If you start with the premise that, while Jacob Eason is a tremendously talented quarterback who had his expected struggles starting as a true freshman in the SEC, he is being counted on by the coaching staff, his teammates and the fan base to take the next step forward in his second season, then the question becomes what’s the lever that moves him there? Is he sufficiently self-motivated to push himself to the next level, or is he someone who’s wired to do that by competition?
If it’s the latter — and as Eason enjoyed a stellar high school career without being pressured by competition, that’s far from a given — it’s a little hard to see where that might come from. Lambert, who lost the starting position to Eason by the second game of the season, is gone. Brice Ramsey, who wound up a second straight season as the starting punter, is by some accounts wavering between staying and going.
Then there’s Jake Fromm, the other five-star recruit who’s now sitting in quarterbacks meetings with Eason. While you can never say never, it’s hard to see how replacing one true freshman who had to learn the ropes with coaches, players and an offense he’d never played in before with another who would have to experience the same learning curve would be a recipe for success. You’d have to think the coaches are fervently hoping the light goes on for Eason, which would allow Fromm the benefit of a redshirt year getting comfortable.
But that gets me back to the question in the header. If Eason needs to be pushed towards greatness, who’s gonna do the pushing?
Same thing that pushes most……money. Ultimately, he is not at UGA because he grew up wearing the Red and Black. He wants a chance to play at the next level. And the bankroll that comes with that. Good for him! It is a powerful motivator.
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If Fromm becomes the starter, can we go ahead and start saying 2017 is a throwaway season? The kid looks like a player, and everyone is comparing him to Aaron Murray, who redshirted before taking the reins. A true freshman starting QB for 2 seasons in a row is just as bad as if Kirby had canned Chaney and started over. For this team to have any shot at Atlanta, Jacob Eason needs to be the starting QB everyone said he would be.
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Fromm will push him. Fromm might beat him out. Seems to be a much more focused and intelligent kid. Shouldn’t be your typical Freshman QB.
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Many a high school QB looks smart until they step into an SEC arena…
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Either Eason can push himself or Fromm pushes him and doesn’t redshirt. Pretty simple
How did Richt leave us with no QB depth?!?!? I keed, I keed (I think)
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Eason is the guy until at least January of 2019. He has the build, the talent, composure, and now the experience and respect from the team. Hopefully, Fromm will have a year to redshirt, a year of mop up duty, and 2-3 years to step in and lead a star studded team.
Barring Injury, don’t see a scenario where Fromm supplants Eason in competition but you never know how those G-Day numbers are going to look.
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“but you never know how those G-Day numbers are going to look.” chuckle…good one 😉
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Fromm should redshirt and be there two years from now. We have Sam Vaughn who was MVP of the Scout team that should get some consideration for backing up Eason. Not sure that’s really “pushing” Eason but he seems capable.
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^^^^^^^
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The internet told me Eason will be mixing PowerAid for Fromm next season.
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If we had a QB coach, he could push Eason.
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Not saying that Eason can’t be self motivated but peer competition is hard to beat.
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Yeah maybe one of these adults that we pay millions of dollars to could push one of these student athletes along. Maybe we shouldn’t be hoping that some high school kid is going to come in and coach up our offense.
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First, I would hope he pushes himself regardless of what goes on around him. Self motivated people have a higher percentage of success than those who wait for others to make them strive for more. Secondly, the staff has to have a plan to address the areas that need improvement. Last, I think Eason is smart enough to know that Jake Fromm is no place holder and has a skill set that would allow him to compete for a starting position at any school he might have chosen.
No need arguing with those who think Fromm will just be willing to take a seat, I can assure you Eason has heard the comments from everyone who has observed and coached Fromm. As a competitor, he has to be looking forward to a challenge. Like Eason, Fromm is a 5 star who had his choice of great schools pursuing him, and he has a record of being a winner. He will “push” Eason just by being in the mix, and that is a good thing.
Unquestionably last season’s experience gives Eason a big lead and should result in him earning the start, but this isn’t a slam dunk to last all season if there isn’t improvement. I expect to see an uptick in the “seeing the whole field” area improve. It is the accuracy on mid, to deep, throws that worry me the most because many coaches have said of other strong armed passers, accuracy is difficult to teach. Regardless of where you stand, having these two on board for 2017 is better than having the QB situation we had last season. Dawgs will be better at QB this fall, and I don’t care what his number is on his back because we need better QB play than we have had for the past two seasons, if not three.
