Carson Beck back means another year of growing relationship with Mike Bobo

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Carson Beck announced his return for a fifth year at Georgia just 10 days ago, but the impact it’s had has already been felt in the Bulldogs’ football building. Beck, who looks to lead UGA to an Orange Bowl victory over No. 5 Florida State on Saturday, explained why it was he wanted to give it another go.

“The biggest thing for me was obviously, coming back, playing with the guys. The camaraderie that we have in the locker room, I mean, that’s a huge part,” Beck said. “It’s hard to like, just leave that, you know. I feel like the chemistry that we have, the standard that we’ve set, a lot of those things really led me to coming back. And you know, wanting to do this, again, you know, with these players around me.”

“I mean, that’s how I feel like that’s always part of it,” he added on the notion of ‘unfinished business’ factoring in. “I feel like if we hadn’t lost that game, maybe things would be different. But obviously, that’s the way that things panned out. Mentally that definitely had an effect on my decision.”

Beck’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Mike Bobo certainly is happy to have him back. Another year with the two together bodes well for the Bulldogs.

“Obviously excited for the news, but we had been talking since the last ballgame about certain things. At the end of the day, it was getting him the information that he needed to make the decision,” Bobo shared. “It wasn’t some big announcement. It was kind of a culmination of things leading up to that point. My conversations with Carson mainly have been about still preparing and finishing the right way this season. That was his decision, a family decision that he made. I wanted to let him know I’m his coach and am going to support him any way possible that he needs. You’re here. Let’s get ready to play our best and go out and finish the season the right way against Florida State.”

Beck knows that he grew as a player as the season went along. In his first year as a starter, he finished top-10 in the country in passing yards (3,738) and completion percentage (72.4%). Albeit aided by an extra game over the competition with the conference championship in many cases, it should be recognized that Beck didn’t play in several of the fourth quarters for Georgia.

“The skills and that stuff, it was always there, but I feel like if you watch the film, it doesn’t look like the same person throughout the year,” Beck said. “You can tell the confidence and aura that I started to build over each game because Week 1 Carson and Week 11 Carson were not the same quarterback at all.”

“There’s a lot of areas. No matter how long you’ve been in a system or how many years of experience you’ve got being in that system, I think his maturity has grown throughout the year,” Bobo added on Beck’s growth. “His confidence has grown. I mean, you can be confident, but until you go out there and do it on Saturdays, you still have to be able to feel that and go out and do it. I think his confidence in those areas has helped him grow. He’s had the talent, but I think it’s confident more than anything.”

Beck explained he had to get back in a rhythm playing football again, taking the field as the starter in September for the first time since his senior year of high school in 2019. There was a “feel” that he had to regain, figuring out when to step up in the pocket, when to take off, when to throw it away and things of that nature.

“A huge difference in my eyes,” Beck responded when asked what the difference between ‘2023 Carson and 2024 Carson’ could be. “There’s a lot of areas I’ll go back and watch, watch every single play over and over again. There’s so many things I can improve on and continue to get better at. Even the confidence piece, going out there and believing in this team, believing in myself and understanding exactly what defenses are trying to do. I think there can be a huge improvement year to year.”

His teammates know it too. They talked about the impact of having a second-year starter at quarterback guiding the offense having seen what it did for Georgia in 2022 with Stetson Bennett at the helm. As for the Beck-Bobo relationship, all involved parties know it’ll only continue to grow.

“Obviously he was here last year as well, not with the quarterbacks. But we didn’t really have a relationship at all, because he was with the tight ends. So then moving over to the offense, offensive coordinator, coaching the quarterbacks, that relationship has only continued to build,” Beck said. “I feel like the trust has been earned both ways. I’m super excited to finish out the season strong with him, and then coming in next year, you know, already having that relationship built”

“I think the more experience he gets, the better,” Bobo added on Beck. “Obviously this will be his 14th start. Very, very accurate at completing balls. I think we’ll work on down the field throws a little bit more and that’s not just him hitting guys in stride or on target, but that’s us finding ways to be creative and push the ball a little bit more downfield and having some higher success rate throwing the ball downfield.”