Well, it’s evident that Carson Beck took his lumps at Georgia last year, but it’s weird to forget he is the one behind their playoff run. But then things took a shocking turn, with Beck moving to Miami rather than turning pro. He became a perfect welcome addition after Cam Ward hit the NFL road from the Hurricanes. Since then, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal has been singing in his praise: “He’s athletic, he’s smart, he’s demonstrated leadership qualities. He’s really hard on himself, he wants to be great, and one of his best qualities is that he wanted to be at Miami.” Yet, despite the hype, Beck remains relatively unknown, leaving Miami’s media to champion him.

CFB analyst Bud Elliott did release a list of the top 10 returning QBs of this season, and it surprisingly doesn’t have Beck’s name on it. Now, even if we consider his elbow injury and the fact that he’s not performing actively in the spring game, there’s no way his caliber is any less than the other guys. And that’s exactly what Alex Donno of Locked on Canes Podcast talks about, saying,

“10 returning quarterbacks lists. Now I don’t know if this is like a recency bias thing since you know most of these other guys, although Lagway did miss some time in spring, but most of these other quarterbacks have been you know throwing and spring football, and Beck hasn’t because of his injury, or if people are just that down on Miami, like ‘aaghh, he can’t go from Georgia to Miami and expect to be good,'” The list has DJ Lagway, Garrett Nussmeier, Drew Aller, Sawyer Roberson, Cade Klubnik, LaNorris Sellers, Demond Williams, Sam Leavitt, Haynes King, and John Mateer. But not Carson Beck.

Now, if you think that it’s because of Carson Beck’s inconsistency and 12 interceptions that kept him out of the list. Let’s read out what Alex is saying: “The fact that Georgia’s offensive line was not good last year, they led the nation in drops from their receivers, and they were 102nd in rushing, so they didn’t exactly help their quarterback last year. Still, they had a really darn good year despite being down a little bit from the year prior, but not even in the top 10. Carson Beck is not even in the top 10.” People tend to forget that it’s Dawgs receiver’s room that made things even worse for Carson Beck.

Imagine this: A team is leading the nation in drops with 36. How’s that even fair to blame the QB for that? And let’s not forget that because of their receiving room inconsistency, Carson Beck’s stats saw a major fall. In 2023, Beck recorded 3,941 yards for 24 TDs with a completion rate of 72.4%. But last season, it was 3,485 yards for 28 TDs and a completion rate of 64.7%. And even his interception ratio was less back in 2023, with just half of what it was the last season.

That’s not the sole reason this top 10 snub seems invalid. As Alex Donno highlighted another fact, saying, “So even in Beck’s alleged down year last year, where he threw for 3,400 yards in change rather than 3,900 yards in change, even in his down year supposed down year last year – Carson Beck was still 13th nationally in passing, and seven of the 12 guys that were in front of him in passing last season are no longer in college.” Now, even after an “alleged” inconsistent season, he remains the 13th-best passing player nationally. There’s no way Carson Beck is not among the top 10 returners. “How is he [Beck] not a top 10 returning guy?” Donno asked bluntly.

Even their OC, Shannon Dawson, clears his spring practice concerns, saying, “Beck has a very high football IQ; you could tell he’s played a lot of football. His personality comes out over time. He said he’s done a really good job of building relationships with people in a fast way. And you know it’s one of those things where you know, and also it’s worth pointing out, and Dawson talked about this a little bit today, that you know, of course, it’s a disadvantage for Beck’s first season in a new offense and a new team to have to miss out on spring football for the most part, like he’s out there working.” And with Mario Cristobal’s 230 pounder, Carson Beck might finally make a full-blown comeback.

Mario Cristobal’s 230lbs offensive weapon

Well, there might still be some concerns lingering over Carson Beck’s gameplay this season, but Mario Cristobal has found a perfect guy who can light their offense on fire. A 6’3, 230 lb freak, Elija Lofton. Now, what makes him so desirable? Talking about it, Miami’s reporter Alex Donno says, “Elijah Lofton, heading into his second year, one thing that he mentioned was that even though Lofton has not been in college for very long, he really at this point is an experienced guy because Dawson talked about all the reps he’s gotten, you know, in games last year and in practices for the past year going back to spring of 2024.” Now, can we blame him for that?

Look, Elijah Lofton did have his best moments last year, where he made some big plays. Now, he finished his season with just nine receptions for 150 yards and a touchdown, but let’s be real: with Elijah Arryo and Cam McCormick on the team, Lofton didn’t see much of the field. Despite OC Shannon Dawson’s confidence in him, as Alex Donno points out, saying, “Dawson mentioned that really the only way to get consistent is with experience, and he refers to Elijah Lofton as now an experienced guy because he’s put in so much work and has gotten so many quality reps.”

It’s interesting to see the hype around Elijah Lofton despite having experienced guys like Alex Bowman and Brock Nickel and even freshmen like Brock Schott, Leo, and Luka Gilbert. And that’s exactly what Donno explains: “Even though you know on the roster it says Elijah Lofton is a sophomore, Shannon Dawson talks about him more like he’s a junior or even a senior with what he brings to the table. And I think the most important thing to emphasize this year with Lofton is create every mismatch.” And that’s not the end of it. As Donno also talks about how Elijah Loftan draws a massive comparison with his school alum Brevin Jordan. But Elijah has “even more versatility.”

And that’s not the end of Elijah Lofton’s versatility talk. Shannon Dawson emphasizes how he is the perfect guy for any QB, saying, “I don’t even think about, ‘Hey, these are the plays that get him the ball.’ Really, I mean, those obviously I have, like, a couple of ways to ‘he’s going to get the ball,’ but with him, the quarterback typically finds the better players. That’s just the way it happens in our offense.” Now that Carson Beck is another strong guy to point shots at, let’s wait and see how this season turns out for him!