ATHENS — Just eight minutes into the 2017 season, Georgia’s promising and hopeful campaign easily could have come to a screeching halt.
Starting sophomore quarterback sensation Jacob Eason blew out his knee on what looked to be an innocent scramble out of bounds against Appalachian State. That left Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and-then offensive coordinator Jim Chaney scrambling to make what would become the most important decision of their coaching-tenure to that point.
The options weren’t overly appealing, considering standing on the sidelines were three freshman -- Jake Fromm, John Setter, Stetson Bennett -- a seldom if ever used junior in Sam Vaughn, and grad-student Brice Ramsey, who had failed to win the job as a senior over then-freshman Eason.
Bulldogs fans fortunately know how that turned out as Smart called in Fromm, who had shown flashes during Fall practice and intangibles that year that are hard to measure with the naked eye.
Fast-forward to Saturday’s annual G-Day game at Sanford Stadium. So, who is the next Jake Fromm standing on the sideline in the event of an injury?
That is what many Georgia fans inwardly were digesting with some apprehension. But based on what was on display Saturday in freshman D’Wan Mathis and now-redshirt-freshman Bennett, Dawg Nation perhaps can breath easier.
Mathis was 15-of-28 passing for 113 yards and one interception. But he exhibited a solid command, at least in the scaled-down version, of the offense and flashes of athleticism. He caught a touchdown pass from Matt Landers on a reverse pass in the third quarter and had one scramble for 20 yards. He also was sacked three times.
Bennett, who left the program last year but returned for the 2019 season, demonstrated poise and understanding of the offense as well. He was 8-of-14 for 128 yards and one touchdown.
Seeing the pair in action probably helped to warm most of the 52,630 cold and wet fans in attendance.
Smart didn’t heap a Mount Everest amount of praise on the duo in his post-game interview. But he also didn’t provide many negatives in his assessment either.
“I thought D’Wan made a couple of sloppy snaps, maybe dropping a snap,” he said. “A lot of throwing situations. “We scaled back a lot of the defensive packages, but we also scaled back a lot of the offense as well. A lot of the new things we’re doing were not in either of those packages (Saturday).
“I thought Stetson did a nice job. He’s played in this game before (2017).
“I was pleased with the way (both) managed, not the huddle but managed the game on the field. That’s important for their growth. They’re only going to get better through practicing, repping it and playing in that kind of environment.”
Landers, who played with Mathis and Bennett on the Black offense, had praise for Mathis and his overall skills.
“Going through spring with him and him being an early enrollee, I just knew he was real athletic, had good speed,” Landers said. “He played a little bit of everything in high school (Oak Park, Belleville, Mich) so I knew he had some hands. We just came up with that (flea-flicker) play and executed it well.”
Certainly no one wants to see Fromm, who has led the Bulldogs to two SEC title game, one SEC Championship, and one CFP National Championship game, go down at all. He is considered an instrumental, if not the key element, to the Dogs’ hopes of winning their first national championship since 1980.
But the cupboard definitely looks more stocked behind him than many Georgia fans had imagined. You can shelve the Tums, at least for now.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2019/4/787093/g-day-no-tums-needed-for-dogs-fans-as-qb-position-looks-healthy