The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2. Smart: Eason is the starter
UGA coach settles on pick after talking up QB competition.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart appeared to acknowledge what has seemed apparent for a while: Jacob Eason (above) will be Georgia’s starting quarterback, at least at the outset.“Jacob Eason is our starter going into the season. Jake Fromm’s got to do something to beat him out,”Smart said Tuesday at SEC media days. “Very similar to a lot of positions. You’ve got to beat them out. But we’re very excited about both of them. Including Brice (Ramsey), we have three talented players.”
Georgia coach Kirby Smart appeared to acknowledge what has seemed apparent for a while: Jacob Eason will be Georgia’s starting quarterback, at least at the outset.
“Jacob Eason is our starter going into the season. Jake Fromm’s got to do something to beat him out,” Smart said Tuesday at SEC Media Days. “Very similar to a lot of positions. You’ve got to beat them out. But we’re very excited about both of them. Including Brice (Ramsey), we have three talented players.”
Though Eason started all but one game last season, Smart talked up the competition this spring with Fromm, a freshman who enrolled early.
That was before Ramsey changed his mind about transferring and returned to Georgia for his senior season. Ramsey spent last season as the No. 3 quarterback but has playing experience. That would appear to take pressure off Fromm to play right away. Ramsey could step in if needed if something happens to Eason early in the season.
But that doesn’t change the positive impression Fromm has made in his short time on campus.
“Will Jake Fromm push Jacob Eason? Yeah, he already has,” Smart said. “I think he’s made Jacob respect the game and understand the importance of knowing the ins and outs of every play.” Wilson, Thomas win praise: Georgia’s ballyhooed new offensive linemen have been on campus a little over a month, and at least two of them, Isaiah Wilson and Andrew Thomas, are drawing praise for not acting as if they’re ballyhooed.
Wilson and Thomas were top 50-rated recruits — Wilson was a five-star — and will have a chance to start right away. When Georgia tailback Sony Michel was asked Tuesday which freshmen were making a positive impression, he pointed to those two.
“Andrew, Isaiah, they came in and they’re just buying in,” Michel said. “They don’t have the mindset, ‘Oh, I’m the fivestar who’s coming to play. It’s, ‘I want to learn, I want to compete, so I can play.’”
Nick Chubb, the other star senior tailback, echoed that.
“They don’t run their mouth that they’re a five-star,” Chubb said.
There’s at least one starting job up for grabs on Georgia’s line, and perhaps more, depending on how things shake out. Both Wilson and Thomas play tackle, and the most uncertain spot on the line is right tackle.
Senior Isaiah Wynn seems set at left tackle. Junior Lamont Gaillard is the favorite at center. And the two guard spots were manned this spring by sophomore Pat Allen and freshman Solomon Kindley.
But with only Wynn and Gaillard being returning starters, the opportunity is there for the freshmen to move into a big role. Netori Johnson and Justin Shaffer also could push to get in the conversation at guard. And junior-college transfer D’Marcus Hayes, who enrolled for spring practice, also is contending at tackle. Trio back at Sanford as visitors: Georgia’s SEC opener this season is against Mississippi State, and there will be just a few angles there: Todd Grantham, Jonathan Abram and Chauncey Rivers all come back to Sanford Stadium for the first time as visitors.
Grantham, of course, has faced his former team, in the 2014 Belk Bowl, when Grantham was in his first season as Louisville’s defensive coordinator, after he was Georgia’s from 2010-13.
After three seasons at Louisville, Grantham was hired by Mississippi State this offseason, marking a return to the SEC. And when linebacker Dez Harris was asked Tuesday about his new coordinator, his description rang familiar.
“He’s a very emotional — not emotional, but spirited guy,” Harris said. “He’s always brought juice and energy and all that to practice every single day.”
Grantham is assigned the job of improving a Mississippi State defense that ranked 12th in the SEC and 110th nationally last season in yards allowed. Louisville’s defense ranked 14th nationally last season under Grantham, two spots ahead of Georgia.
“It was great to get somebody of his level to come to Mississippi State and run our defense,” Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said.
Abram, who started seven games at safety in 2015, elected to transfer after the coaching change at Georgia. On the night that Mark Richt was fired, Abram walked by media members and shouted, “Keep Pruitt!” After Pruitt was not retained, Abram went to a junior college, then to Mississippi State.
Rivers played sparingly in 2015 as a freshman, then was dismissed from the team the next spring after his third marijuana-related arrest. He also went the junior college route.