On Hold

The story of the unlikely rise of Stetson Bennett from a walk-on who transferred away from Georgia in 2018 to a 4th round draft pick by the Rams is well documented. I detailed the main highlights of Bennett's journey in the fanpost I wrote about Bennett after the draft. The lesser known story is the other side of that coin. What effect did Bennett's glory years with Georgia have on "the other QB" on UGA's roster?

At the start of Georgia's 2021 season, the starting QB was JT Daniels. The backup QB was Carson Beck, a redshirt freshman. The 3rd string QB was Stetson Bennett.

When Daniels got injured, it was widely expected that Beck would be the starter in the 2nd game of the 2021 season. Beck had been getting most of the 2nd string reps in practice. Instead, Bennett surprisingly was named the starter. That decision led to a fork in the road. Bennett went on to win 2 National Championships, while Beck has yet to start a single game in college.

Beck thought that he was going to be named the starter to replace Daniels in 2021 and was upset when the coaches picked Bennett. Beck acknowledges in hindsight that he wasn't ready to start. He says he wasn't confident or mentally prepared and knew that he had missed his opportunity. Crediting that episode with helping him to mature and build character, he says that he's glad he wasn't pressed into action back in 2021.

Beck said that he knew in the spring of 2022 that no matter what he did, there was no way the coaches were going to elevate him ahead of Bennett. There was no real QB competition. You might remember from my post about Bennett that he considered leaving UGA after the 2021 season, even though the team won the National Championship. Reading between the lines, it seems likely that part of convincing Bennett to stay was a promise from the coaches that he would be the starter. Hence JT Daniels transferring out and Carson Beck being stuck on the bench.

Beck was upset and frustrated with the situation in 2022 and considered transferring, but he decided to stay. He understood that UGA was a powerful team and was an ideal situation for a QB, surrounded by great talent. So, instead of seeking an opportunity to play immediately he decided to play the long game and be patient, waiting for his turn. In 2022, Beck played mop up duty as Bennett's backup, finishing games in UGA blowout victories.

My evaluation of Beck is the same as the first impression of him that I had when I was watching UGA games to study Bennett. I think that Carson Beck is a better NFL prospect than Bennett. I have a middle round grade on Beck.

My NFL comp for Beck is Mike Glennon, a 3rd round pick by the Bucs in 2013 out of NCState. Glennon was the backup to Russell Wilson. The reason Wilson transferred to Wisconsin was because Tom O'Brien, the NCST head coach, chose Glennon over Wilson to be the team's 2011 starter. According to Wilson, the HC told him that not only would he not see any action sitting behind Glennon, but that Wilson wouldn't make it in the NFL, because he was too short. The HC was unhappy that Wilson was playing minor league baseball instead of focusing exclusively on football.

Glennon got opportunities to start in the NFL, but never firmly established himself. He lost his spot in Tampa to Josh McCown. He was benched in Chicago for Mitch Trubisky. For most of his career, Glennon has been a journeyman backup.

Background

Name: Carson Beck. Turns 21 years old in November of 2023. Redshirt junior.

Size: Listed 6'4'' tall, 215 pounds. Was listed at 225 pounds in 2020. He says he worked hard to transform his body in 2021. Sports Illustrated 6'3 5/8'' tall, 4.86 second 40 time,

4 star recruit from FL. Also played baseball. Briefly was committed as freshman on baseball scholarship to Florida. Orally committed to Alabama for football, but flipped to Georgia after his junior year in HS. Split time between baseball and football, but after his sophomore year decided to focus on football and worked with a private QB coach.

Redshirted in 2020. He was a bit overwhelmed as a true freshman, but felt much more confident in the spring of 2021 and said he really grinded and bought in to the process, transforming his body and dedicating himself to film study.

Career stats: 36 for 58 (62.1% completions), 486 yards, 6 TDs, 2 INTs, 0 sacks, 3 fumbles

Strengths

Played in pro style offense. Some snaps under center.

Performed well 3 straight years in UGA's spring game.

