Ex-Georgia QB Justin Fields visiting Buckeyes, expected to enroll next week
Former Georgia quarterback Justin Fields is visiting Ohio State this weekend and all indications are that he plans on joining the Buckeyes and enrolling in classes at OSU next week, sources told ESPN.
Last month sources told ESPN that Fields was leaning toward transferring to Ohio State, after deciding to leave Georgia, where sophomore Jake Fromm is entrenched as the starting quarterback.
Fields has removed most of his belongings from his dorm room at Georgia and has informed the coaching staff that he is leaving, sources said.
The No. 1 overall player in the 2018 ESPN 300, Fields is expected to apply to the NCAA for a hardship waiver, which, if granted, would make him eligible to play at Ohio State in 2019.
Fields has reportedly hired Atlanta-based attorney Thomas Mars, who successfully helped Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson and five other former Ole Miss players obtain hardship waivers after the Rebels received a bowl ban for the second consecutive season in 2018.
Sources told ESPN last month that Fields and his father, Ivant Fields, had multiple meetings with Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart about his future.
Fields, from Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia, completed 27 of 39 passes for 328 yards with 4 touchdowns and zero interceptions in 12 games this season. He was used sporadically throughout games, with much of his action coming in mop-up duty, and didn't play in the Bulldogs' 28-21 loss to Texas in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day.
The Buckeyes are expected to lose third-year sophomore Dwayne Haskins Jr., who threw for 4,831 yards with 50 touchdowns and 8 interceptions in his first season as a starter in 2018.
ESPN's Todd McShay ranks Haskins as the No. 18 player available -- and No. 1 quarterback -- for April's NFL draft.
The Buckeyes will bring back redshirt freshman Tate Martell of Las Vegas, who was ranked the No. 127 player overall and No. 6 dual-threat quarterback in the 2017 ESPN 300. Martell completed 23 of 28 passes for 269 yards with 1 touchdown in 2018, while rushing for 128 yards with 2 scores.
In a tweet on Dec. 21, Martell seemed to warn Fields about picking Ohio State as a transfer destination: "word of advice: -- don't swing and miss ... especially not your second time."
Related Stories
ABC News Live