Where Greyson Lambert, Brice Ramsey and Jacob Eason stand in Georgia’s QB race
Jacob Eason’s performance was a thrill for those attending Georgia’s G-Day spring game to see.
He tossed numerous perfect passes, threw the deep ball well and excited the crowd with the physical tools that earned him five-star status. At the same time, Eason also showed off some freshman mistakes by holding the ball a little too long and by throwing the ball a bit too high on a few occasions over the middle.
His day ended 19-of-29 passing for 244 yards and a touchdown, which could cause a lot of people to prematurely think he’s wrapped up the starting quarterback job. For anyone who has this belief, head coach Kirby Smart had a message to relay.
"Really? Why would people say that?" Smart said. "To me, (Eason) ended up (66) percent. Brice (Ramsey) was (64) percent. And Greyson (Lambert) had two drops and one bad decision, but he was right at 50 percent. For people to say that, maybe they should go to ‘Coaching 101.’ I don’t see that being that the case. What I see going into fall camp is three guys that have three different traits. All three of them got some growing to do. I want to see them improve."
Even though Eason had the big performance at G-Day, it certainly seems there’s still some ground he has to make up to catch both Greyson Lambert and Brice Ramsey. It’s worth noting that Eason worked only with the second and third teams at G-Day, while Lambert and Ramsey rotated with the first group.
Lambert, who went 10-2 as a starter a year ago (Faton Bauta started Georgia’s other loss against Florida), would still seemingly be the front-runner of the competition at this time.
But based on what was put on the field at G-Day, and through what those around the program stated through spring quarterbacks, all three quarterbacks have had moments where the job could be theirs.
The case for Lambert: From a coaching perspective, Lambert would be the safest of the three quarterbacks to go with. Has he proven to be an explosive game-changing quarterback during his career? No. But her certainly improved over the final half of the 2015 season while limiting his mistakes throwing the ball.
While he only threw for 1,959 yards in 12 starts, Lambert tossed just 2 interceptions. Sure, he should have had more – namely in games against Vanderbilt and Missouri. But he didn’t throw a pick in his final five games after going into game-manager mode (a term most quarterbacks admittedly hate). Lambert stayed within himself and helped Georgia reel off five consecutive wins to close the season. If Georgia is able to have running back Nick Chubb at full strength to start the season, Smart and offensive coordinator Jim Chaney could easily feel that Lambert will put the Bulldogs in the safest situations.
The case for Ramsey: Ramsey had a positive G-Day showing and worked well with the first team. He showed off his arm and displayed some athleticism by making throws outside of the pocket. He finished G-Day 16-of-25 passing for 224 yards, doing much of his damage with the first team.
On the Black team, Ramsey was 9 of 13 for 142 yards, the best of any quarterback with the top group. Smart stated early this spring that Ramsey was making a number of plays in practice. But the one criticism Smart had of Ramsey was that he needed to show more fire in his style of play while stepping up into a bigger leadership role. If Ramsey can work on his demeanor this offseason then perhaps he can overtake Lambert and hold off Eason for the starting job.
The case for Eason: Of the three quarterbacks, Eason is the most physically gifted. While he has a lot to learn in adjusting to SEC football, Eason has the arm strength and wherewithal to be ready for this moment. More and more freshmen are stepping into these high-pressure positions and succeeding, and Eason could very well be the next one to do it. By going with Eason early in his career, Georgia could set the youngster up for future success.
The only problem with this is that Georgia will face North Carolina (Georgia Dome), Missouri and Mississippi away from Sanford Stadium in the first month of the 2016 season. That’s a lot for any true freshman quarterback to deal with that soon into his career, regardless of the stature he’s coming in with. Then again, Eason may not be your ordinary true freshman quarterback. By all accounts, he has the mental makeup to succeed at this level of college football to go along with the physical talent he possesses.
This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Where Greyson Lambert, Brice Ramsey and Jacob Eason stand in Georgia’s QB race."