Kirby Smart shares what he told Carson Beck during intimate sideline moment

Everyone’s worst nightmare came true during Georgia’s 34-20 win over Florida. Carson Beck is still struggling.

The hope was that Beck would figure something out and move past his turnover problems during Georgia football’s bye week, but that clearly did not happen. Beck still played a pretty solid game, throwing for 309 yards and two touchdowns, but it’s his three interceptions that has people worried.

Kirby Smart, however, is not one of those people.

We all saw the moment live on TV after an interception from Beck where Smart got up close to his QB on the sideline. But instead of yelling at him, he embraced him and looked to share an intimate moment of encouragement with his QB.

Thankfully Smart discussed what he shared with Beck in this moment during his postgame press conference.

"Keep his head up. I mean, we're not going to not throw it. Like, he throws the ball well," Smart said via 247Sports.com. "We think that we've got a really good pass game, we got a great pass pro, we got good wideouts, and we got a really good quarterback. Some of the throws he makes, guys, are big-time elite throws. He just has a couple times where he threw the ball in the middle late. You can't do that. You can't turn the ball over and be a good football team. He knows that, and I don't think it's a matter of decision making. I just think sometimes he presses there.”

Improved decision making

Smart makes a lot of great points here. Beck receives a lot of questions because of all the turnovers, but looking beyond them he does make some elite throws. The talent level is clearly there, and that’s why Georgia kept going back to him in the biggest moments of the game.

All these elite throws are great, but Beck needs to learn to be more consistent. And as Smart mentions, it all comes down to his decision making.

The interception in the second half was off a tipped ball, so it’s hard to blame Beck for that. But his two interceptions in the first half could have been avoided. Beck needs to learn that it’s okay to throw the ball away or to just use his legs to pick up as many yards as possible. What he can’t do is telegraph his passes into double or triple coverage. Georgia doesn’t always need the big play, sometimes they just need the smart play.

Beck’s decision making is one of the things holding Georgia back from reaching their potential. He doesn’t need to be perfect, but think about how much more Georgia would have won this game, or their game two weeks ago against Texas, had he only thrown one interception instead of three.

Beck is close to being a great QB, closer than most people think. So let’s hope he starts taking some strides so Georgia can finally reach their potential.