In our video article this morning, we referred to Husky quarterback and Georgia transfer, Jacob Eason, as the “heir apparent”. It seems a fitting title, and much has been written about how absolutely gifted this quarterback is.
But are the expectations too high? Are fans seeing something that Chris Petersen, himself, has not yet seen?
Certainly, Petersen will always be pragmatic in his statements about any player whose expectations were exceptionally high before he’s even taken a snap in an actual Husky game, but going into spring ball of 2019, what has Petersen learned about this local hero that fans are anxiously waiting to see in action?
“What I learned about Jacob is…he’s a really good guy”, Peterson said following Day One of spring ball, “He obviously can sling the ball…you could see it high school, you can see it here…I’ve gotten to know him and be around him and see how he interacts with the guys. He just does a nice job of fitting in with everybody; that was probably the number-one thing that jumped out to me.”
But does that translate to Eason being the next big thing at Montlake for 2019?
“He hasn’t really played real football in a long, long time”, Petersen pointed out, “This is a college guy that’s played one year of college football.”
On a roster filled with guys like Colson Yankoff, Jacob Sirmon, Jake Haener, and freshman Dylan Morris, it could definitely be considered an “embarrassment of riches” to top things off with a guy like Eason who has started as a true freshman on an elite SEC team — so is it unfair to believe that the starting job is his for the taking in 2019?
“I just think it’s a disservice to him for (the media) to put all this pressure on him because I’ve seen what’s out there”, Petersen said, “He’s a college guy that’s played one year of football who’s got some really good talent, but our other guys do as well…it’s not being talked about like it is with him. I think that’s…unfair.”
Having heard that out of head coach’s mouth, you would think that nothing has been settled yet.
“There’s a lot of things I can work on”, Eason said following practice, “Mechanical things and just getting better with our system.”
Eason did miss an entire year of playing time, and he said that this is not the norm, “I don’t think I ever have (missed a year)…maybe when I got hurt my freshman year, but I still played four games.”
So after day one of spring ball, does anyone really know who the next starting quarterback will be at Washington? Maybe, maybe not. We do know that Colson Yankoff had an especially good combine and had a redshirt season to get bigger, faster, and stronger — while also learning the schematical part of his role.
Indeed, there is every reason to keep an extremely close eye on this quarterback competition over the next few weeks and all the way into spring ball.
The fact is that there is a competition — despite the hype and expectations surrounding Jacob Eason.
“That’s why I hope he’s got everything off in terms of the social media…so he can just lock in”, Petersen concluded, “It’s a hard game and there’s no perfect players, and we’ve got to keep that in mind.”
