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Carson Beck did something unusual when he got to Georgia in 2020 — he waited. When an inconsistent walk-on named Stetson Bennett IV won the starting job, he waited. When Bennett unexpectedly opted to come back for another year of eligibility, he waited. When NIL deals and the transfer portal beckoned, he waited.
Beck was ranked as the No. 13 quarterback in the Class of 2020. Eight of the 12 players ranked ahead of him transferred out of their programs before Beck took over as the full-time starter. Two switched positions to get on the field. The others? Bryce Young and CJ Stroud. Quarterbacks simply don’t wait their turn anymore, but Beck did. He did everything right. He did right by Georgia.
After five years on campus and two years as the starter, Beck is set to enter the transfer portal. He initially declared for the NFL Draft, but was lured back to the college game. Miami seems like a reasonable destination, though Beck is expected to go through a full process. The Bulldogs lost three games for the first time since 2018.
According to CBS Sports, Georgia was miffed by the way Beck handled himself after suffering a season-ending elbow injury, spending time away from the team while consulting outside medical opinions. The program was only given short notice before he opted to enter the portal. He arrived in New Orleans after the rest of the team.
In the offseason, Beck made headlines after buying an expensive Lamborghini Urus Performante and for dating TikToker and Miami women’s basketball player Hanna Cavinder. It seems the trappings of his fame became a distraction, either for Beck or within Georgia’s locker room. Beck’s excess seems to be at the root of much of the fan frustration in the wake of his exit.
Maybe something did change for Beck with the newfound money and profile. Or maybe they just became a convenient way to scapegoat him for larger shortcomings at Georgia.
Beck took over the starting quarterback job at Georgia fresh off two national championships. His predecessor, Bennett, will go down as perhaps the most beloved ‘Dawg in program history after playing his way from walk-on to Heisman finalist. Still, there was optimism that Beck could bring something different to the passing game as a serious NFL prospect, even after offensive coordinator Todd Monken left for the NFL.
(Monken went on to lead one of the most potent offenses in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens after leaving Georgia. Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart replaced him with retread Mike Bobo. Keep an eye on that trend).
In Beck’s first season, he delivered nearly 4,000 yards and a 13-1 record. The passing offense took a step forward in both production and efficiency. If not for a monster showing by quarterback by Alabama’s Jalen Milroe in the SEC Championship Game, the Bulldogs very well could have won another national championship.
Top target Brock Bowers was selected in the first round. Receiver Ladd McConkey went in the second round. Both posted 1,000-yard seasons as rookies in the NFL, ranking among only four rookies to hit the mark. There were supposed successors to the players on the roster, but none stepped up.
Even after last season, Beck could have declared for the NFL Draft and would have had a decent shot of being selected in the first round. Of course, he was assuredly compensated well to come back, but he was as committed to Georgia as any player that has come through the program in recent seasons.
“Coming back and trying to win a championship with these guys and this team is so important to me,” Beck said last year. “I know that’s so cliche and that’s what I’m supposed to say, but I truly believe that.”
Without his top weapons, Beck’s second year was worse, clearly. His completion percentage fell from 72% to 64%, his yards per attempt dropped from 9.5 to 7.8 and his interceptions doubled from six to 12. Georgia lost multiple regular season games for the first time since 2020. While the Bulldogs ultimately won the SEC, it came after Beck suffered an elbow injury. Without Beck in the lineup, Georgia’s season ended with a 23-10 loss against Notre Dame, matching the program’s worst scoring output since 2015.
To be clear, Georgia is well within its right to be ready to move on from Beck after two solid seasons. Backup Gunner Stockton, a more inexpensive roster commodity than Beck, surely, showed some real fight during a 23-10 loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. Some of the same issues showed up again too, most notably a running game that averaged 2.1 yards per carry and a receiver room that dropped multiple passes.
Regardless of whether Beck is a problem child or easy target, the atrophy at Georgia goes much deeper than QB1.
Take a trip down memory lane for one moment. Out of 22 listed starters for Georgia on the 2021 national championship team, 21 have been drafted. The lone exception? Guard Tate Ratledge, who will be drafted in 2025 after a first team All-America season. More defensive players were drafted in the first round (6) than not (5).
Among offensive skill talent, Bowers, McConkey, James Cook and Adonai Mitchell, who finished his career at Texas, were picked in the first two rounds. Jermaine Burton (a transfer to Alabama after the game) was picked in the third, and Zamir White in the fourth. Perhaps the greatest sin of the expectations at Georgia is we still don’t appreciate just how ridiculously talented the two national championship teams were. Georgia was playing with an NFL receiver corps for three seasons. In 2024, Georgia’s offense had nothing of the sort.
Tight end Oscar Delp was the only pass-catcher ranked even in the top 150 of the CBS Sports NFL Draft Prospects. There’s no serious NFL prospects at receiver. Georgia dropped 5.6% of Beck’s passes in 2023. That jumped to 9.4% in 2024. Its pass-catching corps led the nation in drops. According to football analyst Clark Brooks, Beck had 665 drop yards — meaning Beck would’ve thrown for 665 more yards had his receivers not dropped their passes. That is the highest drop-yard total in the time that Brooks has been keeping the statistic.
Arian Smith (10) had the most drops on a Bulldogs team that led the nation in the category. Getty
Running backs Nate Frazier and Trevor Etienne are solid pieces, but the rushing offense ranked No. 102 nationally, a disastrous slotting. And furthermore, the run game schemes are borderline archaic, especially compared to the diversity that Georgia Tech brought to the table during the eight-overtime game.
Beck is not a perfect quarterback. He turned the ball over far too much. His pressure-to-sack rate jumped dramatically in his second season, a sign that he didn’t handle pressure well. Even with a lackluster receiver group, Beck didn’t always elevate the unit. Because of that, he’s smart to consider another year of college football to grow as a player, especially as he rehabs his elbow injury over the spring.
And while Beck has not identified a destination, the beaches of Coral Gables will call. Miami helped turn middling draft prospect Cam Ward into a Heisman Trophy candidate and potential No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick after playing in a quarterback-friendly offense filled with talent. Beck has the skill set to similarly thrive with the Hurricanes.
Georgia has not yet looked to the transfer portal, so Stockton will be the early favorite to start at quarterback next season. Third-string Jaden Rashada entered the transfer portal in search of his third school in three years, a perfect contrast to Beck’s stability.
For the past four years, Georgia has continued to bring in elite talent and churn out success. Smart’s program has won 53 games over the past four seasons, including three straight undefeated SEC records. Talented players will line up to replace Beck, if the Bulldogs choose to court them.
But for five years, Beck did everything right at the University of Georgia. He gave the program more than enough to win. Even on the most talent-filled roster in college football, there’s little guarantee that better is on the horizon.
MORE: Inside Carson Beck’s final weeks at Georgia, which were laced with quiet tension
