Kirby Smart reveals Carson Beck was ahead of Stetson Bennett on Georgia 2021 depth chart

Georgia quarterback Carson Beck will get his first opportunity to start a college football game for the Bulldogs next week when the team kicks off its 2023 season.

But as head coach Kirby Smart told Rece Davis on ESPN’s College GameDay Podcast, that opportunity could have come in 2021.

Smart said Beck was originally ahead of Stetson Bennett IV on the Georgia depth chart that season. He was the No. 2 to JT Daniels.

“The interesting thing about Carson that people don’t talk about is that there was a time when he was the two in our first national championship run and Stetson was the three,” Smart said. “Stetson only took reps with the threes. We play Clemson, Carson’s the two. We come out of the game, and JT Daniels has an oblique injury. We’ve got to go the next week and we weren’t sure if he was gonna be able to play or not. So, enter Carson….I think we’re getting ready to play UAB. Right at the end of the week, coach (Todd) Monken came to me and said, ‘Hey, look, I think we gotta go with Stetson here. I think Stetson gives us a better chance to win. He’s played a little better this week.’

“Carson spoke to the team about missing that opportunity, and how it affected him and how he didn’t think that he had prepared the right way. He didn’t think that he was prepared. It went on to happen where Stetson never looked back, played for two years, but Carson Beck could have been our quarterback that entire time. He learned from that. He learned valuable lessons from that.”

Bennett started the next two seasons for the Bulldogs after the UAB game, leading the team to two national championships and establishing his legacy as one of Georgia’s favorite sons. He won the College Football Playoff National Championship Offensive MVP in both 2021 and 2022 and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy last season.

Beck — a former four-star recruit in the 2020 recruiting cycle — stuck around through it all and won the starting job this offseason over Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton. He was the favorite to win the job heading into the offseason and did everything he needed to do to secure the job.

In 11 games as a backup, Beck has completed 36 of his 58 passes for 486 yards and six touchdowns.