Carson Beck is now Miami’s asset or liability for 2025. After a tumultuous career at Athens, Beck flipped his NFL draft decision overnight in favor of Mario Cristobal and the Canes for a hefty $4 million. The Cane’s most risky off-season moves ever since stirred a lot of talk in the mix as people highly doubt Beck’s ability to fill in Cam Ward’s shoes, his widely projected role at Coral Gables. But no matter what a shredded injury history the former Georgia QB embodies right now, no matter how much his 11 costly interceptions through five games speak for themselves, Cristobal is a believer. But it’s not just Beck that catches some big question marks from the fanbase. One of the elite candidates of the QB2 faces something similar lately.

Beck is destined to grab Cam Ward’s place whenever he steps onto the field. The Miami head coach firmly deems Beck as an ideal fit for the UM offense and his long-standing aim to bring the eroded program back to its heyday. As the spring practice is underway, Beck hasn’t disappointed Cristobal so far. The latest impression? ‘‘As positive as you can have without actually having any kind of participation in live drills,’‘ the HC said about his new big fish. But that’s not it. Fans impose some threats about the rest of his QB room.

Emory Willimas, 220 lbs, stands the brightest among all the QB2 contenders at Miami. But naysayers have a leg to stand on. Williams has a dicey upside, as we haven’t seen much from him yet. He’s going into Year 3, and for a second straight season, Miami’s taken a transfer who will start. Insider Coach Coop filled in the swirling doubt.

“The quarterbacks are still out there battling for that number two spot and so far after the first two practices. This might shock some people, but Emery Williams has probably been the most impressive overall because a lot of these big throws that you’re seeing in the highlights and things on social media were grown by Emory Williams, and you know there’s a big debate amongst the fans about whether Emory Williams is just a good practice player and then on game day, he’s not that great.”

”Is it a situation where maybe he’s been thrown into some bad situations, you know, under some not-so-favorable circumstances in some games where he’s supposed to come in and play hero? Has he been handcuffed at times by Shannon Dawson?” Coop asked. Well, Dawson visibly looked super uncomfortable running his full offense with Williams against Iowa State. When Williams was severely dropping back and throwing, it made the receivers look awful.

It’s clear that the young QB didn’t get a lot of practice reps. But for the spring practice, history vouches for an edge that is difficult to trust. ”What I do know is that so far, in the first two spring practices, he has probably looked the best. We’re talking about the overall picture here with the quarterbacks, but we also have to remember that we need to see how these guys look with an actual pass rush in their face,” Coach Coop concluded.

It will be interesting to see how Williams picks up the pace this spring with Anderson and Nickel and grabs a clean shot at the job in 2026, maybe. It’s a no-brainer that the kid won’t come off as a threat to Carson Beck, at least anytime soon, but his reaction to the former Georgia guy’s addition to the roster seemed highly cryptic.

Emory Williams had a bewildering response to Carson Beck’s Miami arrival 

So far, Carson Beck looks like an unproblematic product for the Canes. He did great in practice. On the top, the only concern that keeps Cristobal at a crossroads is his torn UCL, but it sees a positive twist now.

Over the “Locked on College Football” podcast, ACC insider Alex Donno revealed what he learned while attending Miami’s first spring practice. “I got eyes on Carson Beck pretty quickly when I entered Miami’s practice facility. I was happy to see that he did not have any sort of a sling or a brace on his right arm,” said Donno. That is as relaxing as it sounds. Though he’s not cleared to throw yet, he is getting there pretty quickly, giving Cristobal and the program some major rebound hope.

The non-throwing drills will hopefully concert into some solid throwing drills pretty soon, but he has to face some intense competition from the younger guys at Miami, even if not immediately, but definitely. Just a week after Beck entered UM, Emory Williams posted a mysterious Instagram caption that left Hurricanes fans wondering what he could actually mean. It read, ”I don’t understand, but I have to work.”

It could be a slight dig to Cristobal, a subtle threat to Beck, or simply a reminder to himself only. Whatever it is, it will be fun to see him develop under Carson Beck’s shadow for a year at Coral Gables.