Greg McElroy impressed by Carson Beck, Georgia playmakers entering 2023

After Georgia’s spring game, the sense was Carson Beck would become the Bulldogs’ new starting quarterback following the departure of Stetson Bennett. Beck put on a strong performance on G-Day, helping build excitement around what he can be as Georgia’s next starter.

It’s safe to say ESPN analyst Greg McElroy is aboard the hype train.

“Carson Beck at Georgia, I’m as excited as you are,” McElroy said on Always College Football.

McElroy spoke highly of Beck’s showing during the spring game. He threw for 231 yards and a touchdown on 15-for-22 passing and didn’t throw a single interception against the vaunted Georgia defense. The format wasn’t exactly in his favor, either, as Kirby Smart put the No. 1 offense against the No. 1 defense.

Still, Beck looked good even beyond the box score, according to McElroy. Although he’s not in the former Alabama quarterback’s top five SEC signal-callers just yet, McElroy said there are plenty of reasons to be excited about what Beck can do.

After all, Smart has surrounded him with some impressive talent from the transfer portal.

“I thought he looked great in the spring game,” McElroy said. “He showed poise, shows accuracy, showed the ability to make the right decision. And this was a spring game format that wasn’t exactly set up to allow the offense to thrive. They’re bringing pressures, they’re mixing coverages. It wasn’t vanilla against vanilla. Carson Beck had to play, read and react, and he did so beautifully. He’s a fourth year player, so he knows the system inside and out.

“And they also have an excellent receiver core for him to lean on with two notable additions in the transfer portal in Rara Thomas and with Dominic Lovett, who came down from Missouri. So very excited about what Carson Beck might be, but at this point, can’t quite crack the top five.”

Expectations are high once again in Georgia after back-to-back national championships. With Bennett now in the NFL, Beck will be tasked with leading the offense back to the mountaintop as the Bulldogs set out to three-peat.

Considering the shoes he has to fill, On3’s J.D. PicKell called the pressure Beck is facing “enormous.”

“Man I think it’s enormous pressure. I really do. Any time you’re the quarterback for the back-to-back national champs and you take over for a guy that was the GOAT in Athens — Kirby Smart’s words, not mine — there’s going to be pressure. So, is there pressure? Absolutely,” PicKell said. “I don’t think there’s the pressure in the sense that they’re going to ask it to be all on him. Like if Georgia lost, let’s say, 80 percent of the defense and they didn’t have Brock Bowers coming back, maybe there’s more pressure for Carson Beck to perform, but he’s going to trot out there. It’s going to be a pretty manageable schedule. He’s going to have a lot of great players around him.”