Jacob Eason or Greyson Lambert starts in 2016?

Jacob Eason will have his opportunities to overtake starting quarterback of the Georgia Bulldogs in senior Greyson Lambert. Who comes out on top in 2016?

The Georgia Bulldogs have a good problem to have entering the 2016 NCAA season: Who will start at quarterback this season?

The Dawgs already have redshirt senior Greyson Lambert, who went 10-2 as a starter as a redshirt junior in his first year in Athens after transferring from the University of Virginia. Georgia also has enrolled on campus for 2016 spring practice No. 2 pro-style quarterback in the country in true freshman Jacob Eason.

While Lambert certainly has his limitations as a passer, he did limit many of his mistakes in 2015, leading the Dawgs to 10 wins with an underwhelming receiving corps and without star running back Nick Chubb for half the season. Greyson Lambert isn’t glamorous as a passer, but we know that he can win games in the SEC.

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Jacob Eason draws comparisons from former UGA star quarterback and leader of the Detroit Lions Matthew Stafford. Eason has an absolute howitzer of an arm and could become the next three or four-year starter in Athens, joining Stafford and Kansas City Chiefs backup Aaron Murray.

The popular consensus for the new coaching staff of head coach Kirby Smart to go with Jacob Eason as a true freshman. However, keep in mind the popular consensus was for former head coach Mark Richt to go with redshirt sophomore Brice Ramsey as Hutson Mason’s replacement. Ramsey is now a surprisingly effective punter for the Dawgs after Lambert won the job during fall camp over Ramsey and former Dawg Faton Bauta, now with Mike Bobo’s Colorado State Rams.

Will Jacob Eason become a star in Athens? Hopefully so, as his arm talent is so reminiscent to what we saw from Stafford from 2006 to 2008. However, it isn’t a guarantee that he will beat out Greyson Lambert for the starting job. He will have to earn in through strong play in spring practice and in fall camp. By enrolling a semester early, it gives Jacob Eason a shot similar to what UCLA’s Josh Rosen had when joined the Bruins spring of 2015.

What is in the best interest for head coach Kirby Smart and new offensive coordinator Jim Chaney is to say that Greyson Lambert is leading Jacob Eason slightly through spring practice and to not make any grand declarations about who the starting quarterback until the final week before the home opener this fall.

That way the competition between Jacob Eason, Greyson Lambert, and even Brice Ramsey stays at a very high level through camp. Eason may have more talent than Lambert, but he didn’t look spectacular in the US Army All-American Bowl. Ole Miss commit Shea Patterson and Stanford commit K.J. Costello outplayed Eason in San Antonio last Saturday.

Since we don’t know how Smart or Chaney will want to work in their quarterbacks, don’t seem surprised if the Georgia Bulldogs use both in some capacity in 2016. Mark Richt refrained from using more than one quarterback for most of his tenure in Athens, so a two-quarterback system may end up being on the horizon at Georgia in 2016.

Expect this competition to come down to the wire. We will have a better idea come the 2016 G-Day game. In all likelihood, unless Eason absolutely wants it to get better acclimated to the SEC, Smart isn’t going to redshirt Jacob Eason in 2016 and he will see action on the gridiron as a true freshman.

However, he has to work hard to unseat the incumbent starter who won 10 games last season in Lambert. It’s Lambert’s job entering spring practice, but he could end up losing it if Jacob Eason looks like 2006 Matthew Stafford this fall. Stafford didn’t win the starting job right out of the gate. He earned it after Joe Tereshinski, III struggled in a loss to Vanderbilt that season.

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Eason is at worst a three-year starter for the Dawgs, but he’ll need to improve his accuracy if he wants to win the job away from Greyson Lambert at the start of the 2016 NCAA season.

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