And The Valley Shook takes a look at how redshirt sophomore starting quarterbacks have fared in the SEC over the last eight seasons. Two things to take away from the data: one, generally speaking, it ain’t easy. And if it’s not easy for a kid with a year in his school’s system under his belt, what does that say about a true freshman’s chances?
Which is not to say it’s a totally preposterous decision. (The sarcastic bastard in me notes that starting Eason in 2016 as a play for the future still makes more sense than starting Bauta on less than full practice reps against Florida did. But I digress.) It’s worth noting, though, that’s a decision that’s going to lead to a fair share of lumps taking in the short term.
Oh, and the second thing? Aaron Murray was a helluva quarterback.
Get The Picture 
Amen, brother. I love me some Aaron Murray!
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Amen, brother. I love me some Aaron Murray! I sure hope the dude gets a chance to start in the NFL.
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But there will always be a segment of our fan base that will talk Murray down – he’s a DGD.
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Yeah but he never beat a team over .500 on turf on a Thursday in October. All the greats did that.
/sarcasm off
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And he never had the highest QBR in a G-Day game. He’s a bum …
/sarcasm off
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On Aaron Murray, I hope that every single person who tried to Dawggrade him “because he can’t win a big game” really enjoyed the last two years without him. He was a brilliant leader for our program and a spectacular quarterback. It’s a damn shame that we couldn’t put together enough defense to go along with what he was doing on the offensive side of the football. His performance against Alabama is one for the ages.
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His performance in the 4th quarter at Auburn in 2013 is one of those memories I’ll never forget. I would say I’m surprised at the level of vitriol that was sent his way by a segment of the fanbase, but then again – I just saw how the last 12 months played out and have concluded that our fanbase is just full of jerks and idiots.
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Here, here … The last 20 clock minutes in JHS was Aaron Murray’s finest hour regardless of the outcome. It was even better than his performance in the Georgia Dome in 2012. I still say Georgia should have set #11 aside after 2013 to give to a player of the coaches’ or players’ choosing who embodied Murray’s “never say die competitive spirit” for the following season.
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I had an Auburn friend I had breakfast with every week back then. The following week, he said, “Man, that Aaron Murray…that’s how you throw a football.”
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I would love to RS Eason, but the reality is that Lambert, Ramsey and Eason are all going to be in Year 1 of a new system, so while Lambert has college game experience and Ramsey and Lambert have the advantage of reps with UGA personnel, neither has the potential that Eason does. And that is why I think he starts (at least part of the season for UGA).
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What if….. Lambert starts and does amazingly well under Smart/Chaney? It could happen. It really could.
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That would be ideal. Working Eason into the game plan when and how we want to will be the recipe for success in 2016.
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Cheney made Crompton into a better than average QB and even inspired a lexicon entry. I have to admit the thought of Greyson Lambert taking another snap as the starting QB for UGA makes me a little nauseous but the thought of a true Freshman QB no matter how talented makes me equally squeamish. I could see us running a simplified system that relies heavily on the run game in the beginning of the year and allowing Eason to mature while not asking him to win games.
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It could happen, but at this point he’s had at least two head coaches and at least two offensive coordinators and quarterback coaches and offenses (I have no idea if he had more than one offensive system at Virginia before coming to Georgia). He’s been a college quarterback for quite a while now. Maybe Jim Chaney is such a brilliant coach that he’ll turn on a light somewhere for Greyson Lambert, but I think at this point Lambert is the quarterback he’s going to be.
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Ramsey should start. Think of the quick kick opportunities!
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I say the sooner the better. This kid is great at rolling out of the pocket and throwing on the run which is what he’ll need to do with SEC defenders chasing him. I say start Lambert against UNC and have some scripted series for Eason to see how he does. We need this kid as soon as he’s ready. Maybe Chaney can get Lambert up to speed but if not Eason needs to be ready to go. Make Ramsey the permanent punter and get him out of the equation.
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Lambert looking over his shoulder didn’t work out so well last year.
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I have two words to explain why Eason should start on day 1: Grayson Lambert.
After returning a KO for a TD in his first game, I recall our coaches rationalizations about keeping Gurley on the bench because he needed to learn the RB blocking schemes. Thankfully, Gurley’s natural talent forced them to abandon that stupid idea pretty quick.
But it seems we don’t really have any good options at QB. I think our best bet is Eason. I’m sure we can simplify our offense, protect him as best we can, and design plays so he can get rid of the ball quickly. What’s the alternative, another year of Lambert or o.j.t. for Ramsey?
And while we’re on the subject of the freshman Murray, I thought the staff could’ve adjusted the offense to his abilities far better than we did. I clearly recall many a complaint about our coaches forcing AM to be a statuesque drop-back passer. He had plenty of problems seeing over the line. Considering his mobility, I thought simply rolling out a little to improve visibility would have made acclimation a lot easier for him. Take the example of sos, who had the equally height-challenged Conner Shaw using his mobility to great effect.
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I thought Bobo kept the training wheels on far too long with Aaron as a RS freshman. That lost the USCe game and probably was responsible for losing to Miss State and Colorado (in addition to terrible QB contain).
If you’re going to start Eason because he’s your best chance to win, you better give him the best game plan to win.
By the way, I thought Eason was the best option at QB last year.
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If you start Eason you have to expect a Stafford ’06 WLOCP game, which is not to say UGA should not take that risk. Ramsey has the arm but can the coaching staff get him prepared or maybe will Ramsey allow the coaches to prepare him? Agreed Bobo kept the training wheels on Murray as a RS Fr, and I also think he held Mason back in his 1 year as a starter especially in the WLOCP.
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I actually think the change is good for Ramsey. I heard rumors that CMB let CKS know that he would have been the starter last year if he had stayed in Athens.
