Georgia freshman quarterback Justin Fields is a dual-threat talent who is not displaying his dual-threat talents.
Fields is solely being used as a running threat for the No. 8 Bulldogs, who are in their open date following a 6-1 start to the season. The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder from the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw has not attempted a pass in Georgia’s last two road games – the 43-29 win at Missouri on Sept. 22 and last Saturday’s 36-16 loss at LSU.
“Everything is out there for him,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after the loss in Baton Rouge. “He still comes in and practices and gets all the reps running the quarterback position, and I think he’ll continue to do that. I think it’s easy to sit back and second-guess, but we feel like he has given us a spark with those runs that he does.
“He’s continuing to grow.”
Fields is 18-of-25 passing (72 percent) this season for 200 yards and two touchdowns, with most of that output occurring in last month’s routs of Austin Peay (45-0) and Middle Tennessee State (49-7). In those two contests, he was a combined 13-of-16 for 134 yards and two scores.
His only pass in a Southeastern Conference road game was an 8-yard completion at South Carolina on Sept. 8, when the Bulldogs were leading 41-10 in their eventual 41-17 triumph.
Fields has rushed the ball at least once per game, but he’s had just one carry in each of Georgia’s road games. His most impressive rushing performance was a five-carry, 45-yard, two-touchdown showing in the 38-12 win over visiting Tennessee on Sept. 29.
The Bulldogs have numerous plays that are run-pass options, regardless of whether Fields or starter Jake Fromm is taking the snap.
“There is no fear in letting Justin go in a game and throw the ball,” Smart said, “but at the same time, we’ve got to give ourselves the best opportunity to win, and those are the decisions we have to make as an offensive coordinator and a head coach.”
It’s certainly hard to fault Smart and Jim Chaney for riding the reliable arm of Fromm, who guided the Bulldogs to their first SEC title in 12 years last season as a true freshman. Fromm finished ninth nationally in efficiency last season and was fourth this year until a 16-of-34 showing for 209 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions at LSU.
The only other two-interception game of Fromm’s career was January’s 26-23 overtime loss to Alabama in the national championship contest.
“LSU did a good job with some third-down crazy stuff and one-hit-wonder stuff,” Fromm said. “We kind of got ourselves in a mess with the third-and-longs. I don’t think any of their sacks were on our offensive line. They were all on me.”
Fromm was sacked three times by the Tigers, including one with 13 minutes remaining that knocked the Bulldogs out of field-goal range in a 19-9 game.
“All the struggles weren’t his,” Smart said. “He made some third-down throws that were really good. There were a couple of times he ended up getting sacked where he’s got to make the decision to get rid of the ball, but we didn’t run the right route on one of them.
“It’s easy to sit back and second-guess, but at the end of the day we’ve got to make good decisions and play the guy who gives us the best chance to win, and we’ll continue to do that. Both of those guys are going to continue to get better.”
Odds and ends
LSU was fined $100,000 Monday by the SEC after hundreds of fans came on the field to celebrate Saturday’s upset of the Bulldogs. … Georgia did not practice Monday and will practice today through Thursday before taking the weekend off.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.