Jacob Eason was officially named the starting quarterback of the Washington Huskies this past week, consequently leading to the transfer for Jake Haener.
This doesn’t come as much of a surprise after the blue-chip recruit transferred in this past season following Jake Fromm thrusting himself into glory at University of Georgia. The irony in Eason going head to head with another Jake seems symbolic as it resulted in a transfer and ends any chance of a controversy if there are troubled waters this season.
If we’re being frank, there should be no second guessing the hometown hero from Lake Stevens High School.
If there were such thing as a wonder boy, Eason would’ve been it coming out of high school. He was the #1 rated pro style quarterback in the 2016 class. He carried his high school to the state championship game and his 6’6”, 230-pound build is ideal.
Eason enrolled early at UGA and beat out returning starter and senior Greyson Lambert for the full-time starting role by game three. He proceeded to lead a game winning drive on the road against Missouri in his first full collegiate start. He didn’t exactly light it up opposing defenses that season, but given the team that surrounded him, his 2,400 yards and 16-8 TD/Int ratio wasn’t bad for a freshman in the SEC.
To put things in perspective, the 2016 Georgia team had one player drafted. After spraining his knee on the opening drive of the 2017 season, he’d never get his job back, and Fromm would go on to lead Georgia to the National Championship.
So, what should Husky fans expect this year? This is by far the most talented QB during Chris Peterson’s tenure as a coach, and they aren’t losing much outside of their running backs. With the current offensive line, Salvon Ahmed should be a quick plug-and-play as the new starter.
Washington returns everyone at wide receiver, which should fare well for their new gunslinger who didn’t have much work with during his single season in Athens.
Also, the design of the current offense aligns better with Eason’s skill set more than the UGA’s offense, which goes under center a bit more. PAC-12 defenses are easily a step below what he faced in the SEC, which should yield a year similar to his high school career.
It feels odd saying this after Jake Browning rewrote the history books before leaving Washington, but this is Chris Peterson’s best shot at an elite QB winning him a college football playoff game.
