Jacob Eason is on the mother.
“Coming in at the beginning of the season seeing different defenses change before a snap, try to mess with me as a young quarterback,” he said. “Definitely now I feel a lot more comfortable just because of the film work and the on the field work starting against our own defense, switching up stuff a bunch. Now I feel a tremendous amount better than I did at the beginning of the season.”
His position coach agrees that things are starting to click, although the timing of that might surprise you.
The game began to slow down for Eason, according to Chaney, at about the eighth game of the season, which was against Florida, a 24-10 loss.
He finished that game with a 91.86 passer rating. I shudder to think what that would have been if the game hadn’t begun slowing down for him.
This offseason may be more trying than we think.
Get The Picture 
I suspect the happy talk is going to be going in full force this offseason.
Weight room records watch out.
100% participation in voluntary mandatory summer conditioning.
Got to sprinkle in some more vocal leadership.
And I mean, I dont want to jinx it, but to really nail this offseason…
wait for it.
Team realizing that they can’t just wait around for Carter or Chubb to make a great play. Everyone has to step up and play as a team.
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Almost as predictable as cynical Dawg fans 😉
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I blame McGarity.
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Bobo would have him in the Heisman race.
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Bobo is a genious! Look how he’s turned Colorado State around!
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The talk was pretty unhappy last year. Smart actually caught a pretty good bit of flak for it. It was basically “These guys suck; I wish we had better players.” That may be a direct quote.
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largely accurate, though.
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Was he wrong?
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Pretty much a gross overstatement, but it provided good cover to those gullible enough to swallow all the bait. Only truth is, I wish I had better players? But that fits every team that ever existed.
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Did you watch the 2015 season? ANYONE who expected the 2016 season to be better than the 2015 season is gullible.
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As a quasi-reply to DawgPhan and a general PSA, the players don’t call up reporters on their own to tell them how great the off-season is going. Maybe one day, when asked by the Red and Black or Dawgnation, “Can you see a difference in the effort and chemistry this year?” we’ll read a reply like, “Nope. None. In fact, everybody seems less enthusiastic, and quite honestly, nobody cares about leading any voluntary practices.” But, and again, I’m just guessing here, it probably won’t be this year.
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Agree 100%. People forget these are 18-22 year olds that haven’t been reading the same off-season happy talk for the last ten years. For the upperclassmen, this is the first time they are getting these questions as leaders. They have learned through experience how much hard work and determination it takes to be great. They naturally believe they are taking it up a notch now that they are the leaders. The cycle repeats itself every year, everywhere.
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He is a taller Billy Joe Tolliver who waits too long to throw the ball. Maybe in practice, the coaches should shorten the width of the field by moving the ball off the hash closer to the sideline so when during actual games he will be conditioned to throw the out patterns earlier so his passes hit the receivers in bounds rather than 2 yards out of bounds. I don’t know what to do about not seeing wide open receivers. He has a lot of work to do
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I agree. In baseball terms, he looks like a “Nuke” that needs a “Crash” and an “Annie” to me.
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“Billy Joe Overthrow”
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Billy Joe Turnover
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The game may have slowed down for Eason at Florida, but the Florida DL sure didn’t slow down. He was on his back the entire game.
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Could be wrong, but Fromm seems to be more of a natural leader….also better wheels and accuracy. I have seen all the comparisons to Aaron Murray, but he reminds me more of a young Brett Favre. I hope things ain’t set in stone for a starter next year, they need to open things up I my opinion.
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I doubt they want to start another freshman QB next year. Next year is most likely Eason’s, but in 2018 it gets interesting.
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Fair to say it will be a competition, and should be. It’s Eason’s job going into 2017, and he has a lead, but it isn’t insurmountable. At the very least we will have a talented backup either way and that is a big change. I just feel it is unfair to both QBs to get so locked in that we divide over it, why should it matter to us as fans? So many times we end up think we make one of the players bigger and better” by tearing down the other. Great chance that Eason gets better, if he doesn’t there should be another choice. Good for UGA, very happy KS was able to flip Fromm from Bama and very happy he is an EE.
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Senator –
Just an observation but you seem pretty bearish on the ‘Dawgs outlook for next season. Lots of negative and pessimistic posts these days. True or am I misinterpreting the commentary?
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Can’t say that I blame him, the Dawgs won 50 the last 5 years prior to the new staff. For me, I expected more. Need to see it before I can believe it.
