball he completed to Riley Ridley for a touchdown against Alabama in the 2018 SEC Championship contest is a testament of that. His stat line (25-of-39 for 301 yards, 3 TDSs, O INTs) from that night against mighty Alabama is another clear example.

ABSOLUTELY. PERFECT. THROW. pic.twitter.com/fyMlRLKhH7

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 1, 2018

Fromm has been a “win manager” more than anything else. The “game manager” will play smart and efficient football but is limited when forced to make a play. The execution is just not there to build a game plan around. That’s why their coaches don’t ask too much from them.

The “win manager” term points to a guy who does all the things that can beat a team but doesn’t leave the offensive coordinator ready to eat his visor in the booth. That guy can win a game with his arm, his head and the way he breaks down a defense.

It also seems likely a “game manager” archetype would not possess the skills to send two players with all the classic NFL first-rounder tools to the transfer portal.

There is no stat column for that, but Fromm has also done that at Georgia.