Sources: Georgia QB Jacob Eason, the former Lake Stevens star, expected to transfer to UW

Barring a last-minute change of heart, former Lake Stevens High star quarterback Jacob Eason is expected to transfer from Georgia to Washington for the next step in his college football career, multiple sources told The Seattle Times.

Eason, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, would have to sit out the 2018 season under NCAA transfer rules. He would then have two seasons of eligibility remaining after that.

The 2015 Gatorade national player of the year at Lake Stevens, Eason opened this season as Georgia’s starting quarterback but a sprained left knee ligament knocked him out of the season opener. True freshman Jake Fromm took over for Eason and never relinquished the job, leading the Bulldogs to an SEC championship and a spot in Monday’s national championship game in Atlanta.

In a brief interview after the Bulldogs’ 26-23 loss to Alabama on Monday night, Eason said he has not made a final decision about his future.

“Going to sit down with my family and figure that out,” Eason told The Seattle Times’ Stefanie Loh in Atlanta. “Right now, I’m just spending time with this team ... and we’ll go from there.”

Asked if he has talked with UW coaches about a possible transfer, he said: “I have not. That’s illegal.”

A former five-star recruit, Eason had considered the Huskies during his initial recruitment out of Lake Stevens. In 2014, during Chris Petersen’s first spring at UW, Eason was a regular at Husky practices, throwing a football with friends on the Husky Stadium sideline while wearing Husky gear.

He wound up sticking with his long-standing commitment to Georgia, and then won the starting job as a true freshman in 2016. That season, he threw for 2,430 yards with 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

After recovering from his knee injury midway through this season, Eason remained the backup to Fromm. As Georgia made a run to its first College Football Playoff berth, and a thrilling victory over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl, Eason said he tried to be a team player.

“It was a learning year, for sure,” Eason said Monday night. “I learned from it and I think ultimately it was a good year to have under my belt, something that will help me out in the future. Something to look back on whenever I’m in doubt or I’ve got some problems. It was a learning year and I’m glad -- proud as hell of Jake and this team for what they did and what they accomplished. It was a great season.”

At UW, he would likely compete for the chance to succeed Jake Browning as the starting quarterback in 2019.

The Huskies have a plethora of young talent at the position. Last month, the Huskies signed two quarterback recruits, Jacob Sirmon and Colson Yankoff, ranked among the top-100 players in the nation. Both Sirmon and Yankoff enrolled in their first classes at UW last week.

The Huskies also have two other young quarterbacks, Jake Haener and Daniel Bridge-Gadd, currently on the roster, and they have four-star QB Dylan Morris out of Graham-Kapowsin High committed in their 2019 recruiting class.