We started off the UGA 2016 Spring Football Preview series with a look at the offensive line, and one of the job’s of those big men up front are to give the quarterback time to pass the ball; so, who is going to be the Bulldogs signal caller for 2016?
 
 
The quarterback position is one that will be closely watched by fans, coaches and media alike, and most likely will be a three way battle between incoming freshman and early enrollee Jacob Eason, graduate Greyson Lambert, and redshirt junior Brice Ramsey. But there are a couple of walk-ons that will look to try to upset the apple cart as well with redshirt freshman Nick Robinson, who is a preferred walk-on and some have compared to Aaron Murray, and redshirt sophomore Sam Vaughn throwing their hats into the ring as well.
 
 

QUARTERBACKS

 
 
Out of those five players, many fans are expecting incoming Jacob Eason to win the job over last year’s starter, Greyson Lambert. Of course, Eason is certainly capable of doing so. The five-star freshman from the recruiting class of 2016 brings to the table a cannon for an arm and the sky’s the limit potential with his athletic ability and talent, but Lambert has 23 games with 15 starts under his belt, 12 of those against SEC competition. Eason is going to have to get used to the speed of the college game, especially SEC speed, as well as taking snaps and dropping back from under center. He took the majority of his snaps out of the shotgun in high school at Lake Stephens.
 
 
But what about Brice Ramsey? He is the odd man out here?
 
 
I don’t think so. I think the battle for the starting quarterback spot for the Dawgs will be a three way battle, and I think it will be as heated and as close of a battle as it was in 2015. Last year, former Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt along with former Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer both made statements to the affect that it was a close battle between Lambert and Ramsey as well as Faton Bauta. Not only that, when Lambert was named the starter for the week of the game versus ULM, both Richt and Schottenheimer reiterated that he won by the closest of margins.
 
 
Some fans say that Ramsey has not had a fair shake, but I don’t entirely agree. He has had 2 years since Aaron Murray graduated to win the job, and for whatever reason, hasn’t. Can he put it all together and give Lambert and Eason a run for the money this spring?
 
 
It is entirely possible that coming out of spring camp, there is no clear cut favorite to be named the starter, and that the coaching staff will not make a decision till fall, perhaps not till the week of the first game against North Carolina in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
 
 
And we could also see a similar situation with Jacob Eason in 2016 to what we saw with Matthew Stafford’s inaugural season at Georgia in 2006 where Stafford was a highly talented and touted incoming freshman and early enrollee but was eased into the starting roll, sharing time with Joe Tereshinski III and Joe Cox through the first 7 games before taking over against Mississippi State between in the hedges at home. Even with all his talent and being eased into the starting roll, Stafford struggled his freshman season, throwing 7 touchdowns to 13 interceptions on 256 pass attempts, completing 52.7% of his passes.
 
 
Another talented Bulldog quarterback also struggled as an early enrollee true freshman. In 1991, Eric Zeier came to the Classic City and threw 7 touchdowns to 4 interceptions on 286 pass attempts, completing 55.6% of his passes. Zeier and the 1991 Georgia team also had a solid running game they could rely on with Garrison Hearst and Larry Ware toting the rock for the Dawgs.
 
 
Now, just because Zeier and Stafford struggled as true freshman at Georgia, that doesn’t mean that Eason will if he wins the starting job or is eased into it, but history is not kind to green horn quarterbacks in major division 1 FBS college football, especially so in the SEC. And regardless of how well Eason does, the quarterback battle is definitely going to be a fun one to watch. I strongly suspect to see an Eason vs. Lambert G-Day game, and the quarterback battle to continue from spring camp through summer workouts into the fall.
 

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OFFENSIVE LINE