Jacob Eason
College Football Trade Deadline
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
An all too frequent headline in college football today is player x from named institution has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Listed Below are the rules according to the NCAA pulled from their website:
Transfer Process:
Academic year in residence: Under the basic transfer regulations, you must spend an academic year in residence at the school to which you are transferring.
If you transfer from a four-year college to an NCAA school, you must complete one academic year in residence at the new school before you can play for or receive travel expenses from the new school, unless you qualify for a transfer exception or waiver.
To satisfy an academic year in residence, you must be enrolled in and successfully complete a full-time program of studies for two-full semesters or three-full quarters. Summer school terms and part-time enrollment do not count toward fulfilling an academic year in residence.
Exception: If you meet a legislated exception, it means a specific regulation will not apply to you.
The school to which you are transferring determines whether you are eligible and has the authority to apply exceptions.
One-time transfer exception: If you transfer from a four-year school, you may be immediately eligible to compete at your new school if you meet ALL the following conditions:
You are academically and athletically eligible at your previous four-year school.
You receive a transfer-release agreement from your previous four-year school.
Waiver: An action that sets aside an NCAA rule because a specific, extraordinary circumstance prevents you from meeting the rule. An NCAA school may file a waiver on your behalf; you cannot file a waiver for yourself. The school does not administer the waiver, the conference office or NCAA does.
After you digest the rules it seems simple right? That’s where the lawyers come in and that’s where the NCAA has lost total control of the entire process.
Questions/Thoughts:
What extraordinary circumstance allowed Justin Fields to be ruled immediately eligible at Ohio State?
Did the NCAA deem Fields was mentally scarred because of his botched fake punt attempt at UGA last fall with the SEC Title game hanging in the balance?
Yes, we all know OSU’s quarterback from last year now plays for the Washington Redskins.
Why wasn’t Jacob Eason granted immediate eligibility at Washington after he left UGA last season?
Former UGA TE Luke Ford was denied immediate eligibility at Illinois because he wanted to be closer to a sick relative. Are you kidding me NCAA?
Former Auburn QB Malik Willis transferred to Liberty University. He was waiting for a ruling on his eligibility from the NCAA.
Liberty learned this week that Willis’s appeal had been denied. Really NCAA? Was Liberty a threat to make the College Football Playoff this fall, or are you still mad at Hugh Freeze for breaking the rules at Ole Miss?
GT head coach Geoff Collins blasted NCAA’s decision not to grant former Florida defensive end Antonneous Clayton immediate eligibility at Tech saying that the NCAA does not have the best interest of the student athlete in mind.
Well coach the NCAA seems to have Ohio State’s best interests in mind and apparently not the best interests of student athletes who want to attend GT, Washington, Illinois, or Liberty.
The NCAA created this mess, and now it is time for them to clean it up, or have they allowed free agency to settle in for college football?
Maybe it’s a coin flip by the NCAA to determine eligibility and Ohio State adopted the tails never fails policy to get Fields cleared to play. You just never know.
Maybe put Jake Fromm in charge of the portal after he is done at UGA. He created a lot of this mess by winning the UGA QB job, or mandate NCAA member institutions to not post depth charts until 24 hours before the first scheduled game each season.
Fix this mess NCAA, your exceptions are not consistent. Where you stand on a college football depth chart is not an extraordinary circumstance.
At this rate college football will have an October 15th trading deadline in the next 10-15 years.
Jake From State Fromm
By: Jason Bishop
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
JakeFromStateFromm. That is the Twitter handle of the Georgia QB, Jake Fromm. It is for certain his Twitter followers have sky rocketed over the last month, especially in Dawg Nation.
Fromm, a graduate from Houston County, was one of the most feared QB’s in the state of Georgia when in high school.
In fact, most thought he would not sign with UGA since Jacob Eason was already cemented as the starter for Georgia. However, Fromm did commit and instantaneously gave the Dawgs some much needed depth at the QB position.
Coach Kirby Smart had the luxury of another 5-star QB on the roster, just in case something were to happen to Eason.
Georgia Bulldog 2017 Preview
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
My favorite time of the year is upon us. I have been called one of the biggest Red and Black Kool-Aid drinkers on the planet by my editor Jason Bishop so it is poetic justice that I writes the UGA preview for SSE this year.
