How Georgia Fans Should Remember Carson Beck

With Carson Beck’s season over, here is how the Bulldogs’ fanbase should look back on his time as Georgia’s quarterback.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck received surgery to repair the UCL ligament in his throwing arm. Subsequently ending his 2024 season and likely concluding his time as a Georgia Bulldog. With Beck’s collegiate career seemingly over, how should Georgia fans reflect on the quarterback’s career in The Red and Black?

While Beck was only the starter during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, his story begins much before then. The quarterback was a highly touted member of the Bulldogs’ 2020 signing class and was listed as a 4-star at the time of his commitment. Unfortunately, his freshman season was anything but normal, as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic shortened all college football seasons and even saw numerous games canceled.  

Following the conclusion of his freshman season, Beck seemed poised to at the very least earn some playing time during the regular season. As spring scrimmages and fall camps concluded, reports sprinkled in that Beck had made massive strides from his freshman year and was likely the second-string quarterback behind starter JT Daniels. However, once Daniels was sidelined with an injury early into the 2021 season, Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs’ staff elected to name Stetson Bennett the starter of the Bulldogs’ offense due to his experience. 

Beck would see action sparingly throughout the year, while Bennett went on to lead the Dawgs to their first national title in over 40 years. Following the 2021 season, Bennett announced that he would be returning for one more season as the Bulldogs’ quarterback. This led to many fans anticipating Beck to enter the transfer portal and look for opportunities elsewhere. 

Despite expectations to transfer, Beck remained steadfast in his loyalty to the “G” and served as the Bulldogs’ backup for the 2022 season. Once the season concluded, the Bulldogs were on a massive win streak and had just completed the first back-to-back national title victory in the College Football Playoff era. Placing immense pressure on whoever the next starting quarterback would be.

Following an intense position battle with Brock Vandagriff ahead of the 2023 season, Carson Beck was named Georgia’s starting quarterback after waiting for three seasons. Subsequently tasking Beck with maintaining the longest win streak in Bulldogs history, winning a third straight national title, and doing so with a brand-new offensive coordinator. Understandably, the Dawgs offense struggled at times throughout the 2023 season and much of the blame was undeservedly placed on Beck. 

Despite criticism, Beck finished his first year as a starter with the highest single-season completion percentage in Georgia football history and led the Bulldogs to a dominating victory over Florida State in the Orange Bowl. With Beck’s 4th collegiate season concluded anticipations of him entering the NFL Draft began to rise. But once again, the quarterback’s loyalty to Georgia shined through as he elected to come back for one more season as the Dawgs’ quarterback. 

As the 2024 season approached, expectations for Beck and the Georgia offense remained extremely high. Unfortunately, suspensions, injuries, and lackluster play from surrounding talent led to numerous games where the Bulldogs’ offense struggled. Beck had his fair share of struggles as well and went through a rough period of games throughout the regular season, which led to him receiving mass amounts of criticism and was often the subject of many jokes. 

However, Beck once again overcame the criticisms and led the Dawgs to an SEC title appearance against all odds. Sadly, the SEC Championship would be his last appearance as Georgia’s quarterback, as he would suffer an injury to his throwing arm that would require surgery. 

Carson Beck’s lengthy story with the Georgia Bulldogs certainly did not have the storybook ending that many would have liked to see. But that is far from the legacy that the quarterback is leaving behind. In an era where players demand absorbent amounts of money to commit, transfer when they don’t play, and head off to the NFL Draft as soon as possible. Carson Beck was an outlier for Georgia and dedicated his entire college career (and then some) to the Bulldogs. 

The term “Damn Good Dawg” (or DGD for short) is used by the Georgia fanbase and is reserved for only the most deserving of Bulldogs. While Carson Beck likely won’t go down as the greatest Georgia quarterback of all time, nor will his jersey be retired anytime soon. The quarterback showed vast amounts of determination, poise, and loyalty that helped bring some of the greatest moments in the history of Georgia football and will absolutely go down in history as a “Damn Good Dawg.” 

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