ATLANTA — Baker Mayfield wasn’t ready to leave the field for the final time.
After the double-overtime Rose Bowl loss to Georgia, Oklahoma’s superstar was engulfed by celebration and confetti and chaos, trying to find Jake Fromm.
The best player in the country had to tip his helmet to the 19-year-old true freshman quarterback, who had suddenly advanced farther than the Heisman Trophy winner ever would.
“You don’t typically see that,” said Mayfield, of Fromm’s playoff win. “He’s an incredible player. You can tell he commands his offense and he has respect of his teammates. For me, that’s about the greatest character trait you could have. I just told him to go win the whole thing. I got a lot of respect for him.
“For him, I think the sky’s the limit.”
But the clouds above Fromm were supposed to be in Tuscaloosa. Alabama’s top-ranked defense was supposed to support him, not target him, in Monday’s national championship game at Mercedez-Benz Stadium. Nick Saban was supposed to be his coach, not his adversary.
Fromm, a Georgia native who grew up roughly 100 miles from Atlanta, was committed to join the Crimson Tide. But when lead recruiter Kirby Smart left for the Bulldogs two years ago, the four-star quarterback followed the new coach to join the team he grew up watching.
“We thought he was a fantastic player,” Saban said on a conference call this week. “Very instinctive, very smart, makes great choices and decisions, always puts his team in the best play they can be in.
“We had him in camp and we were excited to have him be part of our program, but we understood when Kirby went to Georgia that Kirby was recruiting him and there was a chance of that happening.”
There was a much smaller chance Fromm would lead the Bulldogs within one win of their first national championship in 37 years. There was no reason to consider he could become the second-ever true freshman quarterback (Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway, 1985) to lead a team to a national title, considering he wasn’t supposed to see the field.
But after starter Jacob Eason got injured in the season opener, Fromm made his first start, leading Georgia to an upset at Notre Dame. Then, he led the Bulldogs to their first SEC title in 12 years.
An incredible running game and dominant defense helped Fromm through much of the season — 92 quarterbacks attempted more passes — but he threw just five interceptions, ranked fifth in the nation in yards per pass attempt (9.45) and led the SEC in passing efficiency.
In the biggest game of his career, Fromm threw for 210 yards and two touchdowns in the win over Oklahoma. With 3:15 left in the fourth quarter, Fromm led a game-tying 59-yard touchdown drive, showing tremendous pocket poise — and elusiveness — while completing three passes for 48 yards. The confident, soft-spoken leader also delivered the biggest block of the game, clearing a path for Sony Michel’s game-winning score.
The moment wasn’t too big. It is where he belonged.
“I’ve taken every opportunity and felt like I’ve kind of owned it,” Fromm said before the Rose Bowl. “If you had told me this season was going to be written this way, I would not have believed you for one minute. I’m extremely thankful for the way it turned out for me.”
The spotlight has followed him again.
Back in 2011, Fromm was a star pitcher in the Little League World Series — he also hit three home runs — for his Warner Robins, Georgia team, falling one win short of the U.S. Championship Game.
The pressure wasn’t too much then — and isn’t a problem now.
“At the end of the day, you’re just playing a game,” Fromm said. “You’re just throwing a football. You’re just throwing a baseball. I know that if you make a mistake, you wash it and you move on to the next play.
“I don’t know why I can do that. I just can.”