The pageantry of being in Sanford Stadium on a crisp fall afternoon is like no other and to hear those wonderful words over the PA system “If your blood runs red and black….It’s time to tee it up betweeeeeeeen the hedges”
2017 is a year of high expectations for the Dawgs. Kirby Smart entering his second year as head Dawg has a wealth of talent returning.
Georgia Bulldogs Offense Preview
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As G-Day rolls around once again for the Georgia Bulldogs what will unfold for the Georgia Bulldogs in 2017.
93,000 showed up excited for the spring game last year, and despite that excitement the Dawg struggled at times and finished with an 8-5 record after dropping home games to Vandy, Tennessee, and GT.
The 2016 Dawgs did not know how to finish teams off. The defense played well enough to win 10 games last year but the offense struggled moving the ball in key moments against the Florida’s of the world and mental mistakes like a late interception against Georgia Tech that set up a winning drive for the Jackets.
Fast forward to year two in the Kirby regime and things look a lot better after Smart hauled in the highest ranked recruiting class in a long time in the Classic City.
Georgia Bulldogs Thin At QB
By: Drayton Hogarth
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Georgia Bulldogs will not be kicking off their spring practice for another couple of weeks, but that does not stop the news from coming out of Athens.
Georgia lost not one, but two players that decided to transfer from the program as graduates. One was defensive back, Reggie Wilkerson, and the other was Camden County’s own, quarterback Brice Ramsey.
Future of SEC QB
By: Drayton Hogarth
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
While the Southeastern Conference has been the dominant football conference for years, now there is one question that is difficult to answer, “Where are all of the quarterbacks?”
Media and college football fans have been pontificating in recent seasons, why doesn’t the SEC have more viable field generals if it is the greatest conference in the country?
Well, Alabama’s Jalen Hurts, Jacob Eason at Georgia, Gamecock signal caller Jake Bentley, and Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson are all looking to change that perception as each of them now starts for their respective schools.
These true freshmen have come in and earned starting spots at four schools around the conference. Be it by outright winning the job from the beginning of the season or by taking over mid to late in the season, these young kids have come onto campus, honed their craft and have seized their opportunities to lead their teams both now and into the future.
Even though the conference has long had a history of both power offense with a defensive-minded foundation, the run of quarterbacks dates back well into the annals of time as Bart Starr, Joe Namath, and Fran Tarkenton are some of the historic NFL names that got their start in the SEC.
The tradition continued until the last four years or so. In particular, with the graduation of Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger after the 2013 season, the SEC had hit somewhat of a lull in top flight NFL caliber quarterbacks.
Well, good news football fans, or bad news if you are an SEC antagonist, the level of quarterback play in the SEC is about to hit a very high level; likely an all-time high.
When you talk SEC football, one may as well start with Alabama. And this topic is no different as Coach Nick Saban has entrusted his current team’s offense to the hands of a dynamic dual-threat quarterback in Jalen Hurts.
Hurts has stepped in for last season’s starter of the National Championship team, Jake Coker, and has seemingly brought an added dimension of the quarterback read option to the mix.
Hurts, along with a dynamic defense, has put Alabama right back at the forefront of the college football championship again this season.
Georgia Bulldog, Jacob Eason, has the eye of the NFL already. The huge 6’6” 240 pounder out of Lake Stephens, Washington, has the size and amazing arm strength that the NFL desires.
Statistically, Eason has been fairly steady. However, it is when the game is on the line that the young signal caller has elevated his game and seems to truly get dialed in with his receivers.
At South Carolina, Coach Will Muschamp gave young Jake Bentley the reigns after the Gamecocks struggled mightily for the first half of the season. Bentley has come in and pushed the Gamecocks to possible bowl eligibility by showing good poise and a willingness to hang tough and make plays. Bentley shows just enough mobility to keep defenses honest.
The latest true freshman to get the starting nod is Shea Patterson at Ole Miss. The Rebels have had a hugely disappointing season after entering with major championship aspirations.
Recently, leader and longtime starting quarterback Chad Kelly went down with a knee injury. Rebels coach Hugh Freeze went against the norm and pulled the redshirt off of Patterson, three quarters of the way through the season and despite a 4-5 record.
Patterson came in and actually led the Rebels to a major comeback over the Aggies of Texas A&M. Patterson would throw for over 350 yards in his debut, and would shine in the fourth quarter going 7/10 for 119 yards and two touchdowns, including a dramatic scramble and pass on one of those scores.
So everyone can relax and just sit back and enjoy (even more) these next three to four years of SEC football as the quarterback position is in very capable hands.
