ATHENS — It’s fitting that on a day when Carson Beck tied a school record with 5 touchdown passes, one of his more interesting answers came when talking about his relationship with punter Brett Thorson.
“I think the on-running joke is that the quarterback and the punter hate each other, especially,” Beck said with a smile. “I told him, well, my goal is to never have him come on the field. Obviously, you want to end every drive and a kick, whether it’s a punt or an extra point or a field goal. You don’t want to turn the ball over. But my goal is to never have Brett Thorsen get on the field. Obviously, he got out there today, but it wasn’t in my doing, so I still counted that I haven’t let him play.”
Thorson had just one punt on the afternoon, which came long after Beck’s day had to an end. Beck needed only three quarters to throw for 5 touchdowns, with all 5 going to different receivers.
The first of his 25 pass attempts went to Dillon Bell for a 22-yard score. His final touchdown pass of the day went to Lawson Luckie for 37-yards. In between, he also found Colbie Young, Dominic Lovett and Arian Smith for touchdowns.
“I’m proud of Carson. He’s put in that work, every day of the week,” Smith said. “For him to do that just shows what he does during the week.”
Beck finished the day completing 18 of his 25 pass attempts for 242 yards to go along with the 5 touchdowns. Through two games this season, he has yet to throw an interception while leading Georgia to a 2-0 record.
The Georgia quarterback has only continued to build on what he showed last season, even if the overmatched Tennessee Tech team wasn’t capable of truly testing Beck’s abilities.
“I think, truly and honestly, he’s grown. He’s a good player. He continues to get better,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “And it’s not that you’re saying he can’t get better. Absolutely he can get better. But today was about a lot of other players, not about Carson.”
It wasn’t all perfect for Beck on Saturday, as Georgia didn’t score on its final possession of the first half. Beck and the offense got the ball back with 45 seconds remaining and needing to go 55 yards for a touchdown. The drive stalled out, with Beck’s Hail Mary heave on the final play of the half falling incomplete.
But Beck responded, as he did a week ago against Clemson. He led Georgia to touchdowns on the first two drives of the second half, putting away the game.
“We recognized what we did, where we messed up, where we made errors,” Beck said. “And then we came out second half, two touchdowns immediately. It’s more about how you can respond to that stuff. I wouldn’t say it’s stuck in my head.”
Beck will matchup next week against a former teammate, as Brock Vandergriff will lead the Kentucky Wildcats. It’ll be Georgia’s first road game of the season, in addition to being the first SEC game for Georgia.
For Beck, it’ll be another opportunity. He’s made the most of those so far this season, and there’s little reason to doubt he’ll continue to do the same moving forward.
“We have so much talent in the wide receiver room. We even look at our tight end room as well,” Beck said. “Honestly, all across the offense, no, those guys had a great day. They were getting open. So, always a good day when you throw five touchdowns to five different guys.”
