Report: JT Daniels not expected to start Bulldogs home opener

Georgia’s starting quarterback JT Daniels is expected to miss the UAB game this weekend with an oblique strain. Carson Beck, the Bulldogs‘ backup quarterback, is expected to start at quarterback against UAB.

Beck’s personal quarterback coach, Denny Thompson, told Jacksonville radio station AM-1010 Friday morning that Beck is likely to start against UAB.

Beck is redshirt freshman who came to Georgia as a four-star recruit in the 2020 recruiting class. He turned heads throughout this spring practice period. In the spring game, Beck completed 22 of his 31 pass attempts for 236 passing yards, while tossing in two touchdowns.

Beck is a 6-foot-4, 215 pound quarterback out of Mandarin High School (Jacksonville, Florida).

In 2019, Beck was invited to the Elite 11 finals. He also earned Florida’s Mr. Football by leading Mandarin High School to its first state title in program history and the second all-time by a Duval county public school.

In Georgia’s thrilling 10-3 win over Clemson last Saturday, Daniels completed 22 of his 30 attempts for 135 passing yards, while tossing one interception. He was sacked once in the game.

Daniels started Georgia’s final four games of the season a year ago. He completed 80 of his 119 attempts for 1,231 passing yards, while tossing in 10 touchdowns and two interceptions.

The former USC transfer surprised much of the college football world when he announced he was transferring to Georgia in May 2020.

Daniels suffered a knee injury at USC in 2019 in which he tore his ACL and his meniscus. The transfer news was surprising to many due to the fact that Daniels is from Santa Ana, California.

Mater Dei

As a high school prospect, Daniels attended Mater Dei High School, one of the most prestigious high school football programs in America. Mater Dei has produced quarterbacks such as Colt Brennan, Matt Barkley, Matt Leinart and even Alabama’s current signal-caller, Bryce Young. Young originally attended Cathedral High School in Los Angeles, California, before transferring to Mater Dei for his final two years of high school.

Not much has changed at Mater Dei, as the school is currently the top-ranked high school football program in the nation and have tons of future college football talent on their roster, including USC commit Domani Jackson.

Carson Beck and the second-ranked Georgia Bulldogs will face off against the UAB Blazers on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EST. The game is the home opener of the season for the Bulldogs and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

On3’s James Fletcher III also contributed to this report.