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Carson Beck embracing team goals over individual accolades

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•07/02/24•

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Carson Beck (3)
[Corey Perrine | Florida Times-Union]

Carson Beck is no idiot. He knows he’s in the preseason conversation surrounding the Heisman Trophy and understands what winning it would mean – not just for him, but also for Georgia.

UGA sent Stetson Bennett to New York as a finalist in 2022. Prior to him though, it had been since the 1990s when Garrison Hearst went to the Big Apple. Georgia’s last winner was in 1982 when Herschel Walker joined Frank Sinkwich (1942) as the only Bulldogs to win the award.

According to oddsmakers in Las Vegas, Beck should be considered the favorite entering the season to bring home the Heisman come December. DraftKings listed Beck and Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers both at +900 in May. FanDuel has Beck atop the odds sheet alone at +750. So, if Vegas thinks he’s got a better chance than anybody to win it, earning finalist status and a trip to New York would come with even shorter odds.

What does Beck say about all of the Heisman hype? As you’d expect from a team leader, he was quite passive when asked about it over the weekend at the Manning Passing Academy.

“It’s 100 percent a team trophy,” Beck said. “Obviously as a quarterback, my success is very much dependent on the offensive line, it’s very much dependent on how our running backs play, it’s very much dependent on if our defense can get stops, it’s very much dependent on if our wide receivers can go make contested catches and get open.”

“At the end of the day, it very much is a team oriented award. It’s not my main goal, but if I was able to get there, obviously it’d be a dream come true.”

As the quarterback, Beck is bound to receive the praise. He’s the easiest person to throw everything – good or bad – at, although he’s not alone in helping Georgia try to reach its goals in 2024. Wide receivers like Dominic Lovett, Dillon Bell, Rara Thomas, Arian Smith and TE Oscar Delp return. UGA also added weapons by way of the transfer portal including Colbie Young (WR – Miami), Trevor Etienne (RB – Florida) and Ben Yurosek (TE – Stanford). Others from last year’s roster like Roderick Robinson and Anthony Evans are expected to take on bigger roles as well at running back and receiver respectively.

Beck and the Bulldogs kick off the season on August 31st against ACC favorite Clemson. Between now and then, it’s an opportunity for player-led workouts and improvement of the chemistry between a quarterback and his pass catchers.

“It’s such a huge part of football: timing, quarterback and receiver relationships and connection, knowing how one person is going to run a route compared to another person,” Beck said. “Coming into my second year as a starter and having a lot of those guys coming back that I was able to get chemistry with and start to build that relationship with over last year, having another offseason to really work with them, to really build that connection going into the season, it definitely adds a comfortability that almost wasn’t there before.”

“Honestly, our whole wide receiver room, those guys are so good, and I think that we have great depth,” Beck told On3 at the event, previewing the Bulldogs. “We have so many guys that do so many different things very well. The running back room … I mean, our whole offense, our offensive line coming back … I think I’m just excited to see what our offense can do this year.”

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