Near the end of the recruiting process, 247Sports’ top-ranked recruit
Justin Fieldsstopped looking at depth charts and said "I’m just going to go where I want to go,” his father Ivant Fields said.
Where Fields wanted to go was Georgia.
He’s now a Bulldog.
The five-star prospect out of Kennesaw (Ga.) Harrison went public with his plans Friday morning via an exclusive video with CBS Sports, choosing to play for the in-state power over the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Florida State and LSU.
For a third year in a row Kirby Smart will sign a dynamite signal-caller as Fields follows sophomore Jacob Eason and freshman Jake Fromm to Athens. When Smart took over at UGA he had the thinnest depth chart in America at the game’s most important position.
Now he may have the best.
With what we know about Fields at the very least, whoever is still in that quarterback room when he gets on campus, they’re going to be pushed by the true freshman come next fall.
Unlike the 6-foot-5, 236-pound Eason or the 6-foot-2, 229-pound Fromm, who were both heavily recruited from the start, the 6-foot-3, 221-pound Fields had to damn near politic for everything that he got. He kept his head down at camps when watching other quarterbacks get offered or receive more attention when he thought he threw it better. He sent his updated film out weekly to college coaches and media alike.
“He kept a chip on his shoulder,” the elder Fields told 247Sports, adding “I told him be careful what you ask for.”
What Fields was asking for, what he was working for, finally came to fruition.
North Carolina was first to offer in May of 2016. A year later he had roughly 40 opportunities.
Sandwiched in between was a terrific junior season where Fields completed 69 percent of his passes for 2,253 yards and 18 touchdowns with another 977 rushing yards and 14 more scores. Harrison finished the year 10-2, its best season since winning nine ballgames in 2008. Penn State nearly had him, committing Fields in December only to lose him in June.
Fields went from a three-star recruit in the preseason, to a Top247 recruit by season’s end. Then in February he ran a very impressive 4.51 laser-timed 40-yard dash with an even more impressive 4.16 shuttle at Nike Football’s The Opening Regional in Orlando. Camp season continued with him shredding defenses at various 7-on-7 tournaments culminating with a brilliant performance at The Opening Finals in July where he threw 16 touchdowns to zero interceptions competing alongside most of America’s best.
At that point 247Sports moved him to No. 1, dethroning fellow Peach State passer Trevor Lawrence who at that point was the only prospect in the 2018 cycle to have held that status.
“He’s motivated,” Ivant said. “He’s not complacent or comfortable. You talk to him and he’s the target now. You’re not the hunter, you’re the hunted. So he’s fine with that.”
Smart and his staff have had a lot of big recruiting wins since taking over the reigns at Georgia with Eason being the first one.
It’s easy to call Fields the biggest recruiting win yet.
Georgia rallied to land Fields, keeping in touch during his verbal to Penn State and holding off Florida and Auburn and then Florida State, Alabama and LSU to keep the in-state prize home.
“I think it was a combination of things,” Ivant said. “Relationship with the coaches.”
Fields has the traits to ultimately develop into the most dangerous player in college football.
He has the arm talent to make all the throws, he’s precise with the football, has shown the ability to be able to slow things down faster than his peers; at Harrison he’s asked to make checks at the line of scrimmage and as mentioned earlier he has the speed and change of direction quickness to be a backbreaker to a defense when keeping the ball and running himself. Fields is poised in the pocket, he extends plays with his legs and also know when to take off.
And with Fields now in the boat. look for the Bulldogs class to take off as well.
Commit No. 16, this Georgia class rises two spots to No. 11 in the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings with a strong chance to go top-5 for a second-straight year.
When Smart was hired at Georgia he took over a 10-win football team that had pieces in place to remain a regular contender in the SEC East. With what he’s done on the recruiting trail the last two-plus cycles, he’s putting the program in position to compete for more beyond that.
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