Chris Petersen and Washington are staring down the barrel of a monumental task after next season. They must replace Jake Browning, one of the best — if not the best — quarterback in the program history. The good news: Petersen's quarterback room in 2019 will have as much talent as any in college football.
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Three weeks after the Huskies signed two four-star quarterbacks in the 2018 recruiting class, Colson Yankoff and Jacob Sirmon, The Seattle Times reported that Washington native Jacob Eason is expected to transfer from Georgia.
On Tuesday morning, just hours after Eason and the Bulldogs lost to Alabama in the national championship, Adam Jude wrote, "Barring a last-minute change of heart, former Lake Stevens High School star quarterback Jacob Eason is expected to transfer from Georgia to Washington for the next step in his college football career, multiple sources told The Seattle Times."
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Eason was a five-star prospect, the top-ranked quarterback in the 2016 class and Gatorade National Player of the Year when he picked Georgia over Washington, the school just 30 miles southeast of his Lake Stevens, Wash., home. He won the starting job as a true freshman and threw for 2,430 yards and 16 touchdowns in 13 games. Eason was injured in their 2017 opener and replaced by another true freshman, Jake Fromm, who led the Bulldogs to the SEC Championship and locked up the starting job for 2018 and beyond.
The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Eason will be the favorite to win the starting job in Seattle but it's no guarantee with Yankoff, Sirmon and 2019 commit Dylan Morris on the depth chart.
Yankoff is a dual-threat quarterback from Idaho who picked Washington over nearly 20 other programs last May and signed during the early signing period. The 78th-ranked player in the country has good size (6-foot-3, 200 pounds), arm strength and speed, and protects the ball while working through his progressions.
Sirmon, the fifth-ranked pro-style passer in the 2018 class, is from nearby Bothell, Wash., and like Yankoff, signed in December. He has a similar build as Eason (6-foot-5, 226 pounds), picked the Huskies over Alabama, Michigan and others and could play next year if Browning weren't returning.
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Morris is a strong candidate for a redshirt in 2019 (like both Yankoff and Sirmon are in 2019) but don't rule out the Graham, Wash., native challenging the other three for immediate playing time. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound pro-style passer picked Washington in July and is considered an athletic playmaker with the pocket skills to fit any system.
Replacing Browning — who will chase 10,000 passing yards, 100 touchdowns and 40 wins for his career next fall — will be no easy task, but Washington will have a pile of options that could be just as good, if not better, than the record-setting four-year starter.
