Fishing or football, Georgia’s Jake Fromm doesn’t back down

ATHENS (TNS) — Football isn’t the only area Jake Fromm is competitive in.

Take, for instance, the college bass fishing tournament he entered into during his down time this spring. Fromm helped represent Georgia in the FLW College Fishing event on Lake Guntersville in Alabama on March 3.

Fromm, along with Georgia student Jordan Rowe, finished 234th in the event. But Fromm pointed out his team caught one fish — off of Fromm’s line — and that it would have bumped the team up the standings if they weighed it in. Judging by his facial expression, he wasn’t all too pleased when he saw his team finished 234th.

“We actually did a little bit better than what we said we finished,” Fromm said. “We didn’t go weigh in there because we only had one fish, but it would have bumped our 200-something finish to like 109th or something. It is what it is. It was a fun experience.”

And then there’s the recent time he went fishing with freshman offensive lineman Cade Mays. Instead of being happy for Mays that he caught a bigger fish, he wanted a re-do at a later date.

“We went fishing one day and he caught one a little bit bigger than I did,” Fromm said, before speaking in a more serious tone. “The next day, I had to kind of get him back. We got that all figured out.”

Oh, and then there’s the outing with Georgia baseball pitcher Tony Locey, who attended Houston County High School with Fromm.

“We went turkey hunting,” Fromm said. “We got a little competitive with that.”

Fromm perked up a bit when asked about his competitive side in the realm of hunting and fishing. Judging by his performance a season ago while leading Georgia to a 13-2 overall record and an appearance in the national championship game, he is quite the competitor on the gridiron, too.

Last season, Fromm did everything he could to put himself in position to start when called upon. When Jacob Eason went down with a sprained knee in the first game of the 2017 season, Fromm entered the game and immediately sparked the offense. From there, he held onto the starting job and never looked back.

Now, he is in Eason’s position, with five-star quarterback Justin Fields doing his part to cut into his playing time. And he seems eager to compete with the highly-touted freshman.

“I expect nothing but Justin to come out and compete,” Fromm said. “Everybody in that quarterback room is competing and working really hard. At the end of the day, we’re making the team a lot better. Any way we can help the team as a room and as a unit, we’re going to do it.”

As a true freshman in a run-oriented offense, Fromm completed 62.2 percent of his throws for 2,615 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He quickly earned the trust of his teammates, which was evident once Georgia got out to its hot start during the season.

Asked about their growing chemistry, center Lamont Gaillard said that Fromm’s competitive spirit is always present at practice.

“Me and him, it’s competitive together,” Gaillard said. “We have to call out things before the play happens. When we’re going at it, we know things are going to go good on the play. We’re competitive, we’re on the same page.”

Competition is a central theme in Fromm’s life. Whether it’s fishing, hunting, football or anything that can remotely result in a win, Fromm is going to do his part to come out on top.

“I’m still going to be the same guy every single day, even from the day I got here,” Fromm said. “I’m just the kind of guy who goes in and competes, somebody who works his butt off. I’m never going to stop doing that and I don’t anybody on the team to stop working on their game. That’s what everybody on the team is doing, competing and working. That’s kind of what we do here.”