There was ‘never a doubt’ Jake Fromm would go to the NFL, former Houston County coach says

Before Jake Fromm ever stepped under the South Bend lights for his first start as the Georgia Bulldogs quarterback, he was a star for Houston County High School in Warner Robins.

He has stayed in touch with his former high school coach Von Lassiter, who is now the head coach at Bleckley County in Cochran. Fromm called him on Wednesday to inform him that he would be declaring for the NFL Draft before announcing it to the world on social media.

“We are still pretty close and I talk to him regularly, just about every day. So I kinda knew that may be the way he was leaning,” Lassiter said. “I was really excited for him. I know it’s tough when you give so much to an organization like the University of Georgia, it’s hard to walk away from it.”

He put up gaudy numbers during his four years and is still in the top 5 in the state all-time in passing yards for high school football. He finished with 116 touchdown passes and 12,817 yards passing.

Early on in Fromm’s career at Houston County, Lassiter said he knew that one day the quarterback would head to the NFL. Part of that was his ability to play the game of football, but much of it centered around Fromm’s professional attitude from practice to the weight room and throughout each game.

“He is special with his talents that God has given him physically and then when you add his mental side of it to it, it really takes it to a different level,” Lassiter said. “He is the hardest worker on the field. He is everything you think a professional quarterback should be. That has been him since the day I met him. It was no surprise and never a doubt that he would be playing in the NFL.”

He made the jump from Houston County to the University of Georgia and led the Bulldogs to a national championship appearance in his freshman year of college.

During his time at Georgia, Fromm helped the Bulldogs to an SEC title, three straight SEC East titles, a victory in the Rose Bowl and a win in the 2020 Sugar Bowl.

Fromm’s leadership skills were on full display at the high school level as he was always the first one at practice and the last to leave, Lassiter said.

“It was a lot of fun to just watch him and learn some things from him. He never had a bad day,” Lassiter said. “He always came in with a passion to work and that kind of a ‘lead by example’ that bled into other people. And they saw that and fed off of it.”

In Fromm’s junior season at Georgia, the chatter surrounding him grew as his stats dipped after losing the top five pass catchers from a season ago. Many fans were critical of his performances as the year went on.

Lassiter said he blocks what those people have to say about Fromm and that Fromm has done a good job of blocking them out as well.

“Some of the stuff that is written out there about him, I don’t know who is dumber — the people that write it or me for reading it,” Lassiter said. “They are the same type people when things were good and he plays really, really well and all the receivers are well and everything is clicking that they are patting him on the back. That is just the world we live in.”

“I know a kid that has put stats out that have been phenomenal. I know a kid that has won big games. I think the main thing is that we don’t get caught up in that,” he added. “I think he did a great job of not getting caught up in that as well.”

Fromm enters a draft class with big names including LSU Heisman winner Joe Burrow, a national champion in Alabama quarterback Tua Tagaviloua and Oregon’s Justin Herbert who was projected as the top pick in last year’s draft before electing to come back to school.

Fromm’s mental aspects of the game are what set him apart, including what Lassiter calls a photographic memory.

“He is the best player I have ever coached and the things that we have been through together on and off the field are things that put him head over heels better than anybody I have ever been around,” Lassiter said. “I have no idea where he will be drafted. I don’t even really care because I think when he becomes a professional all of his intangibles are going to stand up and it’s going to put him having a really, really good career.”