How will Georgia evolve, now that its QB is no longer a rookie?

In eight of Georgia’s 15 games in 2017, starting QB Jake Fromm threw the ball fewer than 17 times. The Dawgs were 8-0 in those games.

That stat tended to reflect games in which the two-headed run game of Nick Chubb and Sonny Michel was more than adequate without asking much of their freshman signal caller. The Cocktail Party against Florida was the most striking example, as Georgia rolled to a 42-7 victory while Fromm threw seven passes.

One concern for Georgia was whether Fromm would be able to shoulder more playmaking in order to lead the Dawgs past the elite teams in the postseason. In the SEC Championship and two Playoff games, Fromm would throw 84 passes for 625 yards at 7.4 ypa, with five TD passes and two INTs (both against Alabama). That was enough against Auburn and Oklahoma as Georgia’s backs ran free, but against Alabama’s elite line, the freshman completed 50 percent of his passes and came up just short, largely due to an amazing play or two by a different freshman QB.

With sophomore D’Andre Swift back after running for 618 yards a year ago and the OL returning four starters, it’s safe to assume the Dawgs plan to keep running teams over.

However, it’s worth noting that offensive coordinator Jim Chaney is the same man who coordinated the Drew Brees-led spread offenses at Purdue, and this Georgia team will now include a talented and experienced cast of receivers and tight ends.

It might be that a Georgia return to the Playoff, whether in 2018 or 2019, is keyed by significant growth from the passing game.

As the urgency of on third down intensified, his conversions and yards per attempt rose, but so did the number of sacks, incompletions, and negative plays. Overall, Fromm acquitted himself quite well and revealed some ability to get after the Alabama defense in the way that QBs like Cardale Jones and Deshaun Watson did before him.

He had a lot of success throwing back-shoulder fades to WRs Javon Wims and Terry Godwin and corner routes in a three-level, “post, corner, flat” combo.

This is a good scheme for attacking today’s common two-high safety coverages, as it’s difficult for the safety to break on that deep corner route. Fromm gets the ball out a touch late here, because he’s stepping up to evade pressure, but he hits this one on third-and-6 and probably completed this route multiple times in almost every game as a freshman.

Winning in the postseason against tough fronts meant being able to throw outside. Georgia had a couple of go-to concepts for that. One was a curl-flat combo that included a TE in the middle of the field, to hold a linebacker and help clear the lane:

That’s a fairly tight window that Fromm hit here. His accuracy on these was generally solid, but not great, and the Dawgs left a lot of yardage on the field against Bama due to some narrow misses.

They also utilized a few vertical concepts besides their three-level play, which typically included comebacks or adjustments by the receivers. Fromm was pretty good at connecting with Wims and Godwin on these:

Really, his only struggles were when he was looking to lead his receivers on deeper routes over the middle, though this was still a catchable ball:

Whether on dig routes or a seam route like this one, Fromm sometimes struggled to get the range quite right and threw ahead of or behind his targets.

From early on in the year, Georgia also asked Fromm to execute RPOs to protect the running game. Running inside zone from 11 personnel (one TE, one RB, three WRs) with quick-hitting pass options attached took the entire offense to another level.

Having a QB who can read the RPO game and deliver the quick and accurate throws to make it come alive? No small matter.

Fromm had a good deal on his plate, even though UGA didn’t need to use all of it in most of its games.

Coaching in the NFL with the Rams gave Chaney a greater appreciation for using TEs and running the ball, which has carried over in his second college stint, but the passing game knowhow is still there.

When Georgia did throw in 2017, you could see the high degree of complexity. Within that passing game, freshman Fromm revealed two impressive traits.

First, he was capable of handling advanced concepts while still protecting the football, and secondly, he could step up to the plate in big games.

It’s not hard to imagine him shoring up his weaknesses with another year on campus, especially if year two features practices with a greater emphasis on the passing game.

The 2018 Bulldogs lose some of their best run game pieces in dominant LT Isaiah Wynn and the Michel/Chubb combo, but the pieces for the passing game look very strong. Godwin was excellent and returns as the No. 1 target, and No. 3 receiver Mecole Hardman is back. The Bulldogs have a deep stable of TEs, led by Isaac Nauta and Charlie Woerner, who have the talent to play a much bigger role than in 2017, when they combined for 214 yards and two TDs from 33 targets. They’re also sliding Freshman All-American RT Andrew Thomas to the left side to anchor an impressive OL.

Georgia has all the pieces to build a lethal passing attack around Fromm’s established competencies. Their forays into multiple-TE packages and using their big targets to suck up space in the middle of the field could easily become mainstays in 2018 and perhaps the dominant feature of the team in 2019 when Fromm, Thomas, Swift, and at least one of these TEs return, not to mention incoming transfer Demetris Robertson (a former No. 1 WR recruit), plus the members of 2018’s national No. 1 recruiting class becoming sophomores.

Georgia’s advanced passing game isn’t going to solve every third down, but it will see increasing prominence as Fromm progresses.

Swift will likely run for well over 1,000 yards, and the Dawgs aren’t going to move away from their run game, but a Playoff return likely hinges on an improved Fromm.