Want a daily lap through Georgia football recruiting? That’s what the Intel will bring at least five days a week. We’ll cover the news and which way a 5-star like Justin Fields might lean plus add some perspective to help fans figure out what it all means.
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BEAVERTON, Ore. — The name Justin Fields will continue to be the hottest topic on the college football recruiting scene for quite some time.
It should be after what he did over the last week in Oregon. Fields won the Elite 11 MVP award and led his 7-on-7 squad to the 2017 Opening team championship.
What was his goal coming in?
“Just to be the best quarterback,” Fields said.
Green emoji check.
He has visits planned to Auburn (July 13) and Georgia (July 15) and also has an interest in returning to check out both Florida and Florida State. He said this past week in Oregon that Penn State and USC are also in it.
What does he think about the whole topic of the silent commitment?
“I don’t know,” Fields said. “We’ll see.”
He feels there are some pros and some cons to silently committing to a school.
“The pros are that you can still talk to other schools about it and if you are not sure then nobody will know that you committed,” he said. “The cons are about the total recruiting picture. It would be hard to come get other guys to join me (at that school) if I was silently committed.”
What process will Justin Fields use to make this decision?
Fields will hear a lot of the same things until he makes his decision.
“I just wish people would stop asking the same questions over and over,” he said.
Don’t take that the wrong way. He realizes his blessings here. Fields always seems quick to point out he just wanted an offer from Mercer at one time. File this under a “5-star recruit” problems the way some might use the term “First World” problems in everyday use.
The nation’s No. 2 overall QB prospect is going to attract a crowd, but that intensifies significantly when he has not made a college commitment this close to his senior season.
But that doesn’t make it easy. So he prays about this decision. A lot.
“My mind is just really spinning right now with all these schools coming at me,” he said. “I’m really just enjoying the process right now and taking visits. I just really need to see and feel the place where I feel at home at.”
He wants to be finished, but he doesn’t want to turn in this exam without getting an answer down for all of his questions.
“I want to be finished right now but I can’t jeopardize my decision,” Fields said. “I can’t just do it because I want to be 100 percent before I do make that decision.”
How often does the leader or the school to beat change up in his mind?
“Probably every two weeks,” Fields said. “I probably will say that I committed to myself and act like it is that way and feel that way for two weeks or something like that. If my thoughts still go to that same school, then I think that is when I know I will be ready.”
What can Justin Fields do that is out-of-the-box?
The funny thing to remember here is that Fields basically could only operate out of the pocket at the Elite 11. That meant his 221 pounds and 4.51 speed (laser time) in the 40 could not be called upon to move the chains.
That’s one of his biggest tools that never came out of the box over the last week. DawgNation has an in-depth Q&A with Elite 11 head coach Trent Dilfer after the Opening.
He had a lot of interesting things to say about Fields, but he also pointed to perhaps the one strength that no one really notices.
“I will give you one that is outside the box,” Dilfer said. “I think the more I watch him, the more I believe he has quick eyes. His eyes can get through things very quickly and his eyes can decipher in nanoseconds what is open and what is not. So if you think about it, a guy goes I am looking at the guy in the green shirt and the other guy in the orange shirt. Justin is doing all of this very quickly and getting through his reads faster and then realizing who is open. Justin is doing all of this as he’s throwing the ball. He’s getting through and seeing all of that in a fraction of the time that the other guys use.”
Dilfer is going to focus on the analytical approach for his quarterbacks. He had the talent but didn’t really focus on the operating system until later on in his career and especially after he retired.
“I’m not minimizing the talent,” Dilfer said. “Talent is obviously paramount but it only takes you so far and he has all the other things. Quick eyes are a big part of what I see.”
Tweet of the Day
Get the picture. It is the Fourth of July. Georgia freshman receiver JJ Holloman tweeted out something very interesting about Fields on Tuesday. It has already garnered almost 1,000 likes.
It was even retweeted by Fields.
Holloman was also on the Cam Newton 7-on-7 team last year. He was actually Newton’s No. 1 pick for the offense for the 2016 circuit.
But he enrolled early at Georgia. Not Auburn. That’s something to think about whether being on Newton’s 7-on-7 team gives the Tigers a distinct advantage.
A very sharp observer also pointed out something very interesting to me over in Oregon. Auburn is an Under Armour school. The rest of the schools that are heavily in the mix for Fields are all Nike schools.
That is a very intelligent observation.
Have we reached the point where college football recruiting is starting to sound like their peers on the hardwood? I don’t think so. I don’t think the shoe deal for the 7-on-7 team rivals the impact of the AAU deal for the college basketball prospect.
At least not yet.