Kirby Smart Reveals Trevor Lawrence Impacted Justin Fields' Decision to Transfer From Georgia

The rivalry between former top college football recruits from the Class of 2018 Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields is far from secret.

The pair of future first-round NFL talents came from high schools situated less than 30 miles apart and their paths continued into college, recently peaking with a wild showdown in the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal.

Fields and the Buckeyes got the better of Lawrence and his Tigers, 49-28, in that one, however, the consensus belief on which QB will go No. 1 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft is firmly behind Lawrence.

Yet, the paths that led each star to that game have been staunchly different, especially with Fields' transfer from his original enrollment at the University of Georgia to Ohio State. And Bulldogs' head coach Kirby Smart recently shed more light on that decision-making process from Fields back in his time in Athens.

It's hard not to blame Fields for feeling the added pressure of his counterpart earning the starting job at Clemson after just five games when Fields saw action as a backup in 12 of 14 games his freshman season with Georgia.

Despite the delayed starting role for Fields, it's clear that both of these star QBs' potential has been actualized at the collegiate level and will also likely experience the same at the next level come this year's NFL Draft.

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David Hayes is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David Hayes also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username DavidWHayes. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.