Jake Fromm cooks breakfast.
That is an unexpected find in the tackle box of the avid hunter and fisherman, but that’s part of his DNA. He’ll wake up most mornings and whip up some eggs. He does so to feed his twin younger brothers on a lot of those times.
The reason? Weight gain. He wants pounds and protein on their bodies. Dylan is a backup quarterback. The 5-foot-11 rising sophomore will be more of a run-pass option type when it is his time to play at Houston County.
Tyler, who is already two inches taller than his older brother at 6-foot-4, is a receiver. Nothing like having an in-house wideout to run the post on vacations or boring Thursday afternoons in the backyard to stay sharp.
Dylan and Tyler have an insider’s view of how their brother has handled this rise to being the nation’s No. 3 pro-style passer and Elite 11 quarterback thing. They saw him weather not getting an early offer from his dream school and deciding to commit to Alabama.
“Good and great character,” Tyler Fromm said of his older brother. “That’s all you will ever see out of him every time. He’ll do things the right way. Always.”
An extremely impressive consolation prize of playing for the Crimson Tide then required further review when Kirby Smart got the Georgia job. It wasn’t long before the family just felt better about the opportunity to stay in-state and play for Smart at UGA.
So what exactly is DawgNation getting? His brothers shared their view.
“When you see him on game day, you will see him extremely focused,” Dylan Fromm said. “But it is not a quiet thing. He will be the guy trying to pick everybody else up. He just tries to spread that around and make sure everyone is focused. … Everyone mentions his arm, but I’ve seen time and time again that his leadership is his most important quality. By far.”
That stays the same even after a Houston County loss.
“He’ll be hard on himself but you probably won’t see that,” Dylan Fromm said.
“What you will see is him still trying to pick his team up,” Tyler Fromm said, finishing his twin’s sentence.
They brought up winter workouts. That’s when the quarterbacks at Houston County will throw in the gym. The thermostat is around 60 degrees.
“It is so cold and when you throw with him your hands will be blood red because that’s how he treats your hands when you are catching the ball throwing with him,” Dylan Fromm said.
While there is some reality to the “Golden Boy” narrative, leave it to his younger brothers to keep him grounded.
“Jake cannot dance,” Dylan said. “He thinks he can dance but he just cannot. That doesn’t stop him, though. The amount that he dances though you would not know that he cannot dance.”
Tyler continued that point with another hint of the older brother’s Clark Kent appeal.
“He’s not a dancer but his room is going to be clean now,” he said.
They noticed their older brother’s immense talent finally materialize in middle school. The boys had played every sport up to that point. Then football came into focus.
Fromm’s Elite 11-level talent was developed over the years.
“The other thing is how hard he works,” Dylan Fromm said. “He will work himself to the point of exhaustion. He’ll have full-body cramps and everything but he will still do what he has to do as the leader of our team and then even more than that. That’s what kind of separates him from other guys with great arms to me.”
Tyler nodded.
“I couldn’t add anything to that,” he said. “That is Jake right there. That was perfect. That’s our brother. He nailed that.”
Working out with the UGA commit is a chore. His teammates will avoid using the bench press after Fromm gets his reps. That’s because the rack is usually soaked from his sweat.
“He’s yelling and encouraging everyone in the weight room to see how everyone is doing,” Dylan Fromm. “When you see the way he leads the guys every day, it is something. He’s my brother, but that is just awesome.”
The family grew up Georgia, but when he committed to Alabama a lot of the red-and-black gear had to go. Charity. Goodwill. Replacement items should occupy a lot of birthday and Christmas gift lists this year.
The relationship with Smart developed when he was an Alabama commit. Those two would talk when the Fromms visited Tuscaloosa. The brothers both said it is clear to them that Jake “really loves Kirby and loves it that he will get to play for him.”
The twins already look to going back to Sanford Stadium one day. What number will Fromm wear? He hopes to wear No. 7 or No. 11. Those are the numbers made famous by UGA all-time passing leader Aaron Murray and former NFL top draft choice Matthew Stafford.
That’s quite a lineage.
“We’ve already thought about that,” Dylan Fromm said. “It is crazy. We grew up watching guys like Aaron Murray and Matthew Stafford and dreaming that maybe one day it will be one of us in Sanford Stadium. Well, now one day it will be one of us in Sanford Stadium. It is just crazy being his brother and seeing Jake as successful as he is.”
Fromm has pictures on social media with trophy fish, but he does not hold the “Master Fisher” title belt in the household.
“Jake claims to be the best fisherman in the family but in reality, it is Dylan that is the best fisherman,” Tyler Fromm said.
When Jake caught his first 10-pound bass, it was with Dylan’s gear.
“I love him but Jake’s the one to take all my stuff and go catch a fish and come back and say look what I caught,” Dylan Fromm said. “So if you see a picture of him with a big fish anywhere on the internet everyone should just know it is probably mine. He probably caught that with my stuff.”
That’s Fromm. Remember that with his 4.0 GPA and the fact he’ll graduate early while taking college classes. He also will often speak at Fellowship of Christian Athletes events in his community. His head coach
His head coach Von Lassiter at Houston County says he has a photographic memory for how well he can see concepts and coverages and memorize them for recall to carve up secondaries on an ensuing possession.
“He picks the minds of our defensive coaches trying to learn everything they do,” Lassiter said. “…There’s no one who will prepare like he does before he takes the field in 7-on-7 and before he goes into the weight room and before he goes into the classroom. Wherever he is he is going to be prepared.”
Those mental reps blend with the physical gifts. That’s how the not quite 6-foot-3 and 218-pound prospect threw for 400 yards in the first half of a playoff victory last season.
The young man can throw the post and the fade, but can’t dance. He can catch a trophy fish, but that probably came with his brother’s reel.
Jacob Eason is already there. The No. 1 player in 2018 (Trevor Lawrence) might also be on the way to play quarterback at Georgia.
Fierce rivals? Nah, he’ll probably try to cook them eggs, too. Jeff Sentell covers UGA football and UGA recruiting for AJC.com and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on who’s on their way to play Between the Hedges. Unless otherwise indicated, player rankings and ratings are from the 247Sports Composite.