Georgia was not interested in taking the bait when it came to Carson Beck.
Kirby Smart, Gunner Stockton and Daylen Everette were each asked about the former Georgia quarterback. All three elected to keep it moving, rather than give deeper answers on their former quarterback.
“I don’t do comparisons real well,” Smart said. “I think you’ve got to be careful when you do comparisons. I can talk to you about Gunner and the things I love about him.”
Beck will cast a long shadow from the outside world on the Georgia quarterback room. Beck is set to speak to reporters on Tuesday at ACC Media Days in Charlotte, North Carolina.
You can imagine there will be plenty of questions for Beck about how things ended at Georgia.
His final play was a handoff in the SEC Championship game, giving Georgia a 22-19 win over Texas. Then he declared for the NFL draft, only to reverse course and end up transferring to Miami. In between, Beck was not with the team during bowl practices and did not fly in with the team to New Orleans as he had surgery on his elbow.
“At the end of the day, you know, he had to do what was best, for him,” Everette said. “We couldn’t do anything but really respect his decision.”
Whether it’s Beck’s own doing or not, there has been plenty of drama around the quarterback. That will linger at Georgia for this season, even if both sides have clearly moved on.
For Georgia, it elected to roll with the largely unproven Stockton. There are drawbacks with electing to go with Stockton, as opposed to fighting for a multi-year starter in Beck to return.
But Georgia believes Stockton brings a different vibe to the Georgia team than Beck did as a starter.
“The one thing that I really appreciate about Gunner and most quarterbacks is he prepared every game as if he was the starter,” Smart said. “People can say that and say that’s coach-speak, but he actually did it. He went in, watched extra tape, and he knew that at any point in time, he could be called up to go into the game and play, and he didn’t play in a normal environment where you’ve got a big lead, maybe you’re beating an opponent; he went in against a top defense in the country in one of the biggest games of the season and performed well, for a guy that had not gotten a lot of reps with the ones.
“So I thought he handled that moment well, and he taught a lot of our young players that you’ve got to be prepared and ready.”
Stockton steps into a much bigger job this season, even if he is not yet the official starting quarterback for the upcoming season. Smart has declined to name a starting quarterback, even with all signs pointing to Stockton being the guy against Marshall.
Smart did publicly name Beck Georgia’s starting quarterback in August of 2023. Time will tell if Smart does the same with whoever ends up being Georgia’s quarterback.
But that Stockton has already established himself as one of the top leaders on Georgia’s team, as evidenced by his appearance at SEC Media Days, is a noticeable difference between Beck’s ascent to QB1 and Stockton’s.
The latter is very clearly comfortable with who he is, even if that doesn’t always lend itself to flowy answers in a press conference setting.
Teammates like that about Stockton and clearly respond to it.
“Just being the Georgia quarterback and being in Athens, you’ve got a spotlight on you for sure,” Stockton said. “Just the way you carry yourself is a big deal. I’m glad I don’t have to be anybody but myself. I’m glad I’m that way.”
Beck will be asked questions about his time at Miami. In all likelihood, those answers will be far more telling and interesting than what he has to say about the end of his time with Georgia.
But even if Tuesday allows Beck to publicly move past the end of his run at Georgia, fans won’t be so quick to forget. The opening weekend sees Stockton and Georgia play Marshall. Plenty will watch with interest to see how he does in what would be his first start in Sanford Stadium.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to be at Georgia,” Stockton said. “When I committed, I envisioned myself playing and being at Georgia and I didn’t want to go anywhere else. So, that was a big part. And just being from the state, it’s amazing to be able to say you played at Georgia. And I just can’t wait for the season and it’ll be awesome.”
The next day, Beck will take on Notre Dame, the same team Stockton faced in his first career start. He threw for 234 yards and a touchdown in that game, one Georgia lost.
That game may have plenty of Georgia fans checking in, much like checking an ex-fling’s Instagram story.
Georgia made it clear on all sides that it has moved on from Beck and everything that surrounded him a season ago. It believes in Stockton now and is eager to see him take the next step.
We’ll see if the former Georgia quarterback will do the same on Tuesday.
