Carson Beck considered early candidate for 2024 Heisman Trophy

We’re not even 48 hours removed from the Heisman Trophy being handed out for the 2023 season, but conversation has quickly turned to candidates to receive it in 2024. Count Georgia quarterback Carson Beck as among those in early consideration.

While Beck has yet to announce his plans to return to Georgia for another season, should he do so he’d be in the thick of things for the sport’s top individual award. In just his first year as a starter, Beck finished top-15 in yards per game (287.5), top-10 in yards per attempt (9.4) and completion percentage (72.4) and top-5 in the NCAA for passing yards (3738). Albeit aided by an extra game over the competition in many cases, it should be remembered that Beck didn’t take a single snap in the fourth quarter of four games for Georgia with the Bulldogs up big and not needing his help to secure a win.

All that’s to say, Carson Beck had an exceptional first season as Georgia’s starter, and if he returns, expectations are for an even better second year.

Beck had the unenviable task of replacing Stetson Bennett, who led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships in 2021 and ’22. He did well in his first season as a starter, completing 72.4% of his passes for 3,738 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions. Georgia went 12-1 and came within one victory over Alabama in returning to the CFP. The Bulldogs will probably lose star tight end Brock Bowers and receivers Ladd McConkey and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, but there are other talented players coming back.

Mark Schlabach, ESPN

Schlabach and ESPN aren’t the only ones to circle Beck as an early candidate. On3’s Jesse Simonton had Beck at No. 4 on his way-too-early list, a spot that should he finish there next year would likely get him invited to New York for the ceremony.

The vibes out of Athens suggest Beck is leaning toward coming back to Georgia in 2024, which would instantly give the Bulldogs one of the early Heisman Trophy favorites. In his first season as a starter, the junior quarterback led UGA to a 12-0 regular season with 22 touchdowns to just six picks on 73% passing. Beck won’t have Brock Bowers or Ladd McConkey to throw to next season, but Georgia’s pass catcher room should remain deep with the likes of Dominic Lovett, Rara Thomas, Dillion Bell, Oscar Delp and a couple of future transfer portal additions. UGA’s schedule next year — with games vs. Clemson, at Texas and at Alabama — will provide Beck some opportunities for marquee moments, too.

Jesse Simonton, On3

As both point out, Georgia’s receiver room could – and likely will – look a lot different. That’s still to be determined too however. The Bulldogs are pursuing multiple pass catchers in the transfer portal and have yet to hear officially from any of the presumed NFL Draft entries.

Either way, if Beck is back, the Bulldogs are in good hands, and the Heisman could be in his hands at season’s end. He’ll be able to take all that he learned in year one and apply it to his offseason improvement, just as he did in season in 2023.

“When you talk about Carson and his growth, I think he gained more confidence through playing time and being in some tough contests going on the road, playing in hostile places. He’s grown up and gotten better. Excited to see where he can go,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said about Beck prior to the SEC Championship Game.

“The Auburn experience was big for him in terms of confidence. It was his first true road test like to be in that environment, have a tough environment to play in, and he did a really nice job in that game,” he added. “But I can’t pinpoint one moment. I didn’t see it like you saw it. It’s like you have somebody that’s been in your family or been in your house for a long time, and you treat them as family, and he was family for a long time before he started to get these opportunities, and I had seen his ups and downs and his trials and tribulations and the things he had gone through on the field. He had already proven to me his talent level by the way he prepared last year. So I wasn’t seeing things that I thought were like groundbreaking, they were things that I had seen before, and his maturation has been a game-by-game process, and he’s done a nice job of that.”

Beck, who finished outside the top-10 of this year’s Heisman voting despite receiving some late-season attention, was an active participant in Georgia’s first practice of Orange Bowl preparation over the weekend. The sixth-ranked Bulldogs and No. 5 Florida State Seminoles kick off at 4:00 p.m. ET on December 30th at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.