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Greg McElroy sets high expectations for Carson Beck at Miami
By Paul Harvey
Published:
ESPN analyst Greg McElroy is working through his preseason rankings and projections for the 2025 college football season. That includes his list for the top quarterbacks in the country, which he dropped this week.
That list included former Georgia starter Carson Beck, who is now at Miami to play for Mario Cristobal. When he broke down the inclusion of Beck at No. 6 overall, McElroy admitted Beck was the likely top player on preseason QB rankings a year ago.
McElroy went on to acknowledge that Beck’s 2024 numbers do not wow anyone, though the analyst questions why so many people have come out of the woodwork to hammer Beck’s negatives without highlighting what he has accomplished as a starter in the SEC:
“What’s amazing to me, though is that there are so many people that have pointed all of Carson Beck’s flaws out without acknowledging the inconsistencies of not just his wide receiver corps, which led the country in drops, but also his offensive line,” said McElroy. “I thought his offensive line was so leaky at times last year that it was almost hard for Carson Beck to be comfortable at all.”
So, what should we expect from Beck with a new OC in Shannon Dawson? McElroy does not see a run similar to the one Cam Ward went on last season when Ward was a 4th-place finisher for the Heisman Trophy and became the No. 1 overall draft pick.
“Shannon Dawson just helped cultivate a run with Cam Ward that resulted in the No. 1 overall pick. Carson Beck has that kind of potential as well,” McElroy claimed. “He doesn’t have the mobility, doesn’t have the playmaking ability and trying to create playing off schedule. But if you need a guy to sit back in the pocket and pick you apart, Carson Beck is that guy. “
For what it’s worth, Beck just barely cracks the top 10 in the preseason Heisman Trophy odds, listed at +2500 at FanDuel. However, he is considerably lower than many of the other top QBs in the country, such as Garrett Nussmeier, Arch Manning and Cade Klubnik.
We’ll see if Beck can shake that up early in the season, or if he’s destined to struggle further after leaving Athens behind.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
