Five-star quarterback Justin Fields, the No. 2 class of 2018 recruit on the 247Sports Composite, will play his college football at Georgia. He made it official by signing with the Dawgs on the first day of college football’s Early Signing Period.
No. 2 recruit Justin Fields signs with UGA, and the Dawgs are absolutely loaded at QB now
Kirby Smart signs one of the country’s highest-rated 2018 prospects.
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His signing is arguably the biggest of the year for any program. It all came down to Georgia, Florida State, Auburn, LSU, and Alabama, and Kirby Smart came out the winner of the horse race over two months ago. Fields played high school ball for Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Ga. His sister Jaiden has also committed to play softball at Georgia.
He was on hand for Georgia’s big win over Mississippi State earlier this season, and took his official visit there on Dec. 15. Fields had made multiple unofficial visits to Georgia in the last few months, and also took an official visit to LSU.
Fields committed at a pep rally back in October.
But he also did a pre-produced video with CBS Sports, in which he became the latest to commit to the Bulldogs in the presence of an actual bulldog.
This is a huge get for Smart’s 2018 class, and it continues his success recruiting quarterbacks from the state of Georgia.
The Bulldogs’ current starter, Jake Fromm, is a former four-star prospect out of Warner Robins, Ga. He was originally committed to Alabama, but Smart took him with him when he accepted the head coaching job at UGA.
UGA’s quarterback depth chart will be the deepest in the country, if everybody stays.
Next season, Fromm will be a sophomore and Jacob Eason, assuming he returns this year, will be a junior. Fields will be a true freshman. Eason and Fields are consensus five-star talents, and Fromm’s a high four-star whom some rated as a five-star.
Fields decommitted from Penn State last summer.
Fields has risen to become the most sought-after player in the class of 2018. Top QBs do sometimes decommit late in the recruiting year, but it’s a rarity, and Fields was deliberate in making this decision. When the coaching carousel chess pieces moved, some teams tried to get back in the Fields sweepstakes. Both Florida and Texas A&M tried hard to get Fields late in the process after both teams got new coaches. Florida pressed particularly hard after the late decommitment of Matt Corral.
Fields was the undisputed star of The Opening Finals, a top recruiting showcase in July, and that edged him to the top of some boards. Fields and Clemson commit Trevor Lawrence, another Georgian, are the consensus top two QBs in the country.
Fields is a bit more of a running threat, while Lawrence has a bigger arm in the pocket. But both would have easily been the No. 1 overall QB in any of the previous handful of classes.
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Fields’ playing style is reminiscent of a taller Russell Wilson.
At about 6’3 and 220 pounds, Fields is big enough to take hits as a runner without wearing down, but fast enough to elude defenders. But he is a passer first and often will scramble, pull up, and launch a strike downfield.
Fields initial commitment to Penn State in Dec. 2016, but he backed off that pledge in June. By the late summer, the race for Fields appeared to be down to USC and a slew of Southeastern schools: Florida State, Georgia, Auburn, and Alabama.
Fields is seen as a dynamic personality, and has immense respect from the best prospects in Georgia and the Southeast. Georgia signed the No. 3 overall class in 2017 under Kirby Smart, and before Fields’ October commitment, sat at No. 13.
When the dust settles on this class, it’ll be much higher than 13 and Fields is a big reason why.
