Dan Wolken | USA TODAY

USA TODAY

Highly touted quarterback Justin Fields has notified Georgia he intends to transfer, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the school has not yet acknowledged the transfer.

Fields, who backed up Jake Fromm this season, was the No. 2 overall recruit in the country just a year ago in the Rivals.com rankings. Fields’ arrival at Georgia came with immediate questions about how he would fit in the program, as Fromm had quarterbacked the Bulldogs to the national title game as a true freshman.

Jason Getz, USA TODAY Sports

As it turned out, Georgia never found a consistent role for Fields, who completed 27 of 39 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns and had 42 rushing attempts for 266 yards.

His most memorable play of the season came when he was supposed to run a fake punt against Alabama late in the SEC championship game with the score tied, a play that failed and ultimately paved the way for Alabama’s game-winning touchdown.

Though Fields showed a few flashes of his talent, they came mostly in blowout games and it wasn’t clear that he had a path to more playing time next season with Fromm returning for his junior season in 2019.

Fields was also the subject of racially bigoted comments made by a Georgia baseball player during a Sept. 29 win against Tennessee, which led to that player’s dismissal from the program after an internal investigation.

Fields, from Kennesaw, Ga., just outside of Atlanta, arguably will be the most highly coveted transfer in all of college football. He is expected to appeal to the NCAA to be eligible this season.

A message left with the Georgia athletics department was not immediately returned.

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