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And yet have finished unranked 5 times in 8 years. The phrase you’re looking for is “empty calories”.
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And no matter how you look at it, not an improvement….unless you do not count wins and losses as a measuring stick.
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Agreed. We’ll see how year 2 and 3 go.
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That’s all on St. Richt
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I’m going to ask politely one last time. Can you please knock it off with the religious cracks?
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People on here curse at will and use GD on a regular basis and you are busting on me for referring to Coach Richt as St. Richt? Using the Lord’s name in vane is an acceptable use of the English language, but calling a coach who very well could qualify as a saint is offensive? Got it… That’s a good policy.
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If you’ve got a problem with it, don’t comment about Richt.
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I’m not the one with a problem
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Doesn’t look like it to me. But keep on arguing about it. It’s a sure way to get me to change my mind.
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Lord help me if I get kicked off the Coach Richt Message Board filled with dog fans who love to bitch and complain about any and everything related to UGA football. Just leave Richt out of it. Say one word about him and its lights out for you.
Is it OK if I use Lord and St. Richt in the same post? For example, May the Good Lord bless St. Richt and the Miami Hurricanes!
Look I done pissed off the Senator now! Go DAWGS!
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I made a polite request which you’ve blown completely out of proportion. Sorry to have offended your sensitive fee-fees.
Go find another blog and make both of us happier.
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You expected more in 2016 than you got in 2015? Talk about unrealistic expectations…..
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On paper, they should make a good leap forward next year.
As the cliche goes, though, they don’t play the games on paper.
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In other non related news FIFA approves World Cup expanding to 48 teams in 2026 so that “more nations can experience the joy of a Workd Cup”. It also doesn’t hurt that FIFA stands to make an additional $1 billion with expanded inventory.
How long until CFP feels the need to expand to 16 teams so more schools can experience the “joy” of the playoffs? My guess is as soon as someone dangles $1 billion in front of them.
We are doomed!
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Why jump to 16? I think eight is a long shot for the next several years, and 16 may never work due to logistical hurdles. Discussions should be focused on 4 versus both the six or eight option. I don’t think a sport where 1-2 points scored in an hour and a half is a huge threat to CFB in America.
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Really? I hate to derail the thread–but I hate the dismissiveness about the beautiful game. As they add more and more commercials to college football games, I enjoy soccer more and more (qualifier–I have always loved it). All of “our” sports have way too many commercials. In NASCAR and NFL, the commercials are more important than the actual race/game–so much so that I refuse to even try to watch anymore. College football is quickly headed down the same commercials toilet. There is something very peaceful and enjoyable about watching 50 minutes of uninterrupted sport, then 15 or 20 minutes of commentary/commercials, followed by another 50 minutes uninterrupted.
The beauty of soccer is not in the goals scored but in the build up. I think the ‘lack of goals’ is such an ignorant argument. The same people that bitch about a 1-1 soccer match celebrate a 2-1 “pitcher’s dual.” Further–if a basketball game has a total score approaching 250–the baskets become less and less exciting and far less meaningful.
Once we have a soccer player that is up amongst the best in the sport, it will gain more traction here. There is this kid Pulisic that is just sick. He is 18 and already playing for one of the top teams in the Bundesliga. He is fun to watch. I think even closed minded football fans should check the kid out.
(quietly puts soap box in dumpster and slinks back into the crowd)
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Enjoy it my friend, That is why we end up with 200+ channels, 24/7. I am not anti soccer, I don’t care about it at all, just not my thing. Glad it has many passionate followers, just think it is too slow for the US market which seems to demand more action. Millions watch baseball, so there clearly is a market of some size. Heck, my favorite sport after CFB is the majors in golf so I realize it is all an individual thing. I watch every shot, rerub, analysis, and interview for 7+ days when The Masters comes around.
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Great post.
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Show me stats all you want, there isn’t a single loss that can be blamed on Eason. He was surely a freshman, but considering he had a terrible line and brick handed receivers he did pretty damn good.
I expect a good competition this spring but unless Fromm is Jesus Superman Elway in disguise, we ain’t going another year with a freshman QB.
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“there isn’t a single loss that can be blamed on Eason.”
I’ll take Georgia Tech for $1000
+5 for the Jesus Superman Elway title
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That’s true. I can’t believe Eason gave up that 96 yard drive, followed by the 40 yard drive.
