Jacob Eason is the future at Georgia, and that future might be right now

Most fan bases would be licking their chops for a 10-win team that returns its starting quarterback.

But that isn’t the case at Georgia, where Greyson Lambert seems to be on the outside looking in despite completing 63.3 percent of his passes in 2015 and assembling a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 12-to-2.

While Lambert didn’t turn the ball over, the Bulldogs had no bite through the air. They finished 10th in the SEC — two spots behind Treon Harris-led Florida — with 185.1 yards passing per game, as the Virginia transfer didn’t even crack the 2,000-yard mark in 12 starts. Only Auburn and LSU attempted fewer passes per game than UGA’s 25.2, as coach Mark Richt seemingly didn’t trust Lambert to let it fly.

Richt was so forlorn that he started third-stringer Faton Bauta in the annual border war with the Gators.

Bauta, making his first career start, was awful in an embarrassing 27-3 loss to UF. He completed just 15-of-33 passes for 154 yards with 0 TDs and 4 INTs. His fleet feet netted only 4 yards on 3 carries.

Wisely, Richt went back to Lambert for the remainder of the schedule. Georgia did finish the season on a five-game winning streak, including a 24-17 victory over Penn State in the Taxslayer Bowl, but the run didn’t impress many season-ticket holders in Athens. Georgia canned Richt, who is now coaching his alma mater, Miami. As for Lambert, in four of those five Ws, he passed for fewer than 185 yards.

With spring practice set to begin between the hedges, it appears to be a three-man battle under center.

Lambert will be joined by Brice Ramsey, a coveted recruit once upon a time who has played sparingly in reserve duty the last two years. But Jacob Eason, a five-star signee and early enrollee, is the future.

When exactly is “the future?” By nature, it’s a nebulous term. For a lot of QBs, it means sitting and watching for a year or two before earning a chance to enter the huddle — maybe even redshirting right out of high school. However, that’s not expected to be the case for Eason. Not only is he going to compete for the job immediately, but it might even be a disappointment if he doesn’t start the season opener.

We’ll know more about coach Kirby Smart once he makes up his mind at the game’s most important position.

the incumbent

To be fair, it’s not like Lambert was bad last season. There was plenty of guilt to go around.

Heisman Trophy candidate Nick Chubb missed more than half the year due to injury. The receiving corps was inconsistent beyond Malcolm Mitchell. The tight ends were curiously absent from the game plan.

However, just like signal callers get too much credit when things are going well, they get too much blame when things are going poorly. Lambert was productive throwing the ball in a 52-20 beatdown of a dying South Carolina squad — he racked up 330 yards and 3 scores. But three times he failed to cross the measly 100-yard threshold. Five times he couldn’t find the end zone through the air.

Lambert may have the highest floor in Georgia’s QB derby, but he probably has the lowest ceiling, too.

“With Greyson, pretty much what you saw is what you’ll get,” Anthony Dasher told Saturday Down South. He covers the Bulldogs for UGASports.com. “Even at Virginia, he wasn’t known as a huge vertical passer. That said, I do think Greyson in some ways received a bad rap for some fans, as there was nothing wrong with his preparation or work ethic. Can he improve? Maybe.”

Transfers rarely have the opportunity to learn a system and stick with it, which can stunt development.

“Greyson Lambert will be a competitor for the position and may benefit from having a new offensive coordinator in Jim Chaney,” said Gregory Poole, who covers Georgia for Bulldawg Illustrated. “However, Chaney will be the latest in a string of coordinators to attempt to exploit Lambert’s talents.”

First Mike London at UVA, then Richt and now Smart at UGA. Lambert has played for a slew of head coaches.

“Lambert is what he is,” said Dean Legge, who covers Georgia for Dawg Post. “This is his third head coach in three seasons. That’s not a ringing endorsement of a starting quarterback.”

Originally a four-star recruit from Jesup (Ga.) Wayne County High School, Lambert had his share of offers.

He chose the Cavaliers over a list that included Alabama, the defending national champion at the time. Who recruited him to the Tide? None other than Smart. At the very least, Lambert has impressed him before.

Impressing Smart a second time may be more difficult, though, as more of Lambert’s book has been written.

“The fan base will have a difficult time getting behind Lambert because they’ve seen the results,” Legge said.

the middle child

Another four-star prospect, this time from the class of 2013, Ramsey was a top-100 player nationally.

His list of suitors was even more impressive than Lambert’s, as he held offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Ohio State and Ole Miss. But unlike Lambert, Ramsey stuck with the in-state power.

To date, Ramsey has made more of an impact for the Bulldogs as a punter than a passer. In limited action the last two seasons, the 6-foot-3, 213-pounder has connected on 60.8 percent of his throws for 582 yards with 4 touchdowns and 4 interceptions — most of it in garbage time. Given a chance last year to replace an ineffective Lambert in a 38-10 loss to the Crimson Tide, he was 1-of-6 for 20 yards and 2 INTs.

Ramsey couldn’t beat out a transfer in 2015, and now he has a genuine blue-chipper to worry about in 2016.

“As for Brice, I do think he’s kind of between a rock and a hard place,” Dasher said. “While he does have a stronger arm than Greyson, if Jacob Eason is in fact all he’s been projected as being, I just don’t see Brice as anything more than a backup at this point.”

The Camden County High School graduate seems to have more support outside the program than inside.

“Many UGA fans believe that Brice Ramsey will show his All-American ability if he is only given a ‘fair chance’ by Georgia’s staff,” said Poole. “Of course, he is heading into his fourth year in Athens and will be evaluated by his third OC.”

If Chaney goes into the competition with an open mind, unlike his predecessor, that will only help Ramsey.

