Georgia commit Jacob Eason received the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award Monday.
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There is more good news out of the Jacob Eason camp.
Right before announcing he was sticking to his commitment to UGA, Eason received a surprise visit from Seattle Seahawks’ star Bobby Wagner. Wagner came to Lake Stevens High School to award Eason with the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award.
Talk about an exciting day for the kid!
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He finished his senior season completing 235 of 338 passes for 3,585 yards, 43 touchdowns and only six interceptions. The 6’6’’, 220-pound quarterback led his team to a 12-1 record and a trip to the Class 4A state semi-finals.
A 2016 U.S. Army All-American Bowl selection, Eason was also a participant in the prestigious Elite 11 QB camp.
Every year, Gatorade selects a high school player of the year from each state, and the District of Columbia, for 12 different sports (six male sports and six female sports). After the 51 players are selected for a particular sport, one of them is picked as the national player of the year.
Eason was selected as the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Washington earlier this fall. He then beat out 50 other football players to win the national award, becoming only the second football player from Washington to win the national player of the year award (Brock Huard, 1995).
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This award is given to football players who not only show outstanding talent on the field, but they also exemplify success off of it. Eason holds a 3.83 GPA, and he is extremely active in his local community. He is an active member in the Holy Cross Catholic Church and volunteers with the Never Give Up foundation, which helps support kids who are fighting cancer.
He continues to give back to the youth in the community as well. He is the coordinator and head coach for quarterbacks at the Vikings Junior Football Camp. In addition, he has been an instructor the last four years at the Vikings Passing Camp.
Eason joins some elite company by winning this award. Past winners include Jeff George (1986), Emmitt Smith (1987), Peyton Manning (1994), Tim Couch (1996) and Matt Barkley (2008).
Becoming the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year also puts him in the running to become the Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year. Along with Eason, national player of the year recipients from cross country, soccer, basketball, baseball and track & field will vie for the most prestigious honor. Their names will forever be mentioned alongside past Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year winners including Lebron James (2003), Dwight Howard (2004), Kevin Love (2007), Matt Barkley (2008) and Andrew Wiggins (2013).