Besides, I read right here last week that it was Blankenship’s fault we lost the game because he missed a field goal early in the game.
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He went 14/27 for 139yds 1TD & 2ints against Tech’s 2-3 star players, plus he threw the pick that resulted in Tech’s winning TD. You can never fully blame a game on one player, but if you had to pick the player that holds the most blame for that loss who would you choose if not Eason?
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Yeah, that was probably it. I didn’t have a problem with the playcall, Eason just made an awful throw.
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You’re right. Can’t be both.
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Yeah I have to agree there, GT loss is solidly on Eason’s shoulders.
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Hope that Fromm only gets back up duty next year, otherwise we in for another one of those seasons.
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Anybody else notice that Jalen Hurst was a significantly better passer than Eason this year?
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Hurts*
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That’s not fair. Eason was a freshman!
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Did you notice he had a line blocking for him and receivers who could catch?
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Line blocked fine against Tech the last game of the year, and didn’t do half bad in the bowl game. Eason was mediocre in both.
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Well, at least you’re consistent.
Serious question, who was the last Georgia quarterback that you felt played up to your standards?
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DJ Shockley and David Greene before him. Simple formula that I use. Don’t throw picks and play your best when it matters the most, it’s hard but it’s not complicated.
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Murray in 2012 and 2013. He had a buffoon as a DC. He was fantastic both of those years.
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I suggest you check the box scores for the Florida games and SC in 2012 before declaring him fantastic. That’s just off the top of my head.
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SC I’ll grant you. UF had a great defense, he had an awful first half, and then made the plays to win the game.
Murray wasn’t the reason we lost a single game in 2012-2013. Every one of those losses can be pinned on All Hat, No Cattle Grantham.
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“Murray wasn’t the reason we lost a single game in 2012-2013”
Highly debatable. I don’t think that anyone would argue that the defense was good, and perhaps you can’t pin losses squarely on Murray, but he sure didn’t step up and win a few that were winnable. IE in 2013 Murray threw no TD’s and an int against Clemson, threw two picks against Mizzou, and no TD’s and an int against Vandy. In 2012 he was just completely awful against both SC and Florida.
Murray was very good overall and I’m glad he played for Georgia. I know y’all will riot with emojis and all caps, but I would take a less talented Connor Shaw over Murray any day bc that dude just found ways to win.
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The best argument you have there is Vandy in 2013, but that also too a penalty Donbas that they literally changed the rule and multiple special team fuck ups.
If the worst QB play we ever get is 2012-13 Murray level, we’ll be fine.
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Unfortunately we’ve had a drop off in production every year since he left.
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Since we’re picking and choosing here, let’s select three from 2013: South Carolina (he beat Shaw!), LSU and Tennessee. Georgia doesn’t win any of those games without Murray. He also dragged Georgia back from the dead against Auburn that season, only to be let down by a couple of knuckleheads in the secondary.
I’m not about to insist that he was close to perfect, but you are underplaying his contributions.
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Those high points are givens. They go without saying because they all made the headlines we all remember them and they hardly need to be reiterated. The reason I always bring up Murray’s failures is because most of you act like they never happened. My bottom line with Murray is that for every good game he had there was a correlating bad one, and while I think he was very good he wasn’t great IMO.
“he beat Shaw!”
You’re better than that Senator. You know just as well as I do qb’s don’t play each other. They play the other team’s defense. The quote should read (He beat Lorenzo Ward!). Otherwise you’re insulting my intelligence.
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Two quotes from you to which I responded:
Actually, he did.
“He beat Shaw” was tongue in cheek. In any event, SC didn’t win in ’13, with Spurrier calling plays against Grantham’s shitty defense. All I can figure is that Murray had the bigger impact.
Again, I’m not claiming perfection, just that you overstate your case.
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“…but he sure didn’t step up and win a few that were winnable”
I gave no less than 5 specific examples. Did you miss them somehow? Surely you didn’t take my quote to mean that he never won any games.
I don’t think comparing head to head match ups with Shaw is going to help your case if you really think about it for more than two seconds. Right? All you have to do is go back to 2012 and that whole line of thinking gets blown up. I’ll agree with you on one point though. Murray definitely had more impact on games than Shaw (or David Greene for that matter). Murray is a better talent, the issue with him is that his impacts were negative just about as often as they were positive. I believe that is evidenced by you giving 4 examples of his good games compared to my 5 examples of his bad games. I’m sure we could both waste time digging deeper but you get the idea.
