Where Carson Beck could be selected in 2024 NFL Draft

On Tuesday’s episode of the Andy Staples On3, On3’s resident college football aficionado had a sit-down conversation with the director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, Jim Nagy. And Tuesday’s convo visited the topic of the top Senior Bowl-eligible quarterbacks.

With the 2023 college football season past the halfway mark, some folk offenses are turning their attention to which quarterbacks are destined to play at the next level. While there are a handful of underclassmen out there dominating headlines, such as Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, there are some quality senior quarterbacks out there preparing for the NFL. And there is one name that is rapidly climbing up the list in his senior year: Georgia Bulldogs starting quarterback Carson Beck.

“Yeah, the Georgia fan base isn’t happy; they think he’s a junior,” said Nagy.

Beck’s classification would be surprising to those who have not closely watched the Georgia quarterback competition over the past few seasons. In each of the past three years, Beck has been vying for the starting position, losing out to Stetson Bennett in 2021 and 2022, before finally winning the job over Brock Vandagriff in 2023.

Still, winning the starting position was just half the battle. Beck has been playing solid behind center for Georgia this season. And Nagy believes the light went on for the Bulldog senior signal caller during their near-upset victory over the Auburn Tigers.

“I would say probably from the Auburn game on, he had a really big second half. And since then, he’s just built on that. He throws a really tight ball, throws a catchable ball, (and) can layer it down the field; there’s just a lot to like for a guy that hasn’t played a lot of football. You look at where he went from two years ago. We watched him in mop-up duty; it was OK. Then you watched last year’s stuff, again mostly mop-up duty, and it was better. But now he gets the chance to be the guy, and he’s just kinda growing week after week.”

It is a small sample size for Beck, with this season being his first as the Bulldogs full-time starting quarterback. Still, the Jacksonville, FL native has impressed commanding George’s offense. This season, Beck has completed 121-163 of his pass attempts for a 74.1 completion percentage, with 2,462 yards through the air, 14 touchdowns, and four interceptions.

Those stats say a lot about what Beck’s upside can be at the next level. But what it doesn’t say is how scouts view him at the next level. And the conversation Nagy has had suggests there is still more work that needs to be done for Beck to hear his name called on day one or early on day two of the NFL Draft.

“Certainly, when we’re on these calls with teams, if we’re talking about the top 6 to 8 senior quarterbacks, everyone thinks he belongs in that group. Where that sits round-wise? Probably third or fourth, if he came out right now. So, we’ll see,” said Nagy.