Justin Fields’ high school coach questions whether he was given a legitimate shot to win starting job at Georgia

College football fans around the country have heard all about Justin Fields’ recruitment, freshman year at Georgia, and transfer to Ohio State.

Rated as the No. 2 overall prospect for the 2018 recruiting class behind Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence, few doubted Fields’ playmaking ability and overall potential. However, Georgia was coming off a season where true freshman Jake Fromm led the Bulldogs to a College Football Playoff appearance.

RELATED: Ohio State drops ‘2 Much Sauce’ video highlighting strong play of Chase Young, JK Dobbins

During his freshman season, Fields did see action in 12 games, but he did not start and often appeared underutilized. That led to his transfer to Ohio State with some simply citing Fields’ inability to beat out Fromm for the starting job at Georgia.

At least one person doesn’t really buy that Fields was unable to win the starting job. According to Matt Dickmann, Fields’ coach at Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia, he’s not sure Fields was given the opportunity to win the job with the Bulldogs.

Steve Hummer with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shared Dickmann’s comments:

“Who says he never beat out Fromm?” Dickmann was saying last week, speaking for the Fields faction out there. “(Fromm’s) a great quarterback but I don’t think Justin was ever given the opportunity to do that.

“I think he’s showing everybody now that if he had gotten more opportunities that he would have excelled. Justin has excelled at everything he’s done. I don’t know why he wouldn’t excel at playing quarterback anywhere.”

RELATED: Justin Fields connects with Chris Olave on perfect strike for key TD before halftime

Regardless of the reason why the Buckeyes are certainly grateful that Fields left Georgia and came to Columbus. Fields has thrown for 1,659 yards and 24 TDs with just one interception. He’s added 319 yards on the ground and nine more touchdowns to lead Ohio State to an 8-0 record.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.