The G-Day Game is now behind us and the quarterback duel between Jacob Eason and Jake Fromm is still a very hot conversation around Georgia football.
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We’re a little under 24 hours removed from the 2017 G-Day Game and every Georgia football fan has an opinion about the quarterback battle between incumbent Jacob Eason and newcomer Jake Fromm.
At first glance, it looks like Fromm had the better day and the superior after spring practice. Fromm went 14-of-23 with 277 yards and two touchdowns for the Red team. Eason, on the other hand, had more yards with 311. But he went 16-of-36 with two touchdowns and one interception for the Black team.
Clearly Eason did not have an outstanding day. But was he the inferior quarterback on Saturday compared to Fromm?
Of course not. And if you think he did, well I have to say, you’re being way too critical of Eason and not critical enough of Fromm.
First of all, Georgia’s offensive line has not improved too much in the spring and they had a lot of trouble dealing with the pass rush from Lorenzo Carter, Davin Bellamy and other edge rushers.
The thing is, all of the best edge rushers played on the Red team and Eason dealt with them all game long. There was no time for Eason to get comfortable in the pocket. Fromm however, didn’t deal with such a pass rush. He got to hang out in the pocket and to go through all of his progressions without too much urgency.
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As for those receivers. Not to take anything away from Javon Wims or Terry Godwin. But Fromm’s receivers were better compared to the defensive backs than Eason’s were.
Fromm didn’t need to make many passes into tight coverage. Almost every pass was to a guy with space around him, or where Fromm could see the numbers on their chest. Think of Fromm’s first touchdown pass. J.J. Holloman was wide open by about 10 yards.
Fromm only had two big throws into coverage and receivers caught both. But one should have been an easy interception that bounced off the defenders hands and into the hands of Tyler Simmons for a long touchdown.
Eason, had to deal with Malcolm Parrish, Dominick Sanders and other returning members of a great group of defensive backs from 2016. Eason didn’t get wide open targets to throw to. He needed accuracy to complete passes.
Compare his best completions with Fromm’s. Eason placed the passes perfectly to Wims, Godwin and Jayson Stanley in coverage.
And lastly, Eason threw a wider variety of passes. Almost everything Fromm threw Saturday was outside to guys with space around them. Eason threw some passes like that. But he also mid-range and deep passes towards the middle of the field. He threw at more hard cuts downfield as well.
We only saw a very small sample size of Jake Fromm at the G-Day Game. As opposed to Jacob Eason who threw a full arsenal of passes. To base an opinion that Fromm is better and is leading Eason after the spring on their respective performances Saturday is just ludicrous.
Next: Jacob Eason vs. Jake Fromm built as a heavyweight quarterback duel
Eason is still the leader. That may very well change before September rolls around. And Fromm has talent and will be a great quarterback one day, but Eason is still the man in Athens. The G-Day Game did nothing to change that.