Is Carson Beck primed to bring UGA its third championship in four years? - ESPN

ATHENS, Ga. — The last time Georgia opened the season against Clemson three years ago, Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck could only watch from the sideline as transfer JT Daniels guided the team to a 10-3 victory over the Tigers.

The next week, when Daniels was sidelined with an oblique injury, Beck thought it might be his turn to lead the offense against UAB. But Beck was outplayed in practice by former walk-on Stetson Bennett, who had returned to Georgia from a junior college.

Bennett threw five touchdown passes in the first half of a 56-7 rout of the Blazers. When Daniels was injured again the following week, Bennett took over the starting job for good and eventually led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022.

Beck was hardly anything more than a backup as Georgia ended its 41-year drought without a national title, wondering if his turn would ever come.

«It's hard to sit here and not play,» Beck told ESPN. «You know, you're working just as hard as the guys in front of you, and you're doing the same thing. You're showing up to practice. You're doing everything, but you don't get to go out there on the field on Saturday, which is very challenging.

»You might get a little scrap, tiny little scraps in there. But literally, you're doing all the same work for no reward, I guess. The way I see it is Saturday is the reward. The game's the reward. That's the fun part."

In an era of college football when backup quarterbacks — and even starters — don't remain at the same school for four years, Beck knew going somewhere other than Georgia might have dramatically increased his chances of playing time.

«That's definitely the easy route,» Beck said. «It's the get-out-of-jail-free card. There's positives