24 hours after the reins of the Washington football program were handed to Jacob Eason’s Washington’s backup quarterback, Jake Haener called an audible. He was not content to be “one-play-away” or engaging in mop up duty in blowouts or a drive or two against FCS foe, Eastern Washington…or even risk being passed over by Jacob Sirmon.
He met with Washington Head Coach, Chris Petersen, before he made the decision to transfer out of Washington. In a similar meeting in 1991, Don James convinced quarterback, Eric Bjornson that he would see the field quicker catching passes than throwing them. The transition from QB to WR was made easier with a similarly stacked QB position behind Mark Brunell and Billy Joe Hobert… with Damon Huard waiting in the wings.
Jacob Eason faced a similar decision to Haener’s in 2017 as he watched Jake Fromm lead the Georgia Bulldogs to the playoffs. He could either tough it out on the bench and be one snap away from starting and perform mop up duty, albeit to a player a year younger. Eason chose to return home to Washington via the old fashioned transfer rule and sat out the 2018 season.
Eason’s injury and subsequent transfer set off a sequence of events that allowed Jake Fromm to take over at Georgia sending Eason to Washington then Justin Fields to Ohio State. With Eason at Montlake Washington’s KJ Carta-Samuels transferred to UCLA and has sent Jake Haener packing.
(UW’s Jacob Sirmon also entered the transfer portal briefly before being re-recruited by Petersen). With Fields going to Ohio State former Washington commit and Ohio State QB, Tate Martell, transferred to Miami to battle with non-transfer, Jarren Williams, for the starting QB position.
How those decisions pan out for the quarterbacks and their schools remains to be seen but for Bjornson it worked out exceedingly well as he was taken in the 4th round of the 1995 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys. That season he helped the Cowboys win Super Bowl XXX.
Limited Shelf Life
It worked out well for Husky Legend, quarterback turned receiver, Anthony Allen in 1979. With a quarterback room that featured Tom Flick, Steve Pelluer, and Tim Cowan, Allen heeded Coach James’ advice and opted to convert to receiver.
Allen’s switch made him a fan-favorite as he and co-captain, Paul Skansi teamed up with receivers, Aaron Williams, and Danny Green helped lead Washington to the top of the polls for 6 weeks in 1982. As well as back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances.
In 1979, there were 95 scholarships available it was common practice throughout college football to stockpile talent, let the cream rise to the top. But more than any other position there’s a short shelf life to a college football quarterback. Being the third or fourth best quarterback is very different than being the fourth or fifth best lineman.
The trickle-down
In the years of 95 scholarships, with limited transferring abilities, it left players with few options. But now, with the flow of transferring quarterbacks may appear to be a trickle compared to what may be flood gates that are wide open once the season is over.
Without the transfer portal as an option it also made the 3rd string players work more diligently, lift more, study the playbook harder…so this makes the transfer portal seems as the easy way out. But it’s is equal parts career-saver. It hands some power to kids…the same power than any other college student has.
However, the transfer portal also appears to have given new life to many careers, especially quarterbacks, like Jalen Hurts to Oklahoma and Eason to Washington. Their career’s trajectory was interrupted by an injury.
While most kids will wait until the end of the season to enter the portal Haener opted for the unknown. He called an audible before leaving the huddle. Before he saw the defensive alignment he changed the play. Or like he had picked a spot that he was going to throw the ball and locked his eyes on the target. He didn’t bother to look the defender off like the play clock was ticking down.
But the transfer portal is a fact of today’s college football landscape…especially that of a QB whose biological play clock is ticking on.
