Washington Football- Who Will Back Up Eason?
Washington football has a potential top 5 pick slated to start at quarterback in 2019, but if things go wrong, what’s their backup plan?
Washington football landed perhaps the biggest player of the Chris Petersen era so far when Jacob Eason announced he was coming home, transferring back to the Huskies from Georgia after Jake Fromm stole his job. Eason was forced to sit out this season, per NCAA transfer rules, but he’s now in line to win the starting job for the 2019 campaign. But what if something happens? The Huskies have a lot of talented quarterbacks on the roster, who would take over if Eason goes down? This is more of looking ahead for the future, as Eason will probably only be around for one season, and whoever backs up Eason will probably be on the fast track to start in 2020.
Jake Haener
Jake Haener should be the favorite to win the job, as he was the backup for Jake Browning in 2018. The redshirt freshman was able to hold off talented true freshmen Colson Yankoff and Jacob Sirmon, but only time will tell if that will hold up. Haener impressed early on against North Dakota, going 7-7 for 110 yards and a touchdown, but things went south after that. In the two games he appeared in against Cal and Oregon State, he went a combined 2-6 for -3 yards with an interception. That interception (for those of you who don’t remember, or try to block it from your memories like me) was a pick-six that ended up costing the Huskies the game against Cal. Haener impressed during spring camp, but only time will tell if he can hold off the guys behind him.
Dylan Morris
Dylan Morris is the biggest wild card of all these QBs. He seems to have fully recovered from his broken ankle, as he threw for 2,571 yards and 28 touchdowns during his senior season at Graham-Kapowsin. But he has to show off what he can do against the incredibly talented Husky defense. He’ll have a chance to compete, but it’s hard to project where he’ll slide in on the depth chart.
Jacob Sirmon
If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Sirmon to take the job as the backup. He seems to be the ideal QB for the system and he has the ability to make every throw. Sirmon has the ability to make every throw, and he’s been learning the offense since his senior year of high school. Put all these together, and it sounds like the QB of the future.
Colson Yankoff
No matter who takes over in 2020, even next year, there’s no way that Yankoff doesn’t get on the field. He’s too talented a player, as both a runner and a passer, to sit on the sidelines. I’d expect to see some packages designed to get Yankoff involved even in 2019, maybe like Taysom Hill does with the Saints. A lot of recruiters had him rated ahead of Sirmon in the national rankings, and I believe he’s going to have the best camp out of all the names mentioned above.