Georgia Football: 5 reasons Jacob Eason should start at quarterback in 2016
By John Buhler
5. Doesn’t seem afraid of the big stage
Smart said in his post-G-Day press conference that even though well over 93,000 fans of Georgia football were in attendance, he didn’t believe that had a negative impact on Eason’s first performance at Sanford Stadium.
While Eason may need some time to adjust from playing against lesser competition in the Pacific Northwest to the ridiculous amount of football talent displayed in the SEC, he seems unaffected by playing big time college football as he enters his true freshman season at Georgia in 2016.
This notion of feeling comfortable playing in big games is vastly important for Georgia for two huge reasons:
1.) Georgia has three massive games in their first four contests on the 2016 docket: North Carolina at the Georgia Dome for the home opener, on the road in Columbia to face the division rival Missouri Tigers in Week 3, and a daunting, almost un-winnable road contest against Hugh Freeze’s Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford for Week 4.
2.) Lambert may have gone 10-2 as the starting quarterback for Georgia in 2016, but he didn’t always thrive in hostile SEC road environments. He struggled in Nashville against the Vanderbilt Commodores, looked a tad overwhelmed at times in Knoxville opposite the Tennessee Volunteers, and Richt started third-stringer Faton Bauta over him in the neutral-site rivalry game versus the arch rival Florida Gators.
If Eason continues to exude confidence in summer practice, Smart may want to throw him into the fire in the first few weeks to see what he truly has in his phenomenal true freshman quarterback.
Next: 4. No guarantees he stays for four seasons.