“Ramsey has been given new life and a real chance with this new coaching staff,” Legge said. “Time will tell if he’s the best option. Brian Schottenheimer, the worst coordinator at UGA since Kevin Ramsey, was never going to play anyone other than Lambert. That turned out to be a careless gamble that didn’t pay.”

Faton Bauta, who started at QB against Florida, playing safety during UGA practice. Punter Brice Ramsey getting reps at QB. This is all true

— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) November 4, 2015

Richt’s midseason benching of Lambert in favor of Bauta, not Ramsey, to this day is a mystery to insiders.

Beat writers are “still scratching their heads,” said Dasher. Both the decision and the game plan “remain a puzzle,” Poole said. The episode is “as confusing today as it was when it was happening,” said Legge.

It was either a vote of confidence for Bauta or a lack thereof in Ramsey. Either way, it was telling.

“I find it difficult to believe that Ramsey has been unfairly treated by coaches who would benefit from his emergence as a starter,” Poole said. “The more likely explanation is that Ramsey has given coaches no reason to be confident that he can lead the team.”

the savior

Smart is already 1-0. Convincing Eason to stick with Georgia after Richt’s departure was indeed a victory. Referencing the composite rankings at 247Sports, Eason was the No. 1 player in the state of Washington, No. 2 pro-style passer and No. 5 prospect overall. He’s a 6-foot-6, 208-pound prototype.

The Lake Stevens product is already running out of room on his mantle. As a senior, he threw for 3,585 yards with 43 touchdowns — against only 6 interceptions — and earned national player of the year honors from the likes of Gatorade, USA Today, the U.S. Army and the Maxwell Football Club.

Not even Aaron Murray, a four-year starter for the ‘Dogs and the SEC’s all-time leading passer, arrived with such fanfare. While Murray redshirted initially, patience is hard to find in Athens these days. Eason’s time may be now.

“If Jacob Eason is not the starter, the Bulldog Nation may riot,” Dasher said. “I’m only half joking. Eason has been built up to be the ‘savior’ of Georgia football, and while that’s obviously an unfair label to put on any young man, many fans were so disenchanted with Lambert that anything less than Eason starting right out of the shute, let’s just say there’s going to be some unhappy campers.”

UGA opens on a neutral site in Atlanta against North Carolina, which is coming off an 11-win campaign.

Love this pro level throw on the run by Jacob Eason @skinnyqb10 future starting QB for @UGAAthletics #Football pic.twitter.com/4YrfD2WwLN — Pro Football Press (@ProNFLPress) January 13, 2016

“If he starts and flops, it will be on Eason and his inexperience in fan’s minds,” Poole said. “If UGA starts Lambert or Ramsey and loses to the Tar Heels, the disappointment will point directly to Kirby Smart.”

Even if fans are ready to hand the keys to Eason, there’s no guarantee that he can make such a leap.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of hope that Jacob will come in and save the day,” Legge said. “That’s going to be a difficult thing for him to accomplish with the speed of the game, the fact that he’s never played college football before and that he has to beat out two other guys.”

less murray, more stafford

A better comparison for Eason may be Matthew Stafford, who had much more pure arm talent than Murray.

The premier quarterback recruit in the nation for 2006, Stafford played a ton for Georgia immediately out of high school. The hype was justified, as he would go on to be the top pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.

Nevertheless, Stafford only hit on 52.7 percent of his throws as a freshman and put together a negative TD-to-INT ratio of 7-to-13. His numbers improved on a yearly basis — 55.7, 19-to-10 as a sophomore; 61.4, 25-to-10 as a junior — but the Bulldogs didn’t really go anywhere as a result. UGA finished 9-4, 11-2 and 10-3 those three seasons and never made a trip to the SEC Championship Game.

According to Brandon Huffman, the national director of recruiting for Scout.com, Eason is a taller Stafford.

“Eason has tremendous arm strength, throws with great accuracy and consistency and shows good touch on his throws,” Huffman said. “He’s really flourished the past year in his field vision, going through his reads and finding the open receiver. He can really spin it and knows when to take something off his throws. He’s not the fastest quarterback, but he’s still decently mobile.”

While Athens is 2,700 miles from Lake Stevens, it’s an Eason’s DNA to embrace the challenge of the SEC.

“Eason’s father played at Notre Dame,” Huffman said, “so he was always enamored by playing on a big stage with the best players and against the best competition.”

UGA can take comfort in the fact that he’s used to having the weight of the world on his shoulders, too.

“He carried his team the past three years, a school that doesn’t put out much talent,” said Huffman. “Not just his team, but a whole community. He lived up to the hype and pressure that was building throughout his career.”

fait accompli

Since neither Lambert nor Ramsey has taken the job and run with it, Eason’s upside is awfully tempting.

Even at Georgia, a program that has produced 13 draft picks at the quarterback position dating back to John Rauch in 1949, a passer with as much potential as Eason steps foot on campus once a decade at best.

If Eason were to start ahead of Lambert and Ramsey, he won’t be asked to throw the ball 40 times per game right out of the shoot. Chubb’s rehab reportedly is going well, plus Sony Michel became an 1,100-yard rusher in Chubb’s stead — the Bulldogs are never short on tailbacks. Four of five starters along the offensive line last year were seniors, though. That’s a concern no matter who is at QB.

If Eason isn’t the guy right away, he will be soon enough. Lambert and Ramsey know that as well as anyone.

“Folks need to let Eason develop on his own timeline,” Legge said. “Fans are rarely patient, but they should be in this case.”

John Crist

John Crist is an award-winning contributor to Saturday Down South.