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Jacob Eason accomplished just about everything a five-star recruit could in high school.
He threw for nearly 10,000 yards and more than 100 touchdowns. He collected All-Star Game trophies and could have wall-papered his room and several others in scholarship offers.
His reaction?
“We were in San Antonio and he was like, ‘That belongs on a shelf somewhere at home because I’m going to college now. High school is over,’ ” Tony Eason told the Tacoma (Wash.) News Tribune. “That’s kind of the mindset — all these awards have been great, but now it’s over. They can sit on a shelf at the parents’ house.”
“He’s at the bottom of the depth chart at Georgia. He’s got to go in there and earn it.”
Here are a few things to know about the freshman quarterback/Blake Lively superfan who already is drawing comparisons to Pro Bowler Matthew Stafford.
He’s already a celebrity
Eason has more than 39,000 Twitter followers, and many, many more mentions.
Social media tracked his recruiting visits, where he went, with whom he went, etc. There was no escaping it, not that he seemed to mind or try.
https://twitter.com/_savageBP/status/687287298858299392
Fans, particularly females, are well aware of Georgia’s newest hotshot football player.
https://twitter.com/tedgniadek/status/688008663018123264
https://twitter.com/sebanta35/status/690785117061672960
Eason’s father told the News Tribune that he’s talked to his son about living life in a fish bowl.
“It was important to keep him grounded and to be able to look in the mirror and like what he saw in return,” Tony Eason said.
His father is not that Tony Eason
Tony Eason was part of the famed 1983 quarterback class. He was the fourth quarterback taken, No. 15 overall, one spot behind Hall of Famer Jim Kelly.
Two other Hall of Famers were taken that year: John Elway went No. 1 overall … and Dan Marino went 27th — 12 spots after New England took Eason.
Eason was 6-4, 212 pounds, strong-armed. He threw 23 TD passes in his second season, 61 in a respectable nine-year NFL career.
That Tony Eason was a lot of things — including often confused as the Georgia QB’s father.
Jacob Eason’s father has the same name and also played college football, but Tony Eason played receiver at Notre Dame during the mid-1980s.
He readily admits he was nowhere near the recruit his son his, telling the Everett (Wash.) Herald that he didn’t even realize he was getting a scholarship to Notre Dame until halfway through signing day in 1984.
“I can remember waking up that morning, the phone wasn’t ringing,” Tony told the Herald. “I went into my room and prayed. I can remember praying that I was going to have a home. I don’t know how many Hail Marys I said — I must’ve said several of them — before the phone rang.
“It was such a weight lifted off my shoulders. I can remember the stress. As a dad, I’m happy Jake hasn’t had to experience that.”
Oregon State was the first to offer
Jacob Eason started appearing on recruiters’ radars during his sophomore season at Lake Stevens High. After finishing that season with 2,941 yards and 23 TDs, Oregon State was the first to offer him a scholarship. Washington State and Florida State were next. Notre Dame and Michigan offered him on the same day, Eason told the Herald.
Eason committed to Georgia on July 19, 2014, and stayed true even after visiting Florida following Mark Richt’s firing.
Eason reminds himself of …
Eason is tall, lanky with a strong arm, a prototypical pocket passer. But he insists he’s more mobile than most pocket passers and resists comparisons to Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
“Those other guys are a little less mobile,” he told DawgNation.com. “I am more of a Matt Stafford-type who likes to move around out of the pocket, take shots downfield and really loves playing the game.”
What to expect as a true freshman
Eason carries the fingers-crossed hopes of an entire fan base that wants nothing more than to get back to its Herschel Walker Glory Days.
Yes, it’s been that long since Georgia won a national championship.
The reality is, true freshman quarterbacks don’t dominate the SEC — no matter how many stars are attached to their recruiting resume.
Aaron Murray didn’t even play as a true freshman.
Stafford did … and he threw for 1,749 yards with 13 interceptions and just 7 TD passes.
“No doubt there are a lot of expectations on me at Georgia,” Eason told DawgNation.com. “I’m going to have to try to live up to all that. I’ll just have to do the very best I can with all that. Its pretty crazy to see as an 18-year-old to have that much attention. I just have to put it in the back of my mind. Focus on the football. Focus on bringing good things to the university. I’ll buy into what all the coaches are doing and let all that off-the-field stuff just sit to the side where it belongs.”
So sit back and enjoy the ride. If it’s half as entertaining as the past year has been, Bulldogs fans are in for quite a treat.
It's almost unreal how much Jacob Eason is winning at life rn
— Walton (@CarsonwBarnes) January 19, 2016
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
