It wasn’t just Georgia fans who took notice of Justin Fields performance this weekend. A couple of people in both the SEC offices and at ESPN took notice of how the freshman quarterback performed on Saturday against UMass.
Fields threw for 121 yards on 8 pass attempts while also rushing for 100 yards on 7 attempts. He finished the game with three touchdowns, including a 57-yard strike to Mecole Hardman.
For these efforts, Fields was recognized as the SEC freshman of the week. This is the first time this season that Fields has won the award and he becomes the sixth Bulldog this season to take home a weekly honor.
The performance also caught the eye of ESPN’s College Football Playoff expert Heather Dinich, who wrote about what kind of impact Fields could potentially have on the SEC championship game against Alabama.
"This could impact the playoff race if Fields is used in certain situations to help knock off No. 1 Alabama in the SEC championship game," Dinich wrote. "He certainly looked capable of it this week, albeit against an abysmal UMass defense, as Fields threw for 121 yards and ran for 100 yards. He is the first Georgia quarterback to run for 100 yards in a game since Quincy Carter against Kentucky in 1998."
Fields has seen has reps increase in recent weeks after not taking a snap against Florida. And while it might seem like a back ask for a freshman to make plays in a game with those kind of stakes, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa did just that as a freshman a season ago in the national championship game against Georgia.
On the season, Fields has now completed 25 of his 35 pass attempts and thrown for 4 touchdowns to 0 interceptions. He’s also run for 250 yards and 4 touchdowns as well on the season. Before taking on Alabama in the SEC championship game, Georgia must first beat Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs take on the Yellow Jackets at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will air on the SEC Network and also broadcast on WSB Radio 95.5 FM/750 AM.
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