Every top QB prospect wants to separate himself from the rest of the pack, and it’s much easier to do so when you have a trump card in your skill set.
Washington’s Jacob Eason has one, and it’s the rocket attached to his right shoulder.
One of the best passers in the 2020 NFL Draft, Eason recently spoke exclusively with Draft Wire about his transfer from Georgia to Washington, how sitting out a year prepared him for his stellar 2019 season, and what kind of player he’ll be at the next level.
JM: You’ve now had a lot of time to reflect on the transfer from Georgia to Washington. How do you look back on that move today?
JE: I’ve thought about this a lot. I always start by looking back at the decision to go to Georgia in the first place. The journey I took to get where I am today certainly didn’t go as planned. Things went differently and that’s life sometimes. I essentially lost the opportunity to play in two different seasons and I never pictured myself transferring away from Georgia when I first committed there out of high school. I’ve learned so much throughout this journey.
I still believe that the decision to transfer to Washington was in my best interest. It was a decision I made for the betterment of my own career. It was the best decision for me. I’m really glad that I chose to do that. I was able to receive some great coaching and make a ton of great friends at Georgia. I’ll forever be thankful to the coaching staff there and every single one of my teammates as well. I learned a lot in the two years that I spent at Georgia.
I was able to transfer to Washington and learn some more from a new coaching staff. They gave me a fresh perspective on things and I made a ton of great friends there as well. They gave me an opportunity to establish myself on a great team that plays in a great conference.
The decision to transfer and the process that I went through was both challenging and difficult because I had made so many great relationships at Georgia. I had already established myself as a player there.
Coming back home to Washington was awesome. It’s an experience that I’ll never forget.
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JM: The quarterback is often the leader in the locker room. You arrive at Washington with your history, you have to sit out a year due to the transfer rules, and Jake Browning is still the guy there. How did you go about trying to establish yourself as the future leader of that program?
JE: I came in and due to the transfer rules, I wasn’t able to suit up on Saturday’s during my first year at Washington. I was older and more mature than I was when I first arrived at Georgia. I was able to establish myself as a leader through workouts, activities off the field and practices. You’re used to playing on Saturday’s and now you’re not able to do that. Now obviously I knew what I was getting myself into when I made the decision to transfer. There’s an adjustment that comes with that.
I really just embraced practice more than ever before. My Tuesday through Thursday was the new Saturday for me. I was able to establish myself as the scout team quarterback. I was able to get the younger guys to rally around me a little bit. Those guys who weren’t getting the Saturday reps, I was able to lead the scout team and really create a bond with those guys. We learned together.
Getting to play and practice alongside Jake Browning was a big thing for me. I was really able to start over. It was a fresh start right from the ground up. I had to establish myself in practice first and foremost. Being the gamer and competitor that I am, it was all about practice and workouts for me now.
It was a very cool and unique experience. I was a local kid that came back home. People in this area knew who I was, but I was still able to start from scratch. I had to prove my work ethic and show everybody here what I was capable of. I had to prove that I was worthy of playing on Saturday’s again.
JM: You mentioned that getting to play alongside Jake Browning was a big thing for you. By all accounts, Jake is the ultimate professional, and a really great teammate to be around. You were able to sit behind him and watch how he ran things. What did you take from that experience?
JE: It was such a cool experience. It was a very fresh and unique situation because I came in and I wasn’t a threat to his job. I couldn’t challenge him. There was no quarterback controversy because I couldn’t play. It gave me a chance to come in and be a true friend to him. I was able to serve as an extra set of eyes in the meeting room and on the practice field. I was just another guy in the room that he could lean on and vice versa.
I was able to really learn from that situation. It gave me a chance to shadow him and watch how he conducted himself. He had an outstanding career at Washington. He set a lot of records in his time there. He did things the right way and he set a great example for me. Jake’s football I.Q. is brilliant when it comes to watching film. He sees everything on the field. It gave me a great chance to learn from how he operated in the film room. I saw how the work he did in the film room translated to the practice field. I took so much from that. Jake was very good at seeing things and analyzing different coverages. He understood how to leverage defenders.
Jake and I have very different skill-sets. We operate differently but the way that he prepared and got ready for every Saturday set an excellent example for me. It was something that I was able to learn from and implement into my routines.
JM: What can you tell me about the offense you ran at Washington? What sort of chemistry did you have with offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan?
JE: Coach Hamdan was awesome. From the time I got there up until the day that we both left Washington, we established a great relationship. He really values the relationship part of it. Some coaches will just coach to coach and you’re just another player to them but that’s not coach Hamdan. He does a really good job of establishing relationships with every guy in the quarterback room. That goes for the receivers as well, he pulled double duty as our receivers coach.
He understood how I operated. We nurtured our relationship. I think that we had outstanding chemistry. He helped me a ton on Saturday’s. I really enjoyed going out and practicing for him. I valued our relationship. Because of that, I was able to go out there and have fun. I enjoyed playing for him.
