Joel Klatt enters 2025 with concern on Carson Beck, explains ranking as Top-10 QB

Carson Beck has slid down the rankings of college quarterbacks from last offseason to this one with how last year went for him at Georgia and through his transfer now to Miami. That said, Joel Klatt is keeping him just within the best in the country on his list.

Klatt had Beck at No. 10 in his rating of the Top 10 QBs during the latest episode of his show on Monday. Klatt admitted, though, that he was giving him the benefit of the doubt, despite all that went wrong for him by the end of last fall.

“At No. 10 was the guy that I had at the top of the list last year. This year at 10 – Carson Beck,” Klatt said. “Carson Beck comes in, transferring to Miami. He’s my No. 10 quarterback going into next season. I’ll be real honest. I felt like this was giving him the benefit of the doubt. There’s a lot of things that crept up, both in-season and now post-season, about Carson Beck that gives me a little bit of pause.”

Coming out of the 2023 season, Beck was arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the country with 3,941 passing yards on 72.4% completion with 28 total touchdowns and eight turnovers. Then, in 2024, Beck fell off to an extent with 3,485 passing yards on 64.7% completion with 29 touchdowns overall but with 15 turnovers.

Klatt noted that some of that was on the Bulldogs’ offense, especially with their corps leading the country in dropped passes. Still, there was enough regression before his season-ending injury, which will now have some effect on his next season, and some off-field issues that the slide from first to last in the Top 10 was justified for Klatt.

“One, he turned the ball over too much last year. Yes, Georgia struggled with drops on the outside. They had more drops than anybody amongst their wide receivers, more than anybody in the country. That was clearly a problem,” Klatt said. “That’s not necessarily his fault and I was a guy that defended Carson Beck during the course of the season. Maybe not to the point that Kirby Smart did but I certainly defended some of his play because, listen, that’s maddening as a quarterback, when you make the right read, you make the right decision, throw a good ball and then it’s dropped. That’s not your fault. Some of those were tipped into interceptions. But he did turn the football over too much. You just can’t do that and expect your team to perform at their highest ability. So, that’s the on the field stuff with Carson Beck.”

“Then we get the injury, which also was on the field but, now, we really haven’t seen him throw all offseason and he hasn’t been able to really generate any rapport with his new team or wide receivers. Just cleared to play recently and throw recently. We’re now in the latter stages of May when I’m recording this…You know, he hasn’t had a ton of time. I think that this injury is going to be a bigger deal than a lot of people want to lead on. Again, the opportunity to develop chemistry with wide receivers during spring ball wasn’t there,” continued Klatt. “And then, even at Miami, let’s face it. He’s had some off-the-field distractions, let’s just call them, and I don’t think that that’s going to benefit anybody.”

Beck has seen his overall stock fall since the start of last season. Still, there remains enough there with him for Klatt to believe in him and keep him just within his Top 10 going into 2025.

“I do think that he’s a really good player. That’s why I had him number one last year and, even with some of those things that give me pause going into this season, he’s still going to be on my list, except this time he’s at number ten,” Klatt said. “Disappointing year, injury. I think he can bounce back.”