College Football

Carson Beck succeeds Stetson Bennett as Georgia's starting quarterback

Updated Aug. 19, 2023 5:51 p.m. ET

Carson Beck will indeed take the baton from Stetson Bennett, as Georgia head coach Kirby Smart announced Saturday that the former will be the team's starting quarterback for the 2023 season.

"He’s [Beck] done the best job [of all the quarterbacks]," Smart told The Athletic. "We communicated that early in the week to the other quarterbacks."

Beck, who committed to Georgia in 2019 as a four-star recruit, has appeared in 11 games over the last two seasons. This past season, he totaled 310 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 186.4 passer rating, while completing 74.3% of his passes while backing up Bennett. Beck, who stands 6-foot-4, beat out Brock Vandagriff, among others, for the starting job.

Can the Georgia Bulldogs be stopped?

Star tight end Brock Bowers, who has 20 receiving touchdowns across his first two collegiate seasons, and wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who totaled 762 receiving yards last season, are among the returning pass-catchers for a Georgia passing game that averaged 295.8 yards per game last season, good for third in the SEC.

Georgia is coming off its second consecutive national championship, which came in the form of a thrilling 42-41 win over No. 4 Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal, followed by a 65-7 drubbing of No. 3 TCU in the National Championship game. The Bulldogs have lost just one game over the last two seasons, that being a 41-24 loss to Alabama in the 2021 SEC Championship Game; one month later, Georgia took down Alabama in the College Football Playoff Championship game.

The Beck era begins for Georgia on Sept. 2, when it hosts UT Martin.

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