JM: What sort of responsibilities did he give you at the line of scrimmage?
JE: We had so many different packages in our offense. It wasn’t anything overly crazy though. Whether it was an RPO, a run check, a one-high or two-high look, maybe we’re keying in on a specific defender. I had the option to audible out of the protection or a flip a play to the other side of the field. The coaching staff had a lot of trust in what I was seeing out there. The floodgates of communication were always open.
In the RPO situation, I could run it, throw it or hand it off based on what I’m seeing. There were certain coverages that would provide us with different indicators. I always had the option to get things set up in a way that lined up with what I was seeing out there.
Coach Hamdan is a really good play caller though. A lot of the time, his game-planning consistently had us in the right situation and set up. It’s not like I had to go out there and frequently change things. He’s a great game-planner, he does a great job studying the film and setting us up for success on Saturday’s. He always put me in a good situation. I’m very thankful to him for that.
I had a lot of freedom but we were lined up in a great situation most of the time. We usually had a really good play-call and I just tried to execute that to the best of my ability.
JM: You’re very complimentary of Coach Hamdan and the way that he watched film. What goes into your film study? What are some examples of things that you personally look for on film?
JE: I usually start off by trying to identify who there better defenders are. You always wanna look for who’s gonna be a threat out there on Saturday. You also wanna look for somebody that maybe presents himself as a match-up advantage for us. Who can we pick on? I’m always looking for those indicators. I look at their alignments and how they try to disguise something. Are they off the hash? Is there some subtle movement that tips what the coverage is gonna be?
I look for things that will help me get a clear picture on Saturday. Throughout the week, I look for things on film that will help me cut it loose on Saturday. I never wanted to be unsure of something. At the same time, you never want to muddy your mind. You never wanna second guess yourself. Trust what you see and prepare to attack on Saturday. I never wanted to over-analyze the situation. That’s when you start battling your own mind. I wanna play freely and cut it loose. I’d watch film to identify the things that could help me do that.
JM: Which areas of your game do you think took the biggest step forward this past season?
JE: I really focused on improving my leadership abilities this past season. I think that’s the area that I took my biggest step forward in. As I mentioned earlier, I missed two seasons before this last season. My biggest thing was that I was very excited and happy to be out there again. I was excited to cut it loose. I had so many different things happen for me this year. I was really able to step up and become a vocal leader and rally the troops. I had a chance to put that on display this year. Along with that, my passion in certain situations really came through. You saw it when we made a big play. I was just able to cut it loose and have fun again.
I was truly happy to play the game that I love this past season.
JM: I’ve been really impressed by your training schedule throughout this process as you continue to prepare for the next level. From a mechanics aspect, I know that you’ve been working with the guys from 3DQB. Tom, Adam, John and Taylor do a great job with that. They work with the best of the best, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and so on. You’ve also been working on some speed and strength stuff with Gavin MacMillan and his team over at Sanford Power. How have those two processes been going for you?
JE: Every single one of those guys have been awesome to work with. The area that we’re training in, the weather has been perfect and it’s allowed us to work really hard every day. With Gavin and everyone over at Sanford Power, they do some things that I’ve never done before. Their understanding of mechanics and the human body is so incredibly advanced. The machines are top notch. With they’ve done with my legs and upper body has really paid off for me.
These are things I’ve never done before. I ran a 4.89 at the combine. That’s the fastest time I’ve ever ran (laughs). The things they’re doing to keep me mobile and build up my muscle mass has been really incredible. They’ve helped me become quicker and faster all while getting stronger. Gavin and the entire team know what they’re doing. They’ve put a lot of time into getting me right throughout this process.
With 3DQB, they start from the ground up. I obviously have a very strong arm and they knew that. They didn’t really wanna mess with anything up top but the biggest issue that I wanted to work on was getting everything involved from the ground up. We’ve worked on getting my feet to match up with my upper body. We’re getting my hips involved. We’re working on my half step. I’ve been working with them for four days a week. We worked all the way up until the combine and we had a little mock Pro Day as well.
It’s been great to have both of those resources at my fingertips. They’re all top notch. They have a number of guys who are the best at what they do. They’ve worked with some very impressive people as you mentioned, guys like Tom Brady and what not. They both have an excellent track record. It’s been an honor. They’ve all been so great to work with.
JM: What are three traits that a successful quarterback must possess?
JE: Work ethic and leadership are the first traits that come to mind for me. You have to work to be the best. Nothing comes free and nothing comes easy. Every quarterback that has gone on to do great things put in their fair share of work. You’re gonna go through the ups and downs of this position and you have to work through it. It’s the will to get better that picks you back up and motivates you. A lot of work has to go into that.
