Jacob Eason proves worth the wait for Washington football fans

It was a long wait for Washington football fans to see Jacob Eason in a game, but the wait was well worth it after a stellar debut.

It was a long wait to see Jacob Eason in a game for Washington but the wait was well worth it for Huskies fans.

Eason’s numbers on Saturday are gaudy. Eason completed 27-of-36 passes for 349 yards and four touchdowns. Those stats don’t show how impressive he looked at times today, though. He was accurate, dropping beautiful touch passes where only his guys could catch them. The ball came out of his hand cleanly and with the zip, one would expect from a top-tier quarterback. His arrival puts an exclamation point on Washington’s potential where there once was a question mark.

The Huskies put the rest of the Pac-12 North on notice today. There will be no step backward after Jake Browning graduated. The offense will continue to hum and might be even better. The offense looks ready to bring Washington to Pasadena and maybe even the CFP.

Saturday’s game against Eastern Washington is the end of a long road back to the starting lineup of a Power 5 team for a quarterback who once looked like the future of Georgia’s team. Eason started as a true freshman for a Georgia team that went 8-5 in Kirby Smart’s first season as head coach. He finished with 2,430 yards, 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions. While not living up to 2019’s Georgia machine, it was a solid season for a true freshman in the difficult SEC. It looked like Eason was on his way to leading the Bulldogs for another two-three years.

Sadly, footballs don’t bounce cleanly, and Eason found himself in an Athenian tragedy. An injury in the first game of his 2017 sophomore season opened the door for Jake Fromm. Fromm never looked back, and Georgia brought in the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback. Usurped and challenged, the former starter Eason — and former five-star recruit — was left without a place to play.

So Eason ventured home.

The Washington Huskies, thanks to Chris Petersen, have blossomed into a Pac-12 power, winning the conference two of the past four years and making the CFP in 2015. In 2018, the Huskies had a firmly entrenched starter, Jake Browning (Jake/Jacob No. 3 if you’re counting), entering his fourth year as the starter. The timing was perfect. Eason had to sit a year while Browning finished his senior year, leaving the position in 2019 wide open. Eason chose to settle in Seattle.

While some thought Eason would win the job in a cakewalk, he was tested to the end. He ended up beating Jake Haener (Jake/Jacob No. 4) for the job. Now that he’s the starter, the only tests Eason will face from are opposing defenses.

The Huskies will need to be able to score, as Oregon is primed for a monster year themselves. Returning veteran, and potential top-five pick, Justin Herbert heads up the offense in Year 2 under Mario Cristobal. The Ducks defense looks even filthier, overcoming a number of its offense’s miscues to frustrate Auburn’s offense for much of the kickoff game in Arlington.

Oregon might be ranked ahead of Washington in Week 1, but the way Eason played, it now looks like Oct. 19 will decide which team, the Huskies or the Duck, will take the Pac-12 crown.

As for Eason, he is now in the enviable position of playing for a College Football Playoff contender with two years of eligibility left.

It may not have been how Eason envisioned it when he took the reins in Georgia in 2016, but Eason is right where he needs to be. After two years of waiting, Eason is home and can be the x-factor to lead the Huskies to a Pac-12 title and perhaps back to the playoff.