Textbook mechanics. Of all the potential QB prospects in the class, he has some of the cleanest and most consistent throwing mechanics out of the entire group. Helmet balanced at start of wind up through follow through. Helmet balanced when throwing on move and on quick horizontal throws. Smooth dropback. Feet proper width, loads back foot properly. Shoulders and feet aligned towards target. Efficient delivery. Left arm tucked. Good upper body rotation. Moves his feet to align them towards target on short horizontal throws, precisely placing the ball on the target, helping to boost YAC by hitting receivers perfectly in stride. Gets ball out to work quick game.

Spins ball with a tight spiral. Accurate at all 3 levels. Throws with good touch. Excellent on deep fades down sideline. Precise on backshoulder throws. Throws with anticipation before target is out of break, expecting his receiver to gain leverage and win on the route. Short throws have proper weight and are easy to catch. Fluid and smooth to drive intermediate balls over middle.

Can climb forward in pocket to step away from pressure. Sufficient quickness and phonebooth agility to escape sacks in pocket, then enough short area burst to scramble forward for yards. Keeps 2 hands on ball.

Adequate zip on slants. Catchable passes, good ball placements. Mailbox accuracy on move to his right, delivering pass to corner of end zone into small window. Effective red zone passer.

Processes the coverage, patience to stay with route that will beat the zone coverage. Near INT looked to me to be a route running error by the WR. Reads the full progression and will check it down to RB if primary reads are not open. Excellent job getting to his 3rd read in progression on schedule. Inside red zone, got to 4th WR on slant, starting left side, but reading entire field to the WR all the way on the far right side of the field.

Prototypical height.

Enough speed to gain yards if presented with open space.

Should have had more TDs on his stat sheet, but receivers didn't catch the ball. Stats negatively impacted by a few drops.

I'll cut him some slack for not seizing the starting job in 2021, because at the time that happened, he was only 18 years old. Remember that Stetson Bennett himself did not play particularly well in 2020, which was a key reason he was not the starting QB entering the 2021 season.

Weaknesses

Pretty easy to throw and look good as a QB when there is zero pass rush pressure in the pocket. Has yet to be sacked.

Doesn't have the greatest leadership skills. Has matured and gained perspective over the course of his college career. When he first got to UGA, had football character and question marks regarding his intangibles. Kirby Smart said that Beck as a freshman "didn't always have the focus he needed in terms of preparation, academics, on the field, off the field, in the meeting room."

Very thin. Slender and lanky frame, lacks bulk and strength.

Footwork when moved off spot could improve so that he could be better balanced on release. A few throws outside the numbers were slightly low.

Took off running even though WR was open over middle for simple throw if QB had recognized that the LB was out of position and not playing his area of the zone correctly.

45 yard bomb thrown towards middle of field instead of leading WR to open space away from the trailing CB.

Average runner. Average speed, limited strength, not elusive. In space, 1 vs 1 against defender, pretty reliable that the defender is going to make the tackle. QB can only "run to daylight", he can't create much on his own.

Inconsistent ball handling and security. Ball not tucked securely. Does he have small hands or weak forearms? For whatever reason, he doesn't always appear to have a strong grip on the ball.

Has yet to be a starter in college. Like the Ohio State QB, McCord, just a projection, has yet to prove he can do it on the field.

2023 Outlook

Beck is widely expected to be UGA's starting QB, it would be a surprise if one of the other QBs beat him out.

Tight end Brock Bowers is considered to be one of the top prospects in next year's draft. UGA has Sedrick Van Pran, one of the top centers in the country.

Expects generally either don't expect Beck to be in the draft or have him ranked as an UDFA.

Shane Hallam 39th QB (UDFA)

NFLMDD consensus big board not ranked

PFN mock draft simulator not ranked

Jake Rigdon (Fanspeak) not ranked

Steve Shoup (Fanspeak) not ranked

BuffaloFAMBase big board not ranked

I think the experts are too low on Beck. I'm not sold that he has what it takes to be a franchise starting QB, but he has the raw talent and tools to play in the NFL and at least be a solid backup QB. His time has come in 2023. After patiently waiting for Bennett to leave, now he has his "2nd chance" to leave his mark. If he can lead Georgia back to the college football playoffs, maybe his draft stock will dramatically rise.