You have to be passionate and you have to have that drive. A lot of the all-time greats are very charismatic. You have to be a gamer on the field. You can play all you want but if your love for the game isn’t genuine, I don’t think that you can have any sort of sustained success. My passion is what drives me. I’m highly motivated to play the game that I love at a high level. I love playing the game and I love being in the locker room. It extends beyond myself. I don’t play the game for one person. I love playing with the group of guys in our locker room. That’s what motivates me.
JM: As a quarterback, how do you balance being aggressive with taking the safe play?
JE: It all goes into what the game-plan for that week is. There’s definitely areas to be exploited. We discuss and work on situational football all the time. You wanna take a shot sometimes. You have to know when and where to take those opportunities. I’ve been known to take a few extra risks with my strong arm. I know I can get away with that. I feel confident in my ability to make those plays. There’s also situations where you have to play it smart. If it’s third-and-short, we need to take the safe route and simply pick up the first down. It all goes into the game-plan. We’re always working on making sure that we have a healthy balance of both.
That’s what’s so much fun about this game. When you get good at it, you can really test yourself and take some chances. Sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don’t. All that matters is that you continue to learn throughout the process.
JM: Developing trust with your pass catchers is imperative when playing the quarterback position. How do you try to build trust with your guys?
JE: That’s what the off-season is for. The 7-on-7 drills, the spring practices, you have to take advantage of that time and really start to build a rapport with your pass catchers. Everything we do from the start of camp and practice up until the start of the season has to really focus on building that trust and chemistry. You’re still building some of that trust well into the season. Sometimes you have guys that weren’t necessarily playing early in the year or they had injuries during camp or whatever.
At Washington, some of the guys who weren’t playing at the beginning of the year became some of our better receivers late in the year. They remained consistent in what they were doing and it paid off for them later in the season.
A lot of that trust is built during the off-season and it carries over throughout the year. That chemistry is huge. I had guys like Hunter Bryant and Aaron Fuller at my disposal. I had several big-time targets that I really trusted. They ended up playing really well for us.
It’s really on us players to build that trust and rapport with one another. We really only get the time slots allotted to us by the NCAA to work on that, to be there on the field with our coaches and everybody else. A lot of that ends up falling on us quarterbacks, receivers and tight ends. We have to build that chemistry one way or another. We did a good job of preparing for that at Washington.
JM: What was your experience like at the NFL Scouting Combine?
JE: It was awesome. Going into it, I prepared as best as I could. I really tried to mock every single situation I may have found myself in. Everybody here at Rep 1 did a great job helping me prepare for that. I felt very confident going into the combine. It was great to come together with all of the athletes that have trained for this moment. We all had a chance to put our talents on display.
From a competitive standpoint, it was awesome to go out there and throw the ball with the top guys in the country. It felt like my dreams were coming true on that stage. The experience was fantastic. It was a long, tough week but I look back on it as a huge blessing. I was thankful to be put into every one of those situations. I’ve always dreamed about it. It was an awesome week.
JM: Taking every aspect of the combine into account, every situation you were put in, what do you think is the overall impression you left out there?
JE: I feel very confident in the impression that I left out there. I know the type of play-maker I am. I know what my skill-set is. I’m very confident in my personality traits as well. I felt good about every one of my meetings. I feel very confident in the way that I left the combine. I’m just looking forward to this next step in the process. The virus has certainly shaken things up a little but we’re just taking things one day at a time. I’m excited for what comes next.
JM: It’s a very unique process due to COVID-19. Were you able to get any private visits or workouts in before the virus caused all 32 teams to pull everybody off the road?
JE: It all happened so fast. None of my private visits or workouts ended up happening. That’s been the case for several of us players. It’s been a unique process. I’ve been able to hop on video conference calls with several different teams. That’s basically been a daily process for me. I’ve been in touch with a lot of different people and teams throughout this process.
Of course I wish we could have that face-to-face interaction in person but it’s out of our control. We have to do things this way right now. I’ve been getting plenty of FaceTime calls in. I’m still working on building that rapport with them. I’ve met a lot of great people.
JM: Who are some of the teams that you’ve met with via video conference call?
JE: I’ve met with several teams throughout this process. I can’t get into the fine details, but I’ve met with at least two handfuls of teams. I’d say anywhere from 10-12. I’ve been in touch with a lot of coaches. We’re just building those relationships. We’re learning the way we operate. We’re discussing football and getting a handle on our beliefs and how we approach the game. It’s been a really cool experience. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know these coaches and giving them the opportunity to get to know me. It’s been a fun process.
JM: I’ve really appreciated your time today, Jacob. This has been a terrific, in-depth conversation. When a team uses a draft pick on Jacob Eason, what kinda guy are they getting?
JE: I really appreciate you, Justin. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation. When a team drafts me, they’re getting a confident gamer first and foremost. I’m gonna be an asset in the locker room. I’m super confident in my abilities. I’m ready to take on this next step. I’m gonna be very fortunate to get picked up by a team. I can’t wait to get to work.
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