It’s wrong to expect too much from Jacob Eason as a freshman

For good reason, Georgia Football fans are excited about true freshman quarterback Jacob Eason.

The Washington native was the no. 2 quarterback and no. 5 player overall in the 2016 recruiting class according to 247 Sports.

In front of 93,000 plus fans at the G-Day spring scrimmage, Eason went 19-of-29 for 244 yards. According to his long time passing trainer Lavelle Durant, he is more impressed with Eason now than he has been in a long time.

And with only a week until Georgia kicks off against North Carolina, Eason is still locked in a tight quarterback battle with senior incumbent Grayson Lambert and veteran junior Brice Ramsey.

Clearly the freshman is performing well, and with his talent and work ethic, he is the future of the quarterback position at Georgia. But should we expect fireworks in his first year?

Learning from the past

In many ways this preseason has reminded me of ten years ago when another quarterback battle between three contenders was waged in Athens. That year featured senior Joe Tereshinski III (with one career start under his belt) going up against redshirt freshman Joe Cox and true freshman Matthew Stafford.

Out of high school Stafford received similar ratings as Eason. He was the no. 1 quarterback and no. 6 player in the entire country according to 247 Sports. When his career in Athens was over, Stafford had 7,731 passing yards with 51 touchdowns to 33 interceptions.

But the beginning of his career was not as smooth because Stafford lost that quarterback battle despite being the most talented. Tereshinski won that battle in August, and he started the season opener against Western Kentucky.

But a week later Stafford was thrusted into the spotlight when Tereshinski was injured early against South Carolina. In an 18-0 Bulldog victory, Stafford threw three interceptions.

Two weeks later Georgia found themselves trailing Colorado 13-0 going into the fourth quarter. Stafford was benched for Joe Cox who led the comeback to win the game. Then-head coach Mark Richt chose Cox to start against Ole Miss.

Stafford took over in that game, but he only supplied 91 passing yards for Georgia to survive 14-9. Tereshinski returned against Tennessee, but he was injured against Vanderbilt a week later, and Richt decided to end the season with Stafford.

In his third start, Stafford threw three interceptions against Mississippi State, and Georgia barely survived winning 27-24. His next two games were his worst. Against Florida he went 13-of-33 with 151 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns in a 21-14 loss to the Gators.

Since his slow-start freshman season, Stafford has gone on to have a solid career in the NFL with the Detroit Lions. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Then, he went a respectable 16-of-28 for 230 yards passing against Kentucky. But he only threw one touchdown and threw three interceptions in a 24-20 loss.

In that three game stretch, he threw eight interceptions with only three touchdowns, and the Bulldogs lost two of those three games.

His final three games were much better. Against Auburn he went 14-of-20 with 219 yards and touchdown, and he also had 83 rushing yards. But with four interceptions the defense played a major key in the 37-16 upset.

But his redemption came when Georgia Tech came to Athens. The Yellow Jackets were a top 10 team going into the ACC Championship game a week later. Stafford went a serviceable 16-of-29 for 171 yards.

He also led Georgia on a drive late in the game that ended in a clutch touchdown pass and then a 2-point conversion pass to Mohammad Massaquoi to lift Georgia to a 15-12 victory.