Kirby Smart explains separators for Carson Beck as starting quarterback

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s quarterback competition is over. Carson Beck will be the Bulldogs’ starter for the season-opener on September 2nd. Head coach Kirby Smart announced the decision following Georgia’s second scrimmage of the fall on Saturday and explained what it is that separates Beck from his competition, Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton.

“Carson is ahead of the other guys in terms of what he understands about the offense … Carson’s been in this offense for a year over one of them (Vandagriff) and two years over Gunner (Stockton). He’s just ahead, so he’ll be our starting quarterback,” Smart said.

Beck served as Georgia’s backup to Stetson Bennett last season. As a result, he saw action in seven games, throwing for four touchdowns and 310 yards on 26-of-35 passing.

His most extensive action in terms of pass attempts came versus Vanderbilt. Putting the ball in the air 11 times, Beck completed eight of the attempts for 98 yards and two touchdowns. He also had impressive days against Oregon and South Carolina early in the season.

All in all, Beck’s stepped between the lines 12 times in three seasons. On top of that, he’s got three years of practice every day and a trio of stellar G-Day performances (averaging 247 yards while combining three touchdowns on 64.56% passing across all three showings) playing a part in his comfort level in the offense, something Smart called “the greatest separator in quarterbacks.”

“Having the extra spring and extra fall that those two guys don’t have, that rep volume is kind of the separator,” Smart said. “He’s had the ability to understand when the defense is doing this, or they’re in this, I need the answer. He’s had good answers.”

“It’s a little hard to judge when you’re going against a defense that does everything. We have a lot of volume on our defense and we throw it at them. We have a lot of volume on our offense and we throw it at them. It’s challenging, and Carson can handle that really well,” he continued. “… Carson is very knowledgeable, very intelligent, one of the smartest quarterbacks I’ve been around when it comes to handling the volume of offense we want him to do.”

According to reports, Beck took all of the reps with the first team on Saturday in Georgia’s scrimmage. Whether it was coincidence or not, reports are also that the offense played significantly better than they did last week.

Asked about Beck and how he’s handled the responsibilities that come with being the starting quarterback, Smart said that his demeanor hasn’t changed much since receiving the news earlier this week.

“He understood. He got a pretty good volume of those reps anyway. He’s done well prior to knowing that, and he’s done well post-knowing that,” Smart said. “To be honest, both Gunner and Brock have, too. They’ve done a tremendous job of growing and continuing to put the offense in positions to be successful and make explosive plays. They’ve all done a good job of that.”

That was far from the only time he praised the backups. Saying that the competition for second string is undecided, both Vandagriff and Stockton will continue to receive a significant number of reps, just with the second and third teams. As for on game day, it’s still up in the air.

“The decision about the quarterback is really about who the starter is. We haven’t talked even beyond that. That’s not the conversation. We have two really talented, young quarterbacks who are coming along and getting better. We want to keep that growth growing, and the only way you keep that growth going is you continue to get those guys really quality reps,” Smart said. “I think that’s one of the greatest separators in every program in the country, who’s able to get quality reps for their twos and threes from this point forward. If you don’t get quality reps you can regress. I want those two guys to keep growing and keep competing. They challenge each other every single day, all three of those guys do and they do some really nice things.”