Tony Eason

Charles Carroll "Tony" Eason IV (born October 8, 1959) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots.

He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini.

Eason spent two years playing football at American River in 1978 and 1979.

Eason transferred to the University of Illinois and sat out the 1980 season.

He was 6 feet, 4 inches tall, and weighed 205 pounds when he took over as the starting quarterback for the Fighting Illini in 1981.

His first start for Illinois matched Eason against Pitt's quarterback Dan Marino; the Illini lost, 26–6, but Eason made an impressive debut as he completed 23 of 37 passes for 207 yards (slightly better than the 204 yards passing by Marino in the game).

In his first season with the Illini, Eason led the Illini to a 7-4 record, but the team was ineligible to play in a bowl game due to sanctions imposed by the Big Ten Conference.

Eason completed 248 of 406 passes (61.1%) for 3,360 yards and 20 touchdowns.

The Illini ranked third in the nation in passing in 1981, as Eason led the Big Ten in passing efficiency and total offense and set nine conference records, including records for total offense, completions, passing yardage, and passing touchdowns.

He also edged out Art Schlichter as the quarterback on the Associated Press' All Big-Ten football team.

Eason earned the nickname "Champaign Tony" while playing at Illinois, based upon the city in which the university is located.

As a senior in 1982, Eason accumulated a school record 3,671 passing yards and led the Illini to a 7–4 regular season record and its first appearance in a bowl games since the 1964 Rose Bowl.

He also broke five NCAA passing records in 1982 and tied four more.

The NCAA records set by Eason in 1982 included most total yards per game in a career (299.5), most passing yards per game in a career (300.4), most completions per game in a career (23.9), and most total yards in first two seasons (6,589).

Eason finished second in the voting behind Michigan's Anthony Carter for the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten.

Eason's final game for Illinois was the 1982 Liberty Bowl, which also marked the last head coaching appearance of Bear Bryant for Alabama.

Although Illinois lost the game, 21–15, Eason registered a record 433 passing yards in the game.

Eason also threw four of the Illini's seven interceptions in the game.

Taken 15th overall by the Patriots in the 1983 NFL Draft, he was one of the six quarterbacks selected during the first round.

In the 1983 East-West Shrine Game, Eason led the East team to 26–25 win over a West team led by John Elway.

Eason completed 21 of 34 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns in the game.

Eason still holds many of the school's all-time passing records, including the following:

Eason was selected by the New England Patriots in the first round (15th overall pick) of the 1983 NFL Draft.

He was one of six quarterbacks picked in the first round of the 1983 Draft along with John Elway (1st pick), Todd Blackledge (7th pick), Jim Kelly (14th pick), Ken O'Brien (24th pick), and Dan Marino (27th pick).

The idea was for him to eventually take over for longtime starter Steve Grogan, who had gone 5–8 in his last two injury-ridden seasons.

Eason would appear in 72 games (49 as a starter) for the Patriots between 1983 and 1989.

His rookie season saw him start the last four games of the year after Grogan started Week 1 through 12 and got them to a 6-6 record, with Eason doing spot appearances, such as being put in to throw the last eleven passes against Cleveland in a rout that ended with Eason throwing his first interception (and then second) in a 30-0 loss.

In his first start against the New York Jets the following week, Eason went 13-of-27 with an interception in a 26-3 loss.

Eason went 2-2 as a starter, throwing just one touchdown to five interceptions.

Eason served as New England's primary starter from 1984 to 1986, where he helped the team make their Super Bowl debut in Super Bowl XX.

In 1984, Grogan was named the starter, but Week 3 saw Eason be tapped in to replace Grogan midway against the Seattle Seahawks.

He went 12-of-22 for 126 yards and two touchdowns in the 38-23 victory.

From that point, Eason started the rest of the season, going 7-6 along the way while completing 259 out of 431 passes (60.1%) for 3,228 yards and a passer rating of 93.4—third best in the NFL.

His best game came against the Indianapolis Colts went he threw for a career high four touchdowns in a 50-17 victory.

Competing as the starter with Steve Grogan throughout his Patriots tenure, Eason was released during the 1989 season.

He spent his final two seasons as a backup with the New York Jets.

Eason grew up in Walnut Grove, California, and attended Delta High School in Clarksburg, California, a school with only 250 students at the time.

His brother is former professional NFL player Bo Eason.

Despite an impressive high school football career, Eason's only scholarship offer from a Division I school came from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

However, he was denied admission due to poor grades, and he opted to attend American River Junior College in Sacramento, California.