Georgia football QB Jake Fromm, RB D’Andre Swift HC Kirby Smart comment on brief argument in the game vs the Aggies.
I loved what I saw on Saturday late in the game between Georgia and Texas A&M.
There were 2:47 left in Georgia’s win over the Aggies when D’Andre Swift took a draw play from Jake Fromm and was dropped for a loss of two yards. After the play, Swift jumped up and got in his quarterback’s face, expressing his frustration with Fromm for not snapping the ball earlier.
Kirby Smart explained the situation in his postgame press conference and what led to their quick confrontation.
“I wouldn’t call it a dustup,” Smart said. “He was just frustrated. It was a situation where we don’t run that play into a pressure from that side. They did a good job disguising it.
We told Jake to milk the clock and when you milk the clock you can’t change the play. You milk the clock, you’ve got to run the play. It wasn’t a great play, but that’s called passion, it’s not a dustup.”
Sure, seeing your two star players argue is a bit awkward, but at the same time, if you know anything about the passion that goes into playing a team sport, it’s what you love to see.
Passion, that’s what was pouring out of Swift late in the ball game. That very well could have been both of their final games between the hedges and even though the Dawgs struggled to execute and find the end zone, those two left it all on the field.
Anyone who has ever played sports understands this. No, they are not going to go into awkward-mode, not talk to each other, not like each other’s Instagram posts or generate weird eye-contact when passing each other in the football facility.
They are fine. It was an emotional game. It’s an emotional sport.
“I think that was the play, the shot clock was on like one,” Swift said. “We hiked the ball. It wasn’t really a good play. I was telling him that we’ve got to snap the ball earlier but it wasn’t on him. I was just frustrated.”
“If you played football, you know teammates argue sometimes; we’ve got nothing but respect and love for each other. It’s football, it’s a game. Nothing is between us.”
Fromm did not push back. He let Swift express his frustration and carried on, eventually guiding the team to a win.
Fromm’s reaction to Swift’s complaints was exactly what you want to see from your quarterback. That’s the kind of stuff that NFL scouts will love when looking at his college tape. The guy is a leader and understands how to handle the emotions of 10 different players on the field at any given time.
“I think it’s just two competitors that want to compete and do the right thing for the offense,” Fromm said.
“The clock is ticking, they showed a blitz there at the last second and I didn’t have enough time to change it. That’s part of the four-minute scenario, trying to milk out the clock and two guys want to be really competitive and win a football game.”
Smart described it best following the game.
“It’s love,” Smart said. “When you have family, your family doesn’t always get along, right? But they love each other. These two young men love each other as much as anybody.”
