Kirby Smart addresses impact of Carson Beck’s decision had on recruiting, Transfer Portal strategy

The quarterback position at Georgia has been a wide topic of conversation in the month of December, with starting quarterback Carson Beck announcing his return to Athens for another season and former Bulldogs commit Dylan Raiola flipping his commitment to Nebraska.

The two events seem like they could be related, but Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart insisted that Beck’s decision had no impact on Georgia’s 2024 high school signing class in a recent conversation with On3’s Andy Staples.

“Well I don’t know that his decision had any effect or outcome in this year’s signing class, I mean you’re talking about the two polar opposites right? The guys coming in, the guys going out,” Smart said.

Smart was willing to admit that Beck’s decision to return did impact how the Bulldogs were going about recruiting within the transfer portal. If Beck had departed, Georgia’s quarterback room would have suddenly gotten a lot younger and thinner with the departure of Brock Vandagriff and the commitment flipping of Raiola.

“I think from a transfer portal standpoint we would’ve had to make some decisions at quarterback. We feel really good about the quarterback we have here on campus with Gunner [Stockton], I think he’s gonna be a good player,” Smart said. “But we probably would’ve needed guys to come in and compete. That’s a really tough situation to only have one quarterback on scholarship, two counting [Ryan] Puglisi, so we were open to looking around there.”

Despite Raiola flipping his commitment, the Bulldogs were still able to sign Puglisi in their 2024 high school signing class, a four-star prospect ranked the No. 142 overall prospect and No. 9 quarterback in the On3 Industry Rankings, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Beck had a solid first season under center for Georgia in his first year as a starter, leading the Bulldogs to an undefeated regular season record behind his 3,738 passing yards and 22 touchdowns. His passing yardage only ranked behind Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels in the SEC this season, and his touchdowns ranked fourth in the conference.

But he’ll look to build more on his resume next season and hopefully return the program back to their dominant postseason ways.

“But as far as Caron’s decision it was on his timeline, what he felt comfortable with, what he wanted to do, and the information he got encouraged him to come back and continue to grow,” Smart concluded.