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That ’06 game was also Knowshon’s ill advised redshirt year.
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The HS defenses AM faced were most likely a lot quicker and better than the HS defenses Eason faced. I think that’s going to be a factor and maybe a large factor.. The speed of the defenses he will see at Georgia is going to force him to make decisions more quickly and be more careful with ball placement.
I know a HS (track) coach who moved here from a northern state. He was amazed at the speed of the atheletes. He told me that the team he took over in Georgia would easily be State Track and Field champs in his yankee state. I’m not telling this to belittle any region, but just to make the point that Eason may not have been challenged as much as AM and others.
He will adjust, but it may not be as early as we’d like to see.
But then, I could be wrong..I’d love to see him come in and set the woods on fire in game one.
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Great points
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Totally agree with your point on the level of competition Eason has faced. He has incredible natural talent but will need time to adjust to the speed of the game. In addition, he played out of the shotgun exclusively in high school as well from what I have seen and read. Playing under center is going to be new for him too. I think he will be successful but I think we need to give him time to develop. As has been mentioned the transition for Murray and Stafford took time and they faced much better competition in Florida and Texas than Eason ever saw in Washington.
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His showings at the many various camps he attended is the reason he is so highly regarded, not his stats from Washington.
I predict no redshirt for Eason…, no start vs UNC, but he plays.
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Redshirting Eason is worse than redshirting Knowshon. There is a likelihood that he will be the concensus #1 pick in three years whether he plays as a freshman or not. Nobody should turn that down, even if Detroit or Cleveland are sitting there. I’m not saying you rush him in or play him whether he’s ready or not, but the RS should not be the goal.
Much of our success is going to come down to what our o-line projects to be. If we’ve got a good solid run blocking line and Chubb is health, he and Sony can carry us while our QB gets comfortable. It would also help if we feel like our defense is good enough that we won’t be forced into many track meets. That will also allow us to make things easy on the qb.
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Correct. Other players will have a say as to Eason being successful. If it all doesn’t come together, then all bets are off as to what Eason can do.
My fear for Eason comes via the fans. I’m afraid many will never think of Eason having a bad game on his own. How the fan base contemplates that and how they digestthat when it happens will say a great deal about Jacob’s UGA career.
Murray spoiled the crap out of us and who can say they were fearful of the game outcome when down two touchdowns while Murray ran the machine. I can’t. Like many,I was always relaxed and simply waited for Murray to sling a few strikes and get the world back on track again.
I hope we openly embrace Jason when things go wrong and acknowledge ahead of time that he is human and imperfect in games we essentially have to have.
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I don’t know that he’s any more hyped than Stafford was. Mel Kiper did say that he’d be the No. 1 pick before he stepped foot on campus. BTW: He was right.
Stafford didn’t exactly start off that great and was never as good as he could have been, but I don’t remember him getting too much grief.
Fans around here seem the type to blame Bobo before blaming the kid.
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I dont know if Eason will or wont start.. what I do know is that if Brice Ramsey wins the job because he was just plain better and got the system better than anyone…. I will LOSE MY MIND thinking that he wasnt given a fair shot over Lambert……
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Nothing would get the entire fan base past CMR’s memory more than Ramsey getting the job and doing well. If that were to happen, the AD and CKS will be heroes.
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I don’t see how Ramsey will have any impact, CMR recruited Ramsey and Eason. Besides a program moving towards winning and remaining clean will get everyone on board. Ramsey had every chance last year and I assume he will this year.
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My point is that if Ramsey makes it appear that last year’s staff played the wrong QB, it will make everyone (even those who thought the move wasn’t warranted, like me) feel better about moving CMR out. No other factor would so quickly get us ALL behind the current staff and past the old one.
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Only fair chance Ramsey had to win a starters role was at punter.
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The play is for ’17, and the best way to get ready for ’17 is to get those guys as much experience as possible. CMR would not have had that luxury, CKS does. I think Eason starts vs. UNC.
Stafford did not have the RBs we have now, nor did he have the WR and TEs we have now. We don’t need Eason to throw it 30 times a game to win. Barring injury, I just think he’s the type of kid that starts every game he’s on campus.
It could happen slowly, as we could likely win the first 3 playing it very conservatively. UNC will be breaking in a new QB, and Mizzou might be terrible again. But, we better be able to let the kid roll by the time we go to Oxford.
CKS will have to play differently than he wants. Lambert could succeed in a Bama-style team, but we don’t have the defense to play that way yet. We’re going to have to score some points. We saw that last year. If you can’t score, every game is nip and tuck. We HAVE to have a QB that can scare people down the field.
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“Stafford did not have the RBs we have now, nor did he have the WR and TEs we have now.”
That ’06 team had some talent. But a lot of questions as to how they were utilized. As far as RB’s, we had Danny Ware (great back, sat the bench frequently – who knows why), Knowshon (redshirted!!!???), Thomas Brown and Kregg Lumpkin. Southerland at FB. WRs were MoMass, Durham, Henderson & Bailey. Not as good as usual at TE with Milner & Chandler. I believe we really suffered from the drawn out 3 way competition at QB – like 2015.
I think a lot of folks would agree we should’ve stuck with Stafford out of the gate in ’06. And baring some inexplicable great leap forward by Lambert or Ramsey, I think that’s what CKS will do with Eason this year.
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The 06 team had talent, but if I am not mistaken Ware turned pro early, Bailey hurt his knee in pre-season practice and Brown hurt his knee in October. Milner was suspended for several games. Ya’ll check me on this, but wasn’t that the year that Paul Oliver was lost due to academics? What ever, keeping the redshirt on Knowshon after Brown went down was a major mistake, and CMR admitted as much after the fact.
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