Georgia, maybe NFL, await Lake Stevens’ Jacob Eason – but how about Tacoma Dome first?

Jacob Eason isn’t your typical high school football player.

The senior was minutes removed from an emotional state quarterfinal win for Lake Stevens over Graham-Kapowsin, which secured his first trip to the Tacoma Dome. But a reporter hired by an Atlanta newspaper asked the University of Georgia signee a bizarre question.

“How do you plan to approach the extremely high expectations you’ll see (at Georgia)?” Eason was asked.

Because he’s obviously not in an important enough juncture of what could be the final week of his high school career.

But such is life when you’re considered one of the 10 best recruits in the nation and have a potential NFL future.

“People really do look too far ahead with him,” senior running back Andrew Grimes said. “It’s like, let him finish his high school season.”

It’s why the 6-foot-6, 215-pound Eason — whom teammates call “Skinny” because of a bad buzz cut his father once gave him down to the skin on his head — said he has turned off his Twitter notifications.

Eason watched Lake Stevens reach the Tacoma Dome when he was in eighth grade. But the Vikings have since suffered a first-round exit against Skyline, a district-round loss against Newport of Bellevue in Eason’s first healthy season as a sophomore, then a first-round loss to Newport last year.

All the while coaches have gushed over his stature and giant arm.

But could he also win?

“I really wanted it bad,” Eason said of getting to play in the Tacoma Dome. “Being labeled where I am right now, I mean there’s kind of an expectation to make it there. So I kind of turned that into a goal: I’m not going to leave here without getting to the Dome.”

Lake Stevens (12-0) first had to beat a 4A KingCo team in the playoffs for the first time in this senior group’s four years.

The Vikings checked that off with a first-round win over Issaquah, which eliminated Olympia in the district round.

Then came the Tacoma Dome ticket in last week’s win over previously unbeaten G-K, with Eason throwing four touchdown passes.

And two monkeys came off Lake Stevens’ back.

“That’s how I felt and I think that how Jacob feels, too,” Vikings coach Tom Tri said. “‘Hey, you’re a special kid. You’re one of the best arms in the nation. Now what are the results of that?’ Now there are results. We are in the T-Dome.”

There’s another one of those monkeys awaiting in the Tacoma Dome at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Skyline, another of those pesky 4A KingCo teams.

The Dome evaded some of the state’s other recent high-profile quarterbacks: Shadle Park’s Brett Rypien (now at Boise State) never played there, nor will Gig Harbor’s Davis Alexander or Camas’ Liam Fitzgerald.

Jacob’s father, Snohomish grad Tony Eason, didn’t either, before becoming a receiver at Notre Dame.

“For Jacob, it was important to leave a legacy at Lake Stevens,” Tri said. “Honestly, he’s going to be on to bigger and better things. But you always remember your high school football team. You hear Joe Montana talk about it. You hear Steve Young. You hear professional guys talk about their roots and where they grew up. Those are going to be memories that last a lifetime.

“In my mind, I think it was good for him to get the monkey off his back. ‘Hey, I know I’m a good quarterback and everyone and their mother knows that, but are we winning games and am I carrying this team? Is there no doubt that I can win?’”

He’s had to do so with a few distractions. Lake Stevens High School has almost more resembled a zoo than a school. Tri said the Atlanta Journal-Constitution hired a photographer who is on their sideline and locker room every game and ESPN televised their win over Kamiak.

“One of our obstacles has just been to not let our heads get too big because we got a lot of attention just having Skinny as the quarterback,” Grimes said. “And we had some of the earlier games this season where our fans kept chanting ‘Lake to State.’ But we just want to take it one game at a time and not get ahead of ourselves. “Knowing (Eason) for so long, I know it’s hard for him. I don’t know quite how he handles it, but I know he wishes that he could take it slower than it’s going. You just got to enjoy your senior year because it goes by so fast.”

This story was originally published November 26, 2015 at 7:36 PM with the headline "Georgia, maybe NFL, await Lake Stevens’ Jacob Eason – but how about Tacoma Dome first?."