Who's actually seen Jake Fromm play live a lot? This guy

            Not long after Jacob Eason’s clumsy post-push stumble out of bounds, the analysis started.

            The Jake Fromm experts got busy, moreso as he came off the Georgia bench and looked like somebody who probably shouldn’t be on the bench.

            And it’s continued, daily and hourly proclamations and speculations and discussions and confident postulation of a player few actually saw in a game situation at all or more than a little.

            Games are a wee bit different than a highlight or video or offseason camp, yes?

            Hmmm.

            As it goes, pretty much everything said is still on point.

            I figured 10 months ago that in three seasons, I’d seen Fromm throw probably 600 passes, around 43 percent of his total at Houston County. Upon further review, I may have seen more than that.

            The competition ranged from weak Augusta schools to county rivals Warner Robins and Northside to an underrated and growing Jones County program to playoff teams Stockbridge and Allatoona.

            He just about lost his mind after his 25-of-39 night for 384 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions led the Bears to a 34-13 win over Northside, the program’s first win against the elite Eagles. That came a year after Houston County blew a solid fourth-quarter lead and lost, despite scoring 33 points.

            And there was the stunningly rare lack of composure, if you can even call it a lack of composure, after the season-ending 28-24 loss last year at home to Valdosta. Houston County didn’t make the playoffs despite a 7-3 record – the region was like the SEC West on ‘roid – and Fromm cried and hugged teammates.

            Courtesy of a shoulder wounded a week earlier against Northside – 28 of 43 for 534 freakin’ yards and four touchdowns – he was 19 of 30 for 170 yards and two scores, no picks. Few knew how banged up Fromm was, yet he still ran 19 times for 32 yards, a week after his first and only 100-yard rushing game as a high-schooler.

            So there really aren’t many folks who weren’t wearing Houston County colors who saw Fromm live that much in real, actual game competition.

            Funny thing is that the scouting report on Fromm is pretty simple.

            He’s a football player at quarterback. He can take a hit, and he can dish one out.

            Jones County, led by unblockable 5-7 lineman Torrez Finney, hammered Fromm his junior year, got maybe more pressure on him than any other defense he played in high school. His normally reliable receivers, taking advantage of his accuracy to be reliable, suddenly had brick hands and dropped more passes in that game than their average month.

            He was 20 of 54, a .39.3 percent mark, for 393 yards, two touchdowns and two picks, in a 24-17 loss.

            Fromm didn’t short-arm passes or flinch despite the pressure, despite the drops.

            Poor Greenbrier was next: 20 of 26 for 353 yards and two touchdowns in a rout.

            What his current teammates have said all week is what former teammates and opponents already knew. As former Jones County defender Logan Gordon tweeted Saturday: “See everyone who's played against or even seen Fromm play in person already knew he was better than Eason. We've been trying to tell y'all”

            ESPN’s Tommy Tuberville kept saying last week that Fromm didn’t even know half of Georgia’s offense, and I kept telling Tommy that he knew more of that offense than some folks who had been in it from the start.

            Spent months telling folks that at the same point in their respect true-freshman-year timelines, Fromm was ahead of Eason.

            Nothing against Eason, but that’s just Fromm. Watch tape, eat, go to class, study, watch tape, work out, practice, throw, watch tape, eat, go to bed, and maybe get up early enough to get some hunting in.

            You may read some “programmed to be a quarterback” in there, ala Todd Marinovich, almost abused by his dad’s obsession. Fromm is substantially more well-rounded, and we won’t see Fromm on TMZ or a fairly depressing "30 for 30" in 15 years.

            There is a little programming, as far as maturity goes. Plenty has been made of his Little League career, and I recall talking to this annoyingly tall 11 or 12 year old up in Cartersville at the state tournament awhile back.

            He already had the conversational skills down, better than most of the adults around him at the time, and, well, later on, too. So he started getting ahead of the curve in that way early on, and that’s important.

            Most kids that age stammer with questions about a game, but Fromm understood, and he understood more as he got older. No doubt he got tired of talking, because there were times when he was on verbal auto-pilot, and you could tell. He often knew the question before it was 30 percent asked.

            And after awhile, the interview process got a little redundant, because he was so consistent on the field. There wasn’t much new light to shed very often.
            Don't forget how good he was in high school baseball, a key to Houston County winning a pair of state championships. All he does is win.

            Fromm was Fromm, and there were times the Bears would have been much better served to turn the headsets off and just let Fromm be Fromm. Am pretty sure they might have had a few extra games.

            Any well-executed offense is a joy to watch, whether it’s a Wing-T or passing spread. Fromm made Houston County’s fun to watch because he was consistent, he was fairly effortless, and he was sharp.

            It got to the point where I was moderately surprised at any incompletion, or at least one that probably should have been a completion. Sometimes he threw when he got hit. Sometimes defenders disrupted the routes – remember, the other guys are working, too – and sometimes the route wasn’t completed properly.

            The reality is he was probably a 65-percent passer in high school who settled for 60.8 percent. Very, very, rarely did he make the wrong read.

            Jones County head coach Justin Rogers is an offensive/quarterback guy, and said a few years ago the thing people miss about Fromm’s game is his patience, and ability to quickly check down to pass to a running back if nothing was open downfield.

Most quarterbacks, he said, were always looking for the homer, but Fromm took what was open. And his backs got open a lot.

            Another funny: he threw more “say what?” passes Saturday in part-time service against a non-power opponent than he did in many games against power opponents in high school. The touchdown prayer was answered, the throw-away – we all think it was a throw-away – was caught, and another iffy decision was an incompletion.

            Look off a receiver? Last year, three receivers caught between 48 and 58 passes. A year earlier, seven caught at least 21 passes, and three were between 40 and 50 catches. The lead running back in three seasons caught 37, 26 and 48 passes.

            A huge overlooked issue Saturday at Notre Dame – which means more to those over 35 than those under 22 – is simply the game plan and offensive coordinator Jim Chaney.

            Yes, I’m saying Chaney can do more with Fromm, and it will be extremely hard for Chaney to hold back. After all, Fromm is still a true freshman, making his debut in a notable stadium. But Fromm can make more passes and is a little more dangerous as a runner.

            He just puts the ball in one of two spots: the receiver’s hands or the ground. And his receivers will get better. That adds to the temptation to actually do more than expected.

            All that may sound homery, and it isn’t, not in the least.. Being a homer is not an accusation that comes this way, and it’s not coming from Bear Country. But the reality is the reality, and these eyes have seen the reality of Fromm on a football field, good Fridays and not-so-good Fridays.

            Georgia, on both sides of the line, is better with Fromm and his leadership on the field, and people will see that, starting Saturday. I don’t expect some storybook night unfolding with Fromm’s legend beginning in earnest in the house that Rockne built, but I won’t be surprised if it does.