Five-star recruit Justin Fields is competing at the Elite 11 competition this week. He recently said FSU would be an offense that would suit him best.
Five-star quarterback Justin Fields is one of the hottest names it the recruiting game. The recent Penn State decommit has been in the news quite a bit this week for a couple of reasons.
The first was announcing his decommitment which came as no surprise. The other is his ascension up the recruiting rankings to challenge Trevor Lawrence for the No. 1 overall spot in the 2018 class at the Elite 11 competition.
Fields is the No. 3 overall player and No. 1 dual-threat quarterback. The following schools are in the running to gain a commitment from Fields: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia and North Carolina.
Most of the recent smoke seems to point towards Florida having the upper-hand. A ton of crystal balls poured in for Florida after the decommitment and Fields recently followed a number of Florida commits on Twitter.
His seven on seven team is coached by former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton and his sister is committed to play softball at Georgia. Georgia is where Justin Fields is from too.
Let’s talk about the recent interview.
The Interview
Justin Fields was asked point-blank by Mike Farrell who would be the best fit offensively and depth chart wise and this is what he said:
5 star QB Justin Fields tells me the best fits for him depth chart and offensively are #FSU and #PSU -- interesting
— Mike Farrell (@mfarrellsports) June 9, 2017
It’s obvious Fields is an intelligent kid as he asks Farrell for clarification on the question. After a brief pause he says Florida State and then lumps Penn State in there too.
He’s a very respectful kid and Penn State’s offense would suit him, but I think he’s putting them there out of respect for the staff and the amount of time he was committed to them.
How often do recruits recommit to schools after backing off their pledge? It’s not too often.
It’s interesting he doesn’t mention Florida, Auburn, Georgia or North Carolina since he mentioned UNC earlier in the interview.
The Competition
Well, it’s not a surprise he doesn’t mention Florida because their offense has been abysmal the past few years. Auburn’s depth chart features six quarterbacks(two seniors) and 2018 commit, four-star recruit Joey Gatewood.
Georgia has former five-star Jacob Eason (sophomore) and former four-star Jake Fromm (freshman) who Fields would have to supplant. It’s obvious Fields knows Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is a defensive minded coach via his comments in interview too.
North Carolina has five quarterbacks on the roster with all of them being juniors or seniors. However, overall North Carolina doesn’t have the talent on offense to surround Fields compared to FSU and others.
North Carolina’s offense was only ranked No. 26 in the nation according to S&P + with first round NFL Draft pick Mitch Trubisky as quarterback.
FSU had the No.2 offense in the country with a redshirt freshman in Deondre Francois. If you want to look solely at passing according to S&P +, FSU was still ranked higher than UNC.
FSU’s Chances
I think FSU’s chances of landing Fields are better than average. His home is only 300 miles from Tallahassee, so distance wouldn’t be a factor at all.
Deondre Francois will be eligible to leave for the NFL Draft after this season. He’s not going to get any taller, and if he has a great season it would likely be in his best interest to go get paid.
FSU does have former four-star Bailey Hockman who enrolled in January and three-star James Blackman who got to FSU a couple of weeks ago.
Neither will likely have any real game experience unless Francois went down with an injury, so Fields would may feel confident he could compete as a true freshman or definitely after a redshirt year.
Jimbo’s track record of putting quarterbacks in the NFL is more proven than any of the other programs listed by far.
The overall roster talent is greater at FSU than any of the other schools listed, so the probability of Fields competing for championships is greater there.
He mentioned he wants to have the process complete before his senior season starts.
FSU has to get Justin Fields back on campus. His seven on seven team has a tournament at IMG Academy coming up and he mentioned he might visit FSU then.
He’s been on campus in that fashion before, a quick 45 minute visit with his father, but it certainly would boost FSU’s chances if they can get him on campus. If they can’t get him on campus that would be telling too in a negative way for the ‘Noles.
Next: 5 Players FSU Football Needs To Step Up In 2017
When Jimbo Fisher hand-picks his quarterback he rarely misses, and it looks like he’s going to go all in on Fields as his 2018 quarterback.
The entire interview with Mike Farrell can be viewed here.