Carson Beck, Kirby Smart assess G-Day showing for veteran QB, Georgia offense

ATHENS, Ga. — It wasn’t the cleanest of days for Carson Beck. The veteran quarterback threw a pair of interceptions on Saturday during Georgia’s spring game and saw several other pass attempts tipped at the line of scrimmage. That’s okay according to Georgia head coach Kirby Smart because he’s not grading the signal caller just on G-Day. He’s got a bigger body of work to look at and feels perfectly fine about his quarterback heading into the fall.

“Carson had a great spring to me. He’s got a quiet leadership, a lot of confidence. When things aren’t going well, kids and players and the o-line turn to him. He’s got really good moxie out on the field. He never got pressed or frustrated even today. He drove the team down, made some really elite throws there at the end to get us a chance to tie the ball game,” Smart said in his postgame press conference. “Taking today out of it, I don’t even go off of today, he’s had a good spring. He knows how to navigate a pocket, he knows where to go with the ball, there’s nothing he hasn’t seen on defense. I’m happy with where he is. I want him to continue to grow as a leader.”

That’s about the same assessment Beck would give himself in a setting that’s not necessarily the best indication of the progress he’s actually made.

“It was mediocre. It was alright. Few mistakes, which was fine, maybe trying to do some extra things. Maybe trying to force the ball to a few different guys, maybe not making the right reads in a few situations,” Beck described in speaking about his day. “Overall, this spring, offense, defense, special teams, all sides of the ball, we had a really good spring. Got a lot of work in, and I’m super excited to continue as we go into the summer and fall to see what we’re capable of.”

Beck threw for 301 yards and two touchdowns on 25-of-46 (54.3%) passing. He completed passes to 11 different receivers including several stepping into larger roles. While he wasn’t happy about the two interceptions, he wasn’t overly concerned either. For him, this spring was largely about building chemistry with the newcomers and improving on his connection with ones returning. Beck’s day confidently says mission accomplished on that front.

“I think a lot of chemistry was built, but where the chemistry really gets going is over the summer when we’re in here working out without the coaches,” Beck said. “What can we do when coaches aren’t there, are we going to come in on the weekend and get reps? Are we going to get reps? Are we going to watch film? Are they going to understand what I want them to do and vice versa? I think that chemistry will continue to build.”

As for the spring game on the whole, Beck – who has played in four before – knew what it was about. It’s not about showing off his skills or those of the starters. It’s about getting out of there healthy and continuing to develop depth with opportunities for younger players to show what they’re capable of.

“The spring game’s always fun. The good thing is, nobody really loses. There’s no actual loss, no stress, no pressure. Just go out there and have fun. We get to throw the ball a ton, that’s always fun,” Beck added. “I thought we had a really good spring. Spring game’s always a little different. It’s very vanilla both sides of the ball, defense and offense, it’s a lot of basic plays because obviously we don’t want to show too much on TV. It’s a chance for guys to go out there, guys that just came in to go out there and make some plays, show what they can do. It’s always a good time.”

Beck and the Bulldogs will take the field again August 31st in Atlanta against Clemson. Between now and then, it’s a lot of those player-led workouts Beck mentioned, offseason conditioning and simply trying to build on the work done this spring.

“There’s a lot of guys that are hungry,” Beck said. “There’s a lot of guys that maybe haven’t gotten to their full potential yet, haven’t gotten to where they want to reach. There’s a lot of guys that want to work, want to be physical. That’s our brand of ball at Georgia … Super, super excited to start getting to work with these guys this summer.”

“We’re going to go Monday, we’re going to get after it, we’re going to workout. We’re going to target some guys’ weights, get some weights done, lift,” Smart said. “We’ve got to get our bottom half of our roster to the top half. You’re not gonna get there watching spring game tape. You gotta go and get to work. We’re gonna work really hard on those guys. We’re gonna keep meeting and talking to our players. Tell them the job’s not done. We’re not where we need to be. We just don’t get to practice anymore. You get to do other things. We’ll get back to work on Monday.”