Jim Nagy reveals why Carson Beck hasn't received a Senior Bowl invite

Few quarterbacks have raised their NFL draft stock more in 2023 than Georgia’s Carson Beck. Stepping in after two years of Stetson Bennett IV mostly running the show, Beck has spent the last 13 weeks showing steady improvement to a promising base of talent.

But Beck, who is in his fourth year of college and eligible for the 2024 NFL Draft, has not received an invited to the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl. Speaking with On3’s Andy Staples, Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy explained the specific reason for the lack of an invite as underclassmen are now eligible for these all-star games.

We’re trying to help schools. And that’s probably another layer, Andy, that we should talk about: When we do our calls with NFL teams, some of the best information that came up on the calls this year was like, ‘Hey Jim, I was just through Athens and they’re trying to keep Carson Beck.’ So, the staff wants to keep Carson Beck so we didn’t send an invite to Carson Beck. I’ve known Kirby [Smart] a long time, those relationships with the college coaches mean everything to us here,” Nagy said.

He added on that he knows the Senior Bowl itself isn’t the end-all, be-all of leaving college for the NFL. The Senior Bowl is ultimately a pit stop for players like Beck on a much longer journey, one that could see him at the Senior Bowl after next season, anyways.

“So we’re not going to try to take a player — and again, he’s not going to leave, he’s not leaving Georgia just to play in the Senior Bowl. I’m not that dumb,” Nagy said.

And the evaluation and decision on inviting Beck isn’t final, Nagy added. That’s because the decision from Beck and what Smart and Georgia want from him isn’t final, either. With the SEC Championship Game and whatever else in the postseason still to play, what Beck does next will likely affect how Nagy and Co. go about evaluating him and the decision on whether or not to invite him.

“So we’ve withheld some invites this year knowing that schools are trying to get some guys back. And I was going to wait until after the season to reach out to the head coach, like I’ll let Kirby get through the SEC Championship Game and hopefully he and I can connect next week about, I mean, what’s Carson going to do? Where is he at now, now that you’ve made it through the regular season? Because if he does come out, we certainly want him to play in our game and I think our game makes a ton of sense. He’s gaining a lot of traction right now in the NFL scouting community,” Nagy said.

He added that the relationships need to take precedence in instances like these, though.

“But I also don’t want to send an invite there and damage something with Kirby and his guys. So, just again, it’s a lot of relationship. I guess the key thing is a lot more communication than ever had to take place,” Nagy said.