Jacob Eason is the favorite to take the reigns of the Washington offense this spring. This is part II of a series on Eason’s time at Georgia and how best he may fit at Washington.
After Eason led Georgia to an 8-5 in 2016 following a 10-3 there were some who wondered out loud if Georgia pulled the trigger too quickly on firing Mark Richt.
But Georgia fans had tired of Richt’s issues with roster balance and game management and gave coach Kirby Smart the benefit of the doubt that his team would be better in year two.
Year two in the system
The stage was set up well for Georgia to make the leap. They missed Alabama on the regular season calendar, had Eason, Nicholas Chubb and Sony Michel returning and 10 starters from a defense that finished 16th nationally in total defense.
Eason was not really in doubt to be the starter as a sophomore but Smart wanted more leadership from him. Fromm was highly regarded as a 5 star recruit but didn’t have the same physical tools as Eason.
The Bulldogs opened their season at home against Appalachian State. On Georgia’s second drive Eason felt pressure on a delayed blitz and rolled to his right. Eason took off for the sideline and avoided the first defender but as he was stepping out of bounds a second defender shoved Eason and he took an awkward tumble that sent him to the locker room. A personal foul for unnecessary roughness was called but Eason was in a lot of pain and had to leave the game with a sprained knee.
Fromm seizes the job
Fromm came in and led the Bulldogs to a 31-0 lead. Third string quarterback Bryce Ramsey came in once the game was out of hand and threw two passes that were both intercepted. It was clear Fromm was going to be the man, at least until Eason got healthy.
Eason would make it back for the fifth game of the season against Tennessee, a 41-0 thrashing in Knoxville but Eason started and Georgia was now up to #7 in the nation and at that point Fromm was playing too well to go back to the bench.
“I was a bit surprised Eason didn’t win the job back but he didn’t and it was not a homer thing,” said Greg Poole, multimedia director for the credentialed Georgia media website BulldawgIllustrated. “I promise you that Kirby Smart would play Satan himself if he thought it was the best choice for winning a football game.”
“It’s wasn’t anything that Eason did,” said Derek Wiggins operator of the Georgia site TheDawgBone. “He got hurt and Jake Fromm just never let go of the job.”
Eason’s final snaps as a Georgia QB came in mop-up duty of a 45-14 win over Vanderbilt. Even though Fromm had taken his job. Eason did something that may be going out of style like not announcing your commitment on TV with a row of hats, he stayed and was a good teammate.
“I’m a beat reporter and so I go to practice day,” said Poole . “There didn’t seem to be any difference in his attitude or his performance, that’s a credit to him and his character.”
We’ll never know if Georgia would have had the same success under Fromm that they did with Eason but Poole was mindful that Georgia got better at other positions in 2017.
“They recruited heavily to the offensive line,” Poole explained. “The offensive line was much better in Fromm’s first year than in Eason’s.”
Georgia ended up going 12-1 and then winning the Rose Bowl in the college football playoff. They gave Alabama all they could handle in the National Championship but ultimately fell in overtime. Eason was captured consoling Fromm following the heart-breaking loss.
“There isn’t a Georgia fan who would say a bad thing about Jacob Eason,” said Wiggins. “He’s got a lot of people rooting for him.”
With Eason gone, Justin Fields slid into the backup role in 2018 but stayed just one season before announcing he would transfer to Ohio State, Fields has been granted immediate eligibility in Columbus.
“Eason transferred before there was a chance of him getting immediately eligibility,” Poole noted. “Eason would have had a better case for immediate eligibility simply because he was going home… He kind of got screwed although it may work out for him getting the extra time to learn the system up there.”
No one knows if Eason would have beaten out Jake Browning had he gotten immediately eligibility considering Brownings three years at a starter but Eason will benefit having two springs and two fall camps under his wing in Bush Hamdan’s offense. He has some things to work on.
“When he misses he can miss badly but his accuracy was fine considering he was just a true freshman,” Poole said. “The one knock on him is that he isn’t quick and he’s not going to dodge high-quality defenders.”
Washington defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake extolled Eason’s arm strength noting he gave the team a great look on the scout team.
“It’s like Eason, let’s go. Try to dice us up. Try to beat us,” Lake told the Seattle Times back in December. “It’s made us better, for sure, to have an elite quarterback like that to face.
Eason in 2019
It will be up to Hamdan to get the most out of Eason. The Washington offense looked pretty good against Ohio State in the second-half when the Huskies ditched the horizontal passing game and started going down field.
I think Hamdan gets a little too much criticism for 2018 due to Browning’s limitations and the lack of ability at receiver. The offense is still Chris Petersen’s so I don’t think they are going to to completely the high percentage plays and bubble screens. What you hope is the team will run downhill a bit (with a RB committed to doing that) and hit teams with playaction taking advantage of Eason’s arm. Having Eason is like having a Ferrari, you don’t drive a Ferrari like a Honda Civic. Yes the offense needs to open up but I think the coaches finally have the personnel to do it.
Rust to Shake off?
It will be almost two full years between games when Eason is eligible this fall. Some rust is to be expected but Poole and Wiggins were both optimistic he would fair well.
“I have no doubt in my mind (Washington fans) are going to love watching him play,” Wiggins said. “He’s such a talent.”
“He has an unbelievable arm,” Poole said. “I believe he could throw the damn ball 100 yards if he wanted to.”
Even though both Wiggins and Poole cautioned of Eason’s lack of quickness and tendency to hold the ball there is no doubt he will benefit from Washington returning five players on the offensive line with extensive starting experience.
““If (Washington) gives that kid time to throw, he’s going to just kill (defenses),” said Poole.