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I have some bad news for you about the 2002 UF game if we’re bringing up box scores and “don’t throw picks”…
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Oh man, is it as bad as 2010 2011 or 2012? I can’t bear to look. 🙈
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I concur, Murray’s JR and SR years were fantastic. Too bad CMR was still of the belief that he didn’t need a Defense to win football games.
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I don’t think it was that. I think he knew Grantham was a buffoon, there was just no way out at that point. On the defensive side, promoting Willie 2 Thumbs in 2005 was the critical mistake that he could never get out from under. Everything that happens on that side of the ball after that point was fruit from the poisoned tree.
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True
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As freshmen, David Green threw 17 TD / 9 INT and Eason threw 16 TD / 8 INT.
Also, Hurts was a redshirt freshman. There’s a difference.
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Pretty sure Hurts was a true freshman that enrolled early.
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You’re right, I was getting confused because he was imitating Deshaun Watson in championship game prep last year.
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As a freshman Greene threw for more td’s and more yards on less attempts than Eason. Greene also never scored a rating less than 100 in any game Eason did so 3 times. All that said, it wasn’t not Greene’s freshmen year that impressed me. It was the rest of his career. I’ll always give a qb a pass for his freshman season. I just find it concerning that Eason didn’t seem to get any better as the season progressed. It’s debatable as to how much Greene improved over the course of his freshman year, but it’s a moot point because we know how his career ended up, and the guy was a winner. He wasn’t a great talent, but you could count on him when it mattered. Let’s hope Eason becomes that same guy. We saw flashes of it against Mizzou and UT this season.
Jalen Hurts was a true freshman. He played high school football in 2015.
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I think I figured it out, you think, Eason sucks. Hurts and every other freshman QB in the country was better. Did I mention Eason sucks, but there is hope.
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You didn’t find Eason even slightly underwhelming? Hurts as a dual threat qb passed the ball better as a true freshman, if that’s not troubling then what is? The kid posted the worst qb rating at UGA since the turn of the millennium. What am I supposed to think?
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To me, I saw Hurts consistently overthrowing the long ball and could only throw 15 yd or less. They even had a graphic showing how short his completions were. His passing was pretty bad. He was on the field for his legs.
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Right, and with that being the case Hurts was still better than Eason by a clear margin which is worrisome.
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I maybe a homer for this but I was at the Bama Washington game and Hurts didn’t blow me away. He does have receivers that can make circus catches, and a great OL. However, in the Washington game especially, he had wide open targets but he was dancing around trying to figure out if he should run or go through his progressions. I think Bama would be in the championship game with Eason or Hurts. Eason had undersized WRs that dropped balls, and mediocre OL. Eason and Hurts should both improve greatly next year.
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I’m not saying that Hurts was great by any stretch this year. Just that he looked ominously more developed than Eason as a pocket passer.
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Greene was a RS freshman.
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correct
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Eric Zeier.
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Mett is the only UGA QB since to compete with his long ball.
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His long hands got him into trouble in Remerton.
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He was behind a total of 9 minutes after half all year. Zero stress. His defense /ST scored more tds than they gave up.
He is a good one, no question, but the only pass they completed last night while behind was thrown by his WR!
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I’m just talking from a straight completion percentage, yards, and td’s perspective. Statistically Hurst was clearly better than Eason in 2016. That’s all I’m saying. No need to defend it bc it is what is. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope things change going forward.
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Boy, do I shutter to do this…
CB, do you realize Hurts has more turnovers than any player in the country the last half of the season? Do you know what our record would have been if that had been Eason’s story? Do you understand what Bama would have done to Clemson last night if #10 was playing QB for them?
Skinny is going to be special. He is light years ahead of where Stafford was as a true freshman and better than Murray as a redshirt freshman. We gave the dude the ball vs. UNC, Mizzou, UT and UK and said, “Go win it”, and he did it each time.
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I didn’t realize that ab the turnovers. Sounds suspicious though bc he only threw 9 int’s all year. Perhaps he was fumbling a lot? As far as Eason being light years ahead of his predecessors. I don’t see it. Yes, he looked great in some spots, but the overall performance was substandard compared to Stafford and Murray as freshmen imo. Let’s hope to see more of that greatness going forward.
