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Pump the brakes on Jacob Eason? Go fuck yourself!
DoogCourics
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Via Christian Caple of the Athletic, full story in the WAM:
SEATTLE — The big man on campus wore a black University of Washington cap as he surveyed his new domain, searching out friends and accommodating well-wishers after a debut performance that will do nothing to subdue those who believe him to be the Huskies’ Next Big Thing.
Then again, before Saturday, Eason might have been the most popular player in UW history who hadn’t yet appeared in a game. He has nearly 125,000 Twitter followers — significantly more than his coach — and a legion of Georgia fans who still follow his every move.
And if coach Chris Petersen thinks expectations for his fourth-year junior passer are already “out of whack,” as he lamented Thursday, just wait until he gauges the reaction to Eason’s UW debut. Because it’s hard to imagine how it could have been any better.
Eason was 27-of-36 for 349 yards — most ever by a UW quarterback in his first game — and four touchdowns; he’s the first UW quarterback to throw that many in a season opener since Brock Huard in 1998. He didn’t throw any interceptions. He didn’t fumble. He wasn’t sacked.
Short of donning a Captain Husky outfit while single-handedly shutting down The Zone, he couldn’t have endeared himself to UW fans any more.
Brake-pumping aside, though, this was as fun as the Huskies’ offense has looked since John Ross ran circles around Pac-12 foes. Eason waited until UW’s second possession to let loose with his powerful right arm, flicking his wrist for a 50-yard touchdown pass to receiver Andre Baccellia after a well-executed play-fake. He had all day to throw and hit Baccellia in stride a few yards before he crossed the goal line. It was exactly the kind of play the 65,709 in attendance came to see, the kind of effortless deep ball those fans envisioned when Eason announced his transfer from Georgia.
“We’ve been planning that play all week,” Eason said. “You know how fast Andre is. With Andre, you can just let it fly and he can run under that thing, so that’s another great target we have here and a guy that’s been working hard all camp.”
Even the guy’s incompletions drew oohs and aahs, particularly a long miss he unfurled on first down from UW’s 43 early in the second quarter. It came after an imperfect snap — redshirt freshman Matteo Mele had subbed in for starter Nick Harris, who left with what appeared to be some kind of leg injury — and was intended for senior receiver Aaron Fuller, who highlighted this game with two spectacular touchdown catches.
This wasn’t one of them. Fuller was running a go-route and beat his man, but Eason threw the thing so far that Fuller couldn’t catch up to it. The stadium buzzed upon realizing just how mighty the heave was: Eason let it go from UW’s 35 and it landed at about EWU’s 2, covering about 63 yards in the air. And that’s without factoring in the angle.
“I swear to you, it came from heaven,” Fuller said. “All I saw was it just went into the clouds and came down, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ And it was off a bad snap, too.
“I don’t know how he did it, but he did it with ease.”
Petersen liked the touchdown a bit more: “It was just nice to see that deep ball going downfield, turning it over, hitting him in stride. We had another one we just kind of missed. He can throw it a long ways. I know everybody gets excited; not me when it hits the ground.”
Aside from the touchdowns, Eason also completed passes of 30, 21, 27, 19 and 20 yards. He targeted Baccellia more often than any other receiver, and the senior led all pass-catchers with 84 yards, though junior tight end Hunter Bryant led the team with six receptions. Fuller and senior Chico McClatcher caught five balls each.
“I was eager to see what he would do because I haven’t seen him play in games and things like that,” Fuller said. “There was maybe a small bit of doubt, just to see how he would control the offense and things like that. But I’ve never doubted his arm or what he could do — his upside. It was good to see.”
SEATTLE — The big man on campus wore a black University of Washington cap as he surveyed his new domain, searching out friends and accommodating well-wishers after a debut performance that will do nothing to subdue those who believe him to be the Huskies’ Next Big Thing.
Then again, before Saturday, Eason might have been the most popular player in UW history who hadn’t yet appeared in a game. He has nearly 125,000 Twitter followers — significantly more than his coach — and a legion of Georgia fans who still follow his every move.
And if coach Chris Petersen thinks expectations for his fourth-year junior passer are already “out of whack,” as he lamented Thursday, just wait until he gauges the reaction to Eason’s UW debut. Because it’s hard to imagine how it could have been any better.
Eason was 27-of-36 for 349 yards — most ever by a UW quarterback in his first game — and four touchdowns; he’s the first UW quarterback to throw that many in a season opener since Brock Huard in 1998. He didn’t throw any interceptions. He didn’t fumble. He wasn’t sacked.
Short of donning a Captain Husky outfit while single-handedly shutting down The Zone, he couldn’t have endeared himself to UW fans any more.
Brake-pumping aside, though, this was as fun as the Huskies’ offense has looked since John Ross ran circles around Pac-12 foes. Eason waited until UW’s second possession to let loose with his powerful right arm, flicking his wrist for a 50-yard touchdown pass to receiver Andre Baccellia after a well-executed play-fake. He had all day to throw and hit Baccellia in stride a few yards before he crossed the goal line. It was exactly the kind of play the 65,709 in attendance came to see, the kind of effortless deep ball those fans envisioned when Eason announced his transfer from Georgia.
“We’ve been planning that play all week,” Eason said. “You know how fast Andre is. With Andre, you can just let it fly and he can run under that thing, so that’s another great target we have here and a guy that’s been working hard all camp.”
Even the guy’s incompletions drew oohs and aahs, particularly a long miss he unfurled on first down from UW’s 43 early in the second quarter. It came after an imperfect snap — redshirt freshman Matteo Mele had subbed in for starter Nick Harris, who left with what appeared to be some kind of leg injury — and was intended for senior receiver Aaron Fuller, who highlighted this game with two spectacular touchdown catches.
This wasn’t one of them. Fuller was running a go-route and beat his man, but Eason threw the thing so far that Fuller couldn’t catch up to it. The stadium buzzed upon realizing just how mighty the heave was: Eason let it go from UW’s 35 and it landed at about EWU’s 2, covering about 63 yards in the air. And that’s without factoring in the angle.
“I swear to you, it came from heaven,” Fuller said. “All I saw was it just went into the clouds and came down, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ And it was off a bad snap, too.
“I don’t know how he did it, but he did it with ease.”
Petersen liked the touchdown a bit more: “It was just nice to see that deep ball going downfield, turning it over, hitting him in stride. We had another one we just kind of missed. He can throw it a long ways. I know everybody gets excited; not me when it hits the ground.”
Aside from the touchdowns, Eason also completed passes of 30, 21, 27, 19 and 20 yards. He targeted Baccellia more often than any other receiver, and the senior led all pass-catchers with 84 yards, though junior tight end Hunter Bryant led the team with six receptions. Fuller and senior Chico McClatcher caught five balls each.
“I was eager to see what he would do because I haven’t seen him play in games and things like that,” Fuller said. “There was maybe a small bit of doubt, just to see how he would control the offense and things like that. But I’ve never doubted his arm or what he could do — his upside. It was good to see.”
Comments
Less embarrassing that way.
Also, I don’t understand having and paying for tickets and not going.
5 minutes b4 kick as Huskies came out of the tunnel no chance in hell there was 35,000 people there. 15 minutes before kick there wasn't 25k there.
UW AD tried to roll out like the Sounders do a huge flag where team runs out that said "Welcome to the Greatest Setting In college football bull shit". Either there wasn't enough people in the stands to unfurough it, or someone looked at the crowd and said this is embarrasing kill it