Carson Beck had to wait nearly four years to make his first career start at Georgia.
He didn’t have to wait long to find out what life is like as Georgia’s starting quarterback. The public pressure and scrutiny that comes with being Georgia’s starting quarterback showed up in full force following Georgia’s first game.
Beck was solid in his starting debut. He did not turn the ball over and threw for 294 yards before being pulled in the third quarter. You wouldn’t know based on social media or some of the questions Beck faced in post-game, but Georgia was up 31-0 at the time of his exit.
When head coach Kirby Smart was asked about Beck on Monday, the coach simply shook his head.
“I don’t understand you guys sometimes,” Smart said with a chuckle. “I really don’t. I thought Carson played… I thought just like I did when I looked at it as when I came in there and talked to y’all Saturday night. I thought Carson played really well. I thought he played composed. I’m trying to think of the throws that were just awful or erratic and I didn’t see that.”
Smart went on to detail a handful of throws Beck likely wanted a do-over on. One was a third-down pass to Dominic Lovett, where Beck and his transfer wide receiver weren’t on the same page. There was also an overthrow downfield to Arian Smith, as well as Beck missing Smith in the end zone.
As for the decision to hand the ball off on first and goal just before halftime, Smart took the blame on that one. Beck said afterward that was a decision made by coaches, as the Bulldogs got inside the 5-yard line after Beck’s best throw of the night, a 25-yard dime to Lovett.
“It’s just a miscue not knowing how close it was to the goal line and probably making a decision too fast,” Smart said. “We spend a lot of time on moments like that, and I take a lot of pride on moments like that. Should never happen, but making a decision fast like that, sometimes you don’t make the right decision.”
For the most part, Beck made the right decisions on Saturday. It wasn’t akin to how Stetson Bennett opened against Oregon last season, but it was also a more crisp performance than what Bennett had when the Bulldogs played FCS-foe Samford last season.
And again, it was Beck’s first career start. He’s allowed to get better and most likely will, even if his growth is not linear.
“There’s going to be looks that maybe they fool you with that you didn’t see in the week in the scouting report but his run-check game, his carrying out his fakes, his decisions in the pocket, him throwing the ball away,” Smart said. “I mean, I thought the guy, for a first start, did well.”
Beck is clearly Georgia’s starting quarterback. Even with Smart’s desire to see how backup quarterbacks Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton look, that neither entered the game until a victory was assured shows there is only a quarterback competition to see who will be Beck’s backup.
Vandagriff got the first crack and played well when his offensive linemen weren’t committing holding penalties. Vandagriff’s first completion was a 56-yard missile to Rara Thomas. His second throw was exactly a work of it, but it found a wide-open Oscar Delp, who stumbled into the endzone for Vandagriff’s first career touchdown pass.
The quarterback position is always the most questioned. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. If Vandagriff and Beck switched roles and put on the same performances, the discourse would likely be the same surrounding the two quarterbacks.
Beck admitted to being anxious before his first start. That’s natural, given it was his first start since November of 2019. Those nerves should dissipate over the course of the season, just as they did for Beck during the game.
“I think it took a little transition period. Just working through some things,” Beck said. “It’s our first game and we’re going to have a few bumps in the road. In the second quarter, I think as a whole offense we settled in.”
Beck was fine on Saturday. That may very well be all Georgia needs to win the national championship season. No one would call Bennett’s 2021 season great, with the Bulldogs being able to rely on their running game, playmakers and defense.
The recipe this year may involve plenty of Brock Bowers and leaning on a defense that looked very good against an admittedly overmatched foe. If Beck cleans up a few errors and continues to limit turnovers, he’ll be more than capable of leading Georgia to another national championship.
And, like Bennett, he could go on to develop into a great quarterback. He’ll need time to do so. Smart knows and understands that. Even if the fan base sometimes doesn’t.
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