Washington Huskies Recruiting: Reflections on Jacob Eason’s verbal commitment to Georgia
For Jacob Eason, the recruiting process came to a close for now with his verbal commitment over the weekend to the University of Georgia. Eason, was projected to be the top player in the state of Washington for the 2016 recruiting class. This is a loss for the Huskies but it is something that this program can overcome in the long run.
Thus, here are three reactions that I have in response to Eason’s verbal commitment to the University of Georgia.
The Good: There is a long time until National Letter of Intent Day in 2016 for Mark Richt to hang on to Eason’s verbal commitment. In addition, Georgia could implode again over the next two seasons as one more 8-5 season will get Richt fired. The other positive is that Washington did not lose Eason’s verbal commitment to any other PAC-12 Conference school.
The Bad: The amount of young and talented depth at the quarterback position for the Huskies. If incoming freshman K.J. Carta-Samuels lives up to his hype then the quarterback position could be locked up until the 2018 season. Also, there will still be a huge push I would suspect from schools like Notre Dame, and Alabama to change Eason’s mind.
The Ugly: The reaction on message boards and social media from fans of other schools not chosen by Eason. Ideally, it would be great if college football fans would leave student-athletes not related to them alone after they pick their college. However, that does not happen in most cases for high-profile high school football players like Eason which is very unfortunate.
Bottom line, this decision by Eason is the exact reason there has to be an early signing period in college football. If a player is ready to sign at a school then a letter of intent should be signed at the start of the senior year. This would benefit everyone involved. The athlete could enjoy his senior year of high school without obsessed fans stalking them.
Finally, the schools would benefit from an early signing period as they could move on to the other recruits that want to play for them.