Kirby Smart shares an area he's pleased with Carson Beck, another for improvement

ATHENS, Ga. — Carson Beck is a quarter of a way through his first regular season as a starting quarterback, and he overcame his first challenge this past Saturday. By helping Georgia prevail against South Carolina after trailing 14-3 at halftime, Beck picked up his first SEC win – and first come from behind victory.

Headed into the locker room, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart expressed to Beck that there was belief in him from the coaching staff, and that they had some answers for the first half struggles. Smart said he never doubted Beck’s composure, and that he wasn’t frustrated one bit. In fact, he didn’t see Saturday’s 269-yard performance on 27-of-35 (77.1%) passing as any sort of an extraordinary effort from Beck to spark the offense. Instead, to Smart, it was just another example of how well Beck has handled the pressure of being QB1 for the nation’s top-ranked team and two-time defending national champions.

“It’s different every game,” Smart said when asked what more he wants to see out of Beck. “I think we challenge him with different things. What I’ve been most proud of is his composure, number one, which I never doubted.”

“He has a great demeanor about him that he handles positive and negative almost the same. As a matter of fact, there was a touchdown Saturday, I saw him celebrate for the first time, and that’s really good,” Smart continued. “Like when you see that emotion, it was one of the touchdowns in the second half that he got a little emotional, excited. I think our guys kind of rally around him when he does that.”

If you have ever listened to Smart speak on a player, you know that there’s always room for improvement. That’s absolutely the case for a quarterback just three starts in.

Out of Beck, Smart wants to see him keep his cool under pressure from the defense. He did a good job in responding when the scoreboard presented pressure, but when it’s defenders coming into his face that are providing the pressure, Smart wants to see Beck stay confident and “go through the smoke.”

“You know, stepping up in the pocket, there was a couple times that he started losing a little confidence and he started stepping back. He’s gotta be willing to step up,” Smart said. “Like they talk about race car drivers, when the smoke’s there, you gotta go right through it. There’s a lot of smoke in there sometimes, especially when people pressure you. You gotta be willing to step up and go through it and not always out and around it, because you can’t always outrun it that way. I’m really pleased with the way he’s playing, but there’s certainly things he can continue to work on.”

Through three games, Beck ranks fourth in the SEC for completions and second for percentage. He’s 71-for-91 for 846 yards, three touchdowns and one interception that came on a tipped ball off of a receiver’s hands. However, what the stats don’t show are all the right decisions he’s made.

“You want more shots down field? There’s shots on a lot of plays that the look is not there. If it’s middle field closed, you don’t just take a shot. The quarterback has a read. If they’re in quarters and the safety is deep, you don’t just take a shot. Right?” Smart said. “But what he’s really good at is, one of the best I’ve been around at seeing the coverage, knowing what it is and then knowing where to go with the ball. We did have a little more pressure the other day than we’re used to, and he did a nice job adjusting to that. They got hurt pressuring the play to Rara later in the game was pressure, and he hit the right guy on the right look.”

“I don’t know if that answers your question or not, because I don’t know perception, and I really don’t know your reality or anybody’s reality, because I don’t judge other people’s perception,” Smart continued, pushing back with a smile on his face to public perception that wants to see Beck throwing the ball downfield earlier and more often. “I only look at what happens in a game and what happens in practice. I feel very good that Carson is doing a good job.”

Smart will have another chance to see his starting quarterback – and entire team – in action this week. Next up for Beck and the Bulldogs is a date on Saturday with UAB. Kickoff time against the Blazers is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.