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Murray and Stafford didn’t have an offensive line held together by duct tape and Tyler Catalina. You can’t look at QB stats in a vacuum. I guaran-goddamn-tee both Stafford, Murray, and hell Greene wouldn’t have done better as true freshman behind our Oline this year.
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Of the four Greene is the only one that had the benefit of a good offensive line. Hypothetical guarantees don’t do anything for me. Like I said previously, the o-line played fairly well against Tech, and they were decent in the bowl game. Eason still struggled. Those were the last two games of the year which means he didn’t improve. It’s not a good sign IMO.
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Great article from Dawgnation. The Army All-star game OC said that he had never seen a kid grasp the playbook like Fromm. He gave it to them on a Sunday night and by Monday morning Fromm was correcting the OC on something he said about a play that was wrong. He also said that Fromm called the wheel route they ran for a TD. HE said he did not know who he was going up against in college but they better have a great head on their shoulders because Fromm was the smartest QB he had ever seen. By the way the OC was the HC of the Kentucky State Champions and 15-0 for the year.
Eason has some faults but arm strength is not one of them. He has no touch on his passes. Somebody above mentioned our stone handed receivers. They need to have stone hands otherwise Eason’s going to break their fingers. He is not accurate on a consistent basis.
He has made some great throws but he has missed the open receive by overthrowing on numerous occasions. Remember, early in the season he threw several long balls that were not caught but caused PI penalties. Once the DC’s saw that he wasn’t accurate that never happened again. You don’t interfere if the ball is not going to get caught in the first place.
I agree with the side that says he did not progress over the year. At the end they still didn’t trust him to change the calls. By the end of the year his happy feet were evident. I agree that his Oline was bad but even when they managed to form a pocket Eason never stepped up, he ran outside usually into the waiting arms of the DE or OLB.
For all the hype he was not even in the same league as Hurts or any numerous other true freshman QB’s. Let’s hope it’s just Chaney’s fault like everyone seems to think.
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OK Eason sucks and is the worse freshman QB in the country. He could not find an open receiver, if there were no players on defense.
The only hope is Fromm, who is the next savior.
Gotta love some of the fan base never happy.
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The heck with Fromm, I’m waiting for the next guy after him. He’s going to be killer!
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Dude, we just went 8-5 with losses to Tech and Florida. Sell your high horse to the highest bidding glue factory then sniff that glue until you pass out, and hopefully you’ll wake up enlightened.
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Eason will probably learn more at the Manning camp this summer than anything Chaney can teach him.
Is there anyone who thinks Chaney is a better OC or QB coach than say, Jim Donnan? No way I’m suggesting J.D. be added to the staff. But if he was, everyone would think Kirby was nuts. That’s why I don’t understand why Kirby would retain a perennial mediocre coach like Chaney, particularly after his 2016 performance. After a 2+ decades in cfb this guy is not going to suddenly change to become a top 25 OC/QB coach.
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Donnan as a offensive quality control analyst, that would be fantastic!
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He’s been waiting seventy one years and one month to be the offensive quality control analyst of a football team that has this much potential.
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I’m still confused about the Chaney hire. Must be one hell of an O-line coach to dictate who you hire as the OC……
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Even in the bowl game, he was (as you’ve stated) missing the most basic of reads. Single safety reads. JV stuff. Single coverage on the outside with the safety on the other 1/2 of the field, and still would throw it 2 yards out of bounds on the sideline. A QB’s gotta have the stones to throw that 3 yards in bounds and give his guy a chance. Fromm’s gonna challenge him. Don’t be surprised if he wins the job by October, in what will absolutely be a “throw away season”. Oy
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I think we just found the worst, or most biased, judge of QB talent in the UGA fan base. Note to self, turn the channel the next time this show is on.
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What other handles, has CB gone by? We have had a few who visit only to draw attention to silly subject comments. And they often post in flurries.
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Of course there is a learning curve. Hurds was exposed towards the end of the season and in the playoff games. Still he led his team to the championship game but surrounded by a much talented cast than Eason. I watched him all year and at times I would marvel at the arm he possesses. Then at other times I would just shake my head at some of his throws. But his main problem imho was a lack ot quality WR’s and a inconsistent O-line. I have almost come to accept that you have to have duel threat in College.
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