Criticize Jake Fromm all you want now but you’ll miss him once the season starts

Georgia had just beaten Florida for the third consecutive season and in the process restored its playoff hopes. Kirby Smart found quarterback Jake Fromm, placed his hands around Fromm’s face, as a loving father would hold his son, and told the quarterback who directed all three of those victories, “Don’t ever doubt Jake Fromm.”

Moments later, Fromm choked back tears as he relayed this special moment to CBS sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl.

“I just feel thankful that I have a head coach that believes in me, and believes in this team,” Fromm told Erdahl. “I am so thankful to be here.”

Astonishingly, not everyone has believed in Fromm, and not just pseudo coaches on Twitter. There were reports that the Fromm family felt like the previous regime of Mark Richt and Brian Schottenheimer treated him as an afterthought. They were all in on Jacob Eason, a year ahead of Fromm, and strongly pursuing Davis Mills.

Fromm isn’t particularly big, wasn’t considered a gifted athlete and had questionable arm strength. But his intelligence and competitive fire are in the 99th percentile, and his passing is extremely accurate. Alabama coach Nick Saban said this about Fromm before last season’s SEC Championship Game.

“No doubt he had all the ingredients and intangibles that you’re looking for from a guy to lead your team and be your quarterback,” Saban said.

Theirs has been a special relationship, Smart and Fromm. It was Smart who recruited Fromm for Alabama, then made signing Fromm a recruiting priority. Smart texted Emerson Fromm, Jake’s dad, who called Smart. ESPN college football reporter Mark Schlabach wrote that Emerson Fromm said the text read:

“I’m the coach at Georgia now, and you’re my first official scholarship offer. I want Jake to be my quarterback.”

Fromm’s announcement Wednesday that he was leaving Georgia to enter the NFL draft was met with a range of emotions, from sadness to childish and foolish elation. News flash to the Fromm critics: Justin Fields was run off, he quit, and he ain’t coming back. Fromm is so much better than his critics will ever understand.

Transition is inevitable in college sports. That’s especially true of quarterbacks, where only one guy can be the starter.

Smart has stocked the position well despite Fields transferring to Ohio State and John Rhys Plumlee decommitting, to use the recruiting vernacular, last year and signing with Ole Miss. Redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis is a physical specimen. True freshman Carson Beck, who has already enrolled, has a stronger arm than Fromm. Stetson Bennett has consistently impressed in scrimmages. But facing Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 19 will be a bit different than wearing a no-contact jersey in G-Day.

Now comes the news that Georgia has landed the graduate transfer from Wake Forest. Former Georgia and Miami coach Mike Richt predicted that Newman will become the top quarterback in the SEC.

We’ll see.

Replacing Jake Fromm, the passer, will be much easier than replacing Jake Fromm, the leader and heartbeat of the team.

Whomever winds up starting will be operating an entirely new offense. Only two offensive starters from that Florida game — center Trey Hill and receiver Demetrius Robertson — return. There almost certainly will be growing pains for the offense. Then again, with a more mobile quarterback than Fromm, development at receiver, and the loss of D’Andre Swift, the offense likely will look much different.

Maybe that will be a good thing in the long run. They could be more balanced. (Not talking about play calls, but effectiveness.) The Bulldogs still have a talented roster thanks to four strong recruiting classes. They are still the class of the SEC East, despite Danny Kanell’s assertion that Florida will win the division.

But don’t think for a second that Georgia is better off with Fromm leaving. Smart was exactly right. Don’t ever doubt Jake Fromm.