CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — It was Selection Sunday last December. Carson Beck, then Georgia’s quarterback, got an MRI that morning to figure out what was wrong with his arm, then watched the College Football Playoff selection show and saw he and the Bulldogs would meet either Notre Dame or Indiana in the national quarterfinals.
His mood picked up. For a moment, at least.
“I was like, ‘My gosh, we’ve got a real shot at this,’” Beck said. “And then I walked into the training room.”
His Georgia career was over. There were about a half-dozen people waiting for him, all with blank stares on their faces, to reveal the MRI results: his elbow was a mess and surgery was needed. Everyone in that room knew Beck wasn’t coming back to Georgia for 2025. Going into this year’s NFL draft no longer was a smart option either, not with Beck needing surgery.
Fast forward a few weeks: Beck signed with Miami for one final college season. The Hurricanes took a leap of faith because of his elbow. Beck took a leap of faith that Miami could do for him what it did for No. 1 draft pick Cam Ward in 2024. And — in some irony that isn’t lost on Beck — it’s Notre Dame waiting as his next opponent after all, with the sixth-ranked Fighting Irish set to visit the 10th-ranked Hurricanes in a much-hyped opener Sunday night.
“I remember that day, after the MRI, I left the offices and literally sat in the car for like four hours,” Beck said. “I mean, it was terrible. One of the worst times of my life, one of worst days of my life, finding that out. I didn’t know what it was going to look like after that. Thankfully, it’s all worked out in my favor, and I was blessed with this opportunity to come down here to Miami.”
The Hurricanes feel equally blessed. Ward spent one season in Miami and watched his stock rise from being someone generally considered to be a mid-draft prospect to the No. 1 overall pick, after a season in which he rewrote the Miami record book — leaving the school as its single-season leader in yards, completions (305), touchdown passes (39) and completion percentage both for a season and a career at 67.2%.
Now it’s Beck’s turn. He’s thrown for 7,426 yards over the last two years, the most of any player still in major college football. He was part of two national title teams at Georgia, has been in the pressure-cookers of the SEC and knows all about the spotlight.
“It didn’t take very long to see that the kid’s football IQ is probably as high as I’ve been around,” Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “You know, just the things that he talks about in football … the way his mind works football-wise is off the chart.”
Notre Dame watched a ton of Beck tape last year before facing Georgia in the CFP, then had this whole offseason to get ready to see Beck with Miami.
“Carson Beck is as experienced, talented, played in big games, as anybody we’ll see, and as any quarterback in the country,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “We, obviously, evaluated him tremendously last year as we got ready for Georgia. And he is an extremely good quarterback and makes good decisions, fast decisions.”
Beck is convinced he made another good decision by choosing Miami.
The adjustment wasn’t easy at first. Beck was on the field for spring football but couldn’t throw while his elbow was healing; he was building relationships and getting mental reps, though wasn’t cleared for passes until shortly after the spring sessions ended. He had two of his cars — a Lamborghini and a Mercedes — stolen shortly after arriving in Miami and was in a brief relationship with former Hurricanes women’s basketball player Hanna Cavinder, one that got tons of traction on social media.
“I try to stay level-headed,” Beck said. “I don’t really ride the roller coaster. The roller coaster is there, but I’m not on it.”
Teammates rave about his work ethic. Coaches say he’s an exemplary student of the game. Friends say he is a vicious competitor, even when he’s just playing golf or cards or video games.
And there is a chip on his shoulder, a feeling that he still has things to prove even after throwing for nearly 8,000 yards and helping Georgia go 33-3 in the games where he threw a pass. He struggled at times last season, making him the subject of tons of criticism among the Georgia faithful. The ending — getting hurt in the SEC championship game and knowing that it was time to move on — was painful both physically and emotionally.
“He’s human. I mean, even if you don’t read the stuff, you can still feel everything and he had a pretty gnarly three or four months there,” said Beck’s longtime quarterback trainer, Denny Thompson. “I just think that chip grew bigger and bigger and bigger. He’s already got it naturally, but now it’s kind of been put on steroids a little bit.”
Miami wants him to play with that chip. It worked for Ward last season. The Hurricanes aren’t comparing Beck to Ward, but there are obvious similarities in the confident way that they play and how they picked Miami with hopes of being the guy who leads the school back into the national title picture.
“I want to be the best, to be honest,” Beck said. “I just have a fire inside of me that needs to be fueled, and if I’m not the best then what am I doing? I don’t want to just be good. I don’t want to be great. I want to be the best of anybody that’s out there.”