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Accuracy may be difficult to teach, but I believe, as with anything, should improve with repetition and increased confidence.
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Better and bigger targets shouldn’t hurt either.
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How is Fromm going to redshirt when we have no other QB’s. ?
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If he never comes into play he red shirts. They don’t have to declare he is red shirting from the get go. Georgia basically has to hope there is a situation that arises that calls for Fromm to have to play.
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“If you don’t have three quarterbacks who can play on your roster, you are in deep shit.” Anon.
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Unless you have a Hines Ward. Didn’t he do stellar duty when all QB’s had been busted up?
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Yes he did, although I still remember Mike Bobo hobbling around the sidelines(on crutches) at a Peach Bowl? vs. Virginia….screaming at Hines to “throw the damn ball, throw the damn ball.” Not completely sure about the game…they have a tendency to run together, donchaknow?
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HW had over 400yds passing. We came up short at 34-27.
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He played his heart out in that 95′ Peach Bowl vs Virgina. Over 400 yds passing. Too bad we came up short.
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I think most athletes benefit from competition, so I certainly hope the coaching staff builds in some competition so both Eason and Fromm will grow and develop with it. Jacob Eason certainly has plenty of room to grow and improve, but I also don’t think that he’s that far away from being where we need him to be. Frankly, if he hadn’t come in with the breathless accolades, we’d likely be pretty pleased with the season he had.
I don’t worry about his motivations or who is pushing him, I simply worry about who is coaching him. I don’t have enough faith in the offensive coaching staff right now. They’ve got work to do, and I hope they’ll do a great job.
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If Fromm’s the starter next year, we’re in trouble.
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That is the safe assumption, and perhaps true. But I would contend we would be no worse off in 2017 than we were this past year. Fromm would unquestionably be at a game experience disadvantage, particularly in the beginning, but I feel pretty confident that he is ahead of where Jason Eason was in mid-January last year. I do hope we get a viable 3rd option so we do not have to limit what they are both capable of doing due to injury concerns.
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Eason’s accuracy scares me!!!!!!
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what accuracy? oh, wait…
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Go read the post about the O-line recruits. Being able to block a 4-3 or 3-4 with a blitzing linebacker or two with your interior 5 frees up some guys to make plays. So maybe not a push but a boost. Anyway, whoever the QB is he needs to be 6’5″ at least to see over them.
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I don;t understand why there Is ever any mention of Fromm redshirting.
No way that he will be at UGA for 5 years. The NFL will be calling.
Eason will be the QB but Fromm will push him & earn some playing time.
Fromm needs what experience he can get during the Games.
The Dawgs need to recruit a QB to follow Fromm.
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Jake Fromm has not yet participated in a single collegiate practice, but we can already guarantee that the NFL will be calling loudly enough for him to leave college early and we should go ahead and put him in games ahead of the guy who has a year of experience under his belt and played pretty well at times.
But yeah, we can still make fun of other fan bases for being unrealistic or reactionary.
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Blame Bobo. If he were here, I think we’d have seen a lot more development out of Eason by the end of the season.
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I’m betting Eason will be more than just fine in 17. With those running backs and an upgraded line, some age, and a season under his belt, he will almost certainly be better. When he starts hitting the long one, it will show his confidence is good..but I’m hoping we don’t have to throw it deep too often because we’ll be ahead and grinding clock.
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I hope we can throw the deep one just to show off.
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Who pushed Eric Zeier? Was it Brian Smith, Greg Talley, or Mike Bobo? I think EZ was the kind of QB who could motivate himself.
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If Chaney stays on much longer as our “OC” it won’t really matter who is playing at QB because things will stayed screwed up bigtime like all those strange situations with his play calling last Fall.How can Fromm redshirt anyway with Ramsey being rumored to graduate and moving on?
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Sam Vaughn.
I watched a play during the patriots game where the Pats O line just manhandled the D line. Brady could have smoked a cigarette and loved up Giselle on the phone, then thrown the pass. You get a line like that, Sam would be fine. Put JE back there and look out world.
I should not have read the post about the recruits being huge. It’s gonna be good guys, keep the faith!
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Cowdog is right. Give Vaughn a shot..
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