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Washington football: The Eason effect

By Roman Tomashoff

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA - MAY 26: Jacob Eason of the University of Washington poses for portraits at Steve Clarkson's 14th Annual Quarterback Retreat on May 26, 2018 in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
PACIFIC PALISADES, CA - MAY 26: Jacob Eason of the University of Washington poses for portraits at Steve Clarkson's 14th Annual Quarterback Retreat on May 26, 2018 in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) /
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Washington football needs a new starting quarterback, so obviously, the former five-star recruit and Gatorade national Player of the Year will be the talk of the town

Washington football fans have known it for a while, Jacob Eason is coming. It’s an exciting time for the future of the Husky program, so what kind of impact can Eason have in what’s assumed to be his only year as the starting quarterback?

The Risks

As great as Eason is, and as much as everyone (myself included) has been hyping him up, there are risks involved with Eason as the starter. The first being, he hasn’t taken a meaningful snap since 2017. There’s bound to be a little rust he’ll need to shake off, and the season opener against Eastern Washington might get off to a slow start.

The second risk, which he seems to have overcome, but we won’t be able to tell until we see him in the spring game, is accuracy. During his one season as the starter at Georgia, Eason completed just 55.1% of his passes. Has he improved on that during his time running the scout team offense? It sounds like he has, all reports coming out of Husky practices say that he was consistently shredding the first team defense, and dropping jaws with the throws he was making. Oh and in case you forgot, the Husky defense finished the season allowing just 190.1 passing yards per game. They also had two first round DB’s with them in Taylor Rapp and Byron Murphy.

The Reward

Eason has all-world upside, and if he can prove himself and carve up the Pac-12 like he’s expected to do, he should be a top-five pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. He should also be in the conversation with Tua Tagovailoa and Jake Fromm as the first QB off the board.

Eason also has the potential to have a Dwayne Haskins-esque season in 2019. He has the arm talent to have a 4,500+ yard and 50 touchdown type season. He’s already developed chemistry with the top two Husky receiver recruits from 2018, Marquis Spiker and Austin Osborne. Expect them to have big seasons this year, and that Aaron Fuller, Ty Jones, and Hunter Bryant are going to take huge leaps forward.

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