Is Carson Beck better than you think? Here's what Miami believes is being overlooked
Miami's transfer from Georgia is a lightning rod — and you may have to go beyond the box score to understand his full impact.
ARLINGTON, Texas — The move that helped spring the biggest play in the biggest Miami win in two decades was so small you probably missed it.
Hurricanes offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson didn’t. A week and a half later, he’s still raving about it as the kind of high-level decision outsiders overlook when they criticize the player who made it — the lightning-rod, seven-figure transfer whom coach Mario Cristobal calls one of the “most misunderstood” people he’s ever been around — quarterback Carson Beck.
It happened with four minutes left in the College Football Playoff first-round slugfest at Texas A&M. Before the snap, Beck saw an Aggies safety creeping toward the line of scrimmage. He flashed a quick gesture to wide receiver Keelan Marion, bringing him from the left side of the formation to the right.
That one flick of Beck’s non-throwing arm put Marion in position to block the safety and allowed running back Mark Fletcher Jr. to burst into the void where the defender could have been. Without that adjustment, perhaps Fletcher gets stopped after 5 or 6 yards. With it, Fletcher powered 56 yards to set up Malachi Toney’s game-winning score in Miami’s 10-3 triumph.
“To me,” Dawson said, “that’s as good as throwing an 80-yard touchdown.”
Granted, 80-yard touchdown passes were part of the expectation when Beck transferred from Georgia last offseason. He didn’t receive a compensation package in the $3 million range — enough to make him one of the nation’s highest-paid players — because he knew when to motion a receiver a few yards to the right. He got it because he displayed first-round talent while leading one of the SEC’s most explosive passing attacks for the Bulldogs two years ago. The Hurricanes were willing to bank on him rebounding from an inconsistent 2024 and the elbow injury that ended his Georgia tenure in last year’s SEC title game.
His performance at Miami has been somewhere in the middle — good but not as gaudy as you’d expect for a blue-chip talent in his third season as a starter, especially when compared to last year’s portal addition, No. 1 draft pick and Heisman Trophy finalist Cam Ward.
Beck ranks in the top 20 nationally in touchdown passes (26), yards per attempt (8.5), passing yards (3,175) and passing efficiency (163.83). The only player with a better completion percentage than Beck (74.5) is the quarterback on the sideline in Wednesday’s Cotton Bowl, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin (78.4).
Beck has also thrown another 10 interceptions; over the past two seasons, only five players have tossed more than Beck (22). His Georgia replacement, Gunner Stockton, has only five picks in his 14 career starts.