Carson Beck injury update: Georgia QB undergoes surgery on UCL

The 2024 season is over for Carson Beck. Georgia confirmed reports that the quarterback will miss the Bulldogs’ pursuit of another national championship in the College Football Playoffs after he underwent surgery to repair an elbow injury sustained in the SEC Championship earlier this month against Texas.

“Georgia quarterback Carson Beck underwent successful surgery Monday on his right elbow to repair his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), performed by renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, Ca,” the statement shared. “A full recovery is expected with throwing to begin spring of 2025.”

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart previously told reporters, both local beat media and national television, that Beck was with his family in Jacksonville finding the best path forward for him. He received multiple opinions and explored treatment options with no timetable for his return. The latest news would put an end to those deliberations.

The fifth year signal caller out of Jacksonville took over the starting position for Georgia ahead of the 2023 season. Since then, he’s started all 27 contests, totaling 7,426 passing yards and 57 total touchdowns.

It’s been an up-and-down campaign for Beck. He finished the regular season leading the SEC in both passing touchdowns and interceptions, going through a six-game stretch that saw him toss all 12 including multiple in four contests. Recently though, Beck has bounced back strong. He didn’t turn it over in Georgia’s last three games of the regular season, throwing for 11 touchdowns and 941 yards in that time.

“Obviously just being in this position and going through this year and the things that we’ve gone through this season, I think I’ve really grown not only as a quarterback but as a person and mentally in all areas of life,” Beck told reporters ahead of the SEC Championship. “Whenever you’re faced with adversity, you either fall or you rise through that, and you learn a lot about yourself through that. I believe that I have (risen) through these experiences and through facing adversity this year. It makes me excited that I came back and got to experience these things, and that’s really difficult to say because it hasn’t been easy. But we don’t ever want it easy, and that’s kind of the standard here at Georgia is you come here so that it’s hard, it’s difficult, you play in big games, you play on the road against really good teams. You face adversity, you face hardship, and through that ultimately you grow. So no, I think it’s been really good this year, and I think I’ve grown a lot.”

Beck, who does have one year of eligibility remaining if he were to decide to use it, is the fourth-rated quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft by ESPN expert Mel Kiper Jr. and a projected first-round pick.

Without Beck, Georgia will turn to backup quarterback Gunner Stockton, a redshirt sophomore who entered for him for the second half of action on Saturday. He finished the game 12-of-16 for 71 yards, also adding a threat with his ability to scrambling gaining 27 yards on the ground as well. A Tiger, Ga. native and Rabun County product, Stockton left the high school ranks as a state record holder for passing touchdowns, total passing and rushing touchdowns and combined passing and rushing yards with 17,934 total yards and 254 total touchdowns to his name. He won Gatorade Georgia Player of the Year his senior season after flipping his commitment from South Carolina to Georgia following the departure of coaches Will Muschamp and Mike Bobo, both now on staff in Athens.

Georgia takes on either Notre Dame in the Allstate Sugar Bowl and quarterfinals of the College Football Playoffs New Year’s Day after the Fighting Irish defeated Indiana this past Friday during the first round of the CFP. Kickoff time is set for 8:45 p.m. ET (TV: ABC/ESPN) from the Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans.