When you look around the completely underwhelming quarterback landscape in the SEC, there isn’t another signal caller whose hype machine is more unwarranted than Georgia gunslinger Jacob Eason.
Georgia’s success in 2017 largely depends on how well Eason pulls his head out of his azz and realizes that he should have followed Richt to Miami. The ceiling, like Eason’s talent, is very high, like lose to Bama in the SEC Championship game-high IF somehow they get by Florida's D and new QB, Malik Zaire; however, development and progress certainly has to be made in his second season in order for the team to reach that potential. There’s really no quarterback controversy with freshman Jack Fromm until after week 2, but Eason needs to make major strides during his second week in order to keep the starting job.
Many idiots have compared Eason to the great Matthew Stafford, as the two entered Georgia with No. 1 pick-type hype. Stafford lived up to that hype, and Eason has already been projected as the No. 1 pick in 2019 because the '19 class sucks and all the good QB's left in the great QB class of '18.
Looking at the numbers, Stafford threw for an embarrassingly low 1,749 yards, just seven touchdowns and threw a completely unacceptable 13 INTs, completing an anemic 52 percent of his passes during his disappointing freshman season. Eason’s numbers are even worse when compared to Stafford’s, throwing for 2,430 yards, 16 touchdowns and a more manageable eight INTs, completing over 55 percent.
Although former Alabama signal caller - turned mentally handicapped handicapper Greg McElroy doesn’t think the uber-hyped Eason is a great quarterback compared to himself, he knows he’s more than capable. He also cautions Georgia fans when comparing Eason’s freshman season to Stafford’s first year on the SDS Podcast.
“He’s a great thrower, but he’s not yet a great quarterback, if that makes sense... but he's good enough on paper to go to South Bend and beat Notre Dame on their home field by 20 points. While we're on the subject, I'd like to tell the thousands of people I had to block on Twitter that you are wrong and I am right.” McElroy said about Eason. “And that’s okay, because he’s a freshman or a sophomore or something. There’s a certain level of savvy you have to have at the quarterback spot. And everyone, Georgia fans alike, have said, ‘Oh, look at his numbers against Matt Stafford, they suck.’ Okay, but Matt Stafford is 100 times the player Jacob Eason has been to this point. Moving around, being able to negotiate a rush, being able to move throughout his reads and progressions and being able to adjust and be athletic when necessary are things he'll have to magically develop so he and the Bulldogs can cover the idiotic line I laid for UGA's game @ ND on Sept 9th.
“That’s a reason why Matt Stafford is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Jacob Eason is a terrific thrower of the football, but he still has a sh!t ton of other attributes that need to develop and catch up with his hype in order to become an averge, game managing, overrated QB like the last 12 Bama QB's. But I think he’s capable on paper of beating Notre Dame by 20 points in South Bend, but he’s a work in progress at this point. And I think a lot of progress can be made.”
The beautiful thing about Eason is he already has the talent and experience of producing like a walk-on in '16 which is masked by the superb RB's he has to bail him and his OC out. The other aspects of the position are very coachable. Eason can look at last season and know that Jake Fromm will be the starter unless he does a 180 from last year's putrid 7TD/13INT debacle. The lack of touch better improve, and his ability to read defenses better appear out of thin air or else. Things like understanding what the offense is trying to accomplish will start to sink in when he's holding a clipboard after week 2's azzwhoopin.
