Living well is the best revenge. While Carson Beck's exodus from Athens after five seasons with the program was not without tumult, he certainly looked the part in the Miami Hurricanes' season opener on Sunday vs. the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Going up against a top-10 team in the country in nasty weather, Beck played like the high-end quarterback Georgia entrusted previously. No one is shocked.
A day after Gunner Stockton starred in his first home start for Georgia, Beck got one of the most impressive wins of the young season for Miami. Stockton used his arm and his legs to amass 190 yards passing and an additional 73 on the ground in his four-touchdown performance for the Dawgs. Beck completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns in the pouring rain.
What Week 1 showed us from a Georgia quarterbacking standpoint is Stockton was more than ready for his big opportunity, while Beck had one last great season in him before departing to the NFL. Waiting in the wing behind Stockton is Ryan Puglisi. He impressed in garbage time for Georgia once Stockton was pulled from the game vs. Marshall. Kirby Smart certainly has an eye for quarterbacks.
Not until Georgia potentially faces Miami in the College Football Playoff should it fans turn on Beck.
Carson Beck's Miami success is only a good thing for Georgia Bulldogs
This all comes back to one paramount thing: Recruiting. Whether it is Beck, Stockton or Puglisi, Smart is starting to reinvent himself as a quarterback's coach, against all odds... He may favor the other side of the ball, but he knows how important the most important position on the field is to winning games. Ever since Stetson Bennett IV won back-to-back national titles, Georgia has become so stable there.
Yes, there will be games where Stockton's inconsistent downfield accuracy may cause some issues for them. There will also be games where Beck will turn the ball over at will for Miami. That being said, Stockton feels like a better fit in Mike Bobo's offense than Beck ever did. He always felt more like a Todd Monken guy. It is why he should flourish playing in Shannon Dawson's system in Coral Gables.
The last thing that needs to be pointed out is Beck will find ways to win games that Mario Cristobal makes a living at losing. Cristobal would have lost that game in the rain vs. Notre Dame more often than not with another quarterback starting for him. In two-plus years as a college starter, Beck has a combined three losses. Two came to Alabama and the third was against Ole Miss during a downpour.
Overall, Beck's success in Miami will only breed more of it in Athens. Even if he left the program with one more year of eligibility to go play for someone else, the guy is still a Dawg at heart. He won an SEC championship with a mangled arm. More importantly, he helped put forth the standard in which Stockton is running with. Georgia is not seeing this play out of Stockton without Beck's mentoring.
At the end of the day, both quarterbacks are rooting for each other, so maybe let's do the same thing?