How did Jake Fromm spend his off day Saturday?
“Had to get away in the woods,” he said Tuesday night.
There’s a shocker.
Anybody even vaguely familiar with Georgia’s junior quarterback knows he’s grabbing his camo and ammo any time he can come up for air during the fall. And that’s fine.
» MORE: Jake Fromm's steady toughness gives UGA edge
But it’s a different kind of firepower that’s on the Bulldogs’ minds heading into Saturday’s top-10 matchup against Florida in Jacksonville. It’s the offensive kind, and Georgia’s lack of it the past few weeks has more than a few folks worried.
Not Fromm. He said the Bulldogs have worked intently on addressing weaknesses exposed in the loss to South Carolina three weeks ago and the rain-marred win over Kentucky.
“We’ve had a really good two or three weeks of practice since the South Carolina game and a lot of opportunities to kind of look at ourselves and get better at a lot of different things,” Fromm said. “Just being cleaner as an offense, understanding what we’re trying to do, the physicality of what we’re trying to do, executing. We can name numerous things, but I think we’re ready. We’re ready to go out and show what we’ve been working on. It’s a great time to do it.”
The No. 6 Gators (7-1, 4-1 SEC) represent a step up in competition. Their defense, ranked No. 12 nationally in points allowed (15.8 pg) and 25th in total defense (319.5 ypg), will represent the toughest unit Georgia has faced yet. And it should be made better this week with the return from injury of Florida’s all-conference-caliber defensive ends in Jon Greenard and Jabari Zuniga.
Fromm talked about preparing for the Gators’ pressure and other issues facing him and offense following the Bulldogs’ practice Tuesday.
On offense's poor performances in the past two outings: "Yeah, the South Carolina game, they did a really good job of coming after us and had a really good game plan for us. They played really well that day. And the Kentucky game, I think that's a complete outlier game. It was soaking wet. That's part of it, but you know what you're going to do in that game. It is what it is. Especially for me and for the offense, we're just ready to go out and play football and execute."
On offensive changes to expect: "Are we going to completely change 180 (degrees) as an offense? No, we're not. We're going to play physical, we're going to be disciplined, we're going to make plays, we want to be explosive. So if you're looking for a 180 change, that's not going to be us. We're just gonna do what we do, we're gonna do it better and we're just going to be more effective at doing it."
On dealing with disappointment: "For me, it's easiest just to flush it and go back to work. Just go, keep chugging, keep plugging away at things, just go play football and relax and have fun playing this game that God's given us. That's what he put me here to do."
On his alleged speech after South Carolina loss: "There were some leadership guys behind closed door that said some things. But there's no reason to name any names or say what was said. That's between us and this team. But, yeah, we did, and I think it was good for us, and I think the team responded. We're excited about where we're at."
Similarities to facing Florida last year after loss to LSU: "Anytime we have the opportunity to go into a bye week, we're going to assess where we are as a team and how we can get better. It's time for us to go out and show some things and get better as a team. I think it's an opportunity to do that. Going into November, we know where we're at as a team. We control our own destiny and we just want to play football and get where we want to be."
On him being 'off:' "I want to play as great as I can, as good as I can, for this team. So, I'm ready to go out and play to the best of my abilities and help this team any way I can."
On his confidence level: "I'm ready to go. Let's go play football. I'm ready to show what I've been working on, what this team has been working on and ready to go play football at a high level."
On Florida's pressure packages: "They bring different kind of things with different kinds of personnel, just like everybody else does. You just have to be aware of that, have to be ready for it, make sure you know where certain guys are in certain spots. Just be aware of things."
On past successes vs. Todd Grantham defenses: "Knowing you've had success in the past (helps) a little bit. But with that success in the past, they're probably more apt to change some things and give us some different looks. So you've got to be ready for that and be ready to play and ready to react."
On the return of senior receiver Lawrence Cager from a shoulder injury: "That'd be huge for the offense. Another big target to be out there on the outside. He brings a lot of juice to the offense. He's a big-time guy who makes big-time plays.
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