Pros and Cons of Lambert or Eason starting at QB for UGA
By Jay Hawkins
The quarterback position is a big question for UGA this fall.
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Who plays quarterback for UGA is still up in the air. The three contenders are Greyson Lambert, Brice Ramsey and Jacob Eason. It appears that Ramsey has fallen behind the other two.
With that being said, we at DOTD took our best stab at analyzing Greyson Lambert and Jacob Eason and giving the pros and cons of either of them starting against North Carolina in Week one (Eason will almost certainly take over the job at some point). Let’s start with last year’s starter Lambert.
Senior Greyson Lambert
Pros: The main argument for starting Greyson Lambert at quarterback is his experience. He’s a seasoned veteran that started all of 2015 (besides the Florida game) in his first year at Georgia.
Last season, Lambert passed for 1,959 yards and 12 touchdowns with a 63.3% completion percentage. He also didn’t make many mistakes at all as he only threw two pics.
If Greyson Lambert starts against North Carolina, it will be because Smart wants a guy that has been in game environments before, doesn’t make many mistakes and is a solid game manager.
Cons: Lambert is not that good of a passer, plain and simple. If you watched UGA at all in 2015 (besides the South Carolina fluke game), you’d know that quarterback was the main weak link of the team.
Lambert doesn’t posses a great arm, and he can’t stretch the field. He also seems timid to pull the trigger at times. As a result, the defense basically carried UGA last year. That’s not something you want to see happen.
Freshman Jacob Eason
Pros: Eason’s talent is obvious. The kid can play. He was rated as the No. 1 quarterback coming out of high school according to ESPN.com.
The 6-6, 217 pound native of Lake Stevens, Wash., has got an amazing arm. That’s the first thing you notice when watching Eason. In his senior season of high school, Eason threw for 3,585 yards and 43 touchdowns with only six interceptions.
He was also extremely accurate on his passes (69.5% completion percentage) and can put it exactly where only his receivers can get it. UGA head coach Kirby Smart tried to manage expectations for his blue-chip QB, but it became even harder after the spring game.
In the G-Day game, Eason put on a show as he threw for 244 yards and a touchdown to lead all quarterbacks. Eason looked absolutely phenomenal in his first real big stage. He looked calm and composed and, for the most part, made good decisions.
Eason has been praised by many in the media and otherwise for his G-Day performance, and it’s clear for anyone to see that Eason has the most talent and upside of any of Georgia’s other signal-callers.
Cons: He’s young. That’s the bottom line. He doesn’t have the game experience Lambert has.
He’s going to make mistakes. That is a given. Does Kirby Smart really want to roll out a true freshman the first game of the year?
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Smart went on the SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum Show this week and basically said that he doesn’t have a problem starting a true freshman. He wants to start the guy that gives Georgia the best chance to win.
Whether it be Lambert or Eason, Kirby Smart will do everything in his power to bring home that “W.” That we can all be sure of.