Is Carson Beck primed to bring UGA its third championship in four years?
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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
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 and negatives to each situation. The negative is waiting. The negative is that if I go somewhere else maybe I’m really not going to get pushed the same way that I’m going to get pushed here. I’m not going to get coached the same way that I’m going to get coached here.”
Beck decided to wait his turn with the Bulldogs, and the Jacksonville, Florida, native has been rewarded for his patience.
Heading into Saturday’s opener against No. 14 Clemson at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Beck is at the controls of the top-ranked team in the FBS, a leading Heisman Trophy contender and a potential No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft.
He’s driving a Lamborghini, one of the fruits of name, image and likeness deals that reportedly total more than $1 million, and he confirmed to ESPN this week that he’s dating Miami basketball player Hanna Cavinder, a social media star in her own right. His younger sister, Kylie, transferred to Georgia and is a member of the school dance team.
“A lot has changed since 2021,” Beck said. “You know, I’ve been through a lot, personally and through football. Sitting and waiting and not playing, and then getting last season to be able to start. Looking back today and being where I’m at now, I’m very appreciative and very thankful of the position that I’m in.”
In his first season as a starter in 2023, Beck completed 72.4% of his passes for 3,941 yards, which was tops in the SEC. He had 24 touchdown passes and six interceptions while leading the Bulldogs to their third straight unbeaten regular season.
Georgia fell 27-24 to Alabama in the SEC championship game, which ended its 29-game winning streak. The Bulldogs were left out of the College Football Playoff, even though they were arguably one of the top four teams in the FBS.
Beck was considered a potential high draft pick in this past April’s NFL draft (he declined to reveal his grade from NFL evaluators), but opted to return to Georgia for another season.
“I came back to win a national championship,” Beck said. “That’s my goal.”
Georgia coach Kirby Smart says he realizes Beck is an anomaly in the transfer portal era. Heading into this season, half of the SEC’s projected starting quarterbacks began their college careers with another team. The number is even higher across the Power 4 — about 63% of projected starting quarterbacks in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and at Notre Dame have transferred at least once.
“You get contacted by schools about leaving and it never became that for him,” Smart told ESPN. “He never used it for leverage or brought anything to us. I think that’s just kind of the way he is. He’s very strong-minded. He wanted to prove a point to himself, and he stuck it out to do it.”
Beck and Kentucky‘s Brock Vandagriff, a former Georgia backup who is set to make his first career start for the Wildcats against Southern Miss on Saturday, are the only quarterbacks at power programs who waited three seasons before making their first starts.
“I think it just shows his competitive character,” Smart said of Beck. “He was hellbent to prove that he could play here. He’s wired differently. I mean, for everybody that was looking for a place to go, I assure you he was probably getting calls or people were calling his high school coach or his quarterback coach back at home.”
As Georgia plays road games at No. 5 Alabama, No. 4 Texas and No. 6 Ole Miss and a home game against No. 15 Tennessee, Beck’s experience will surely come in handy. In 2023, he performed remarkably well against ranked opponents, completing 73.9% of his attempts with 13 touchdowns and two interceptions in five such games.
NFL scouts love Beck’s prototypical size (6-foot-4 and 220 pounds), arm strength and quick release. He’s considered the top quarterback eligible for next year’s draft, along with Colorado‘s Shedeur Sanders and Texas’ Quinn Ewers.
Smart said Beck’s biggest improvements during the offseason were recognizing coverages and pressures — he relied on veteran center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger to do it last year — and he has become a more vocal leader.
“Last year, he was kind of tending to himself,” Smart said. “He’s a little better now if something needs to be said at the end of practice or beginning of practice or in a team meeting. He’s a little more assertive, even though that’s not who he is.”
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo appreciates Beck’s even demeanor as a complement to him being more outspoken.
“The nature of the position and what you play, you’re the leader of the offense and a lot of times the leader of the team,” Bobo said. “His actions and his body language speak volumes to guys. It could be getting on somebody’s ass or it could be encouraging somebody. I just want him to be him.
“He has a great trait that he has such an even temperament, whether we score a touchdown or we go three and out or he happens to throw a pick or something, his temperament doesn’t change. That allows him to stay calm in the moment, and one of our core DNA traits is composure.”
Last season, the Bulldogs ranked second in the SEC in scoring (40.5 points) and passing (305.3 yards) — behind only LSU in both categories. They’ll have to try to duplicate that production without star tight end Brock Bowers and receiver Ladd McConkey, who have moved on to the NFL.
“We have a lot of talent,” Beck said. “And regardless of what we lost, you know, it’s always rebuilt at Georgia. Whatever you lose, we’re going to replace. Those guys obviously are really great athletes and had a lot of production last year. But also at the same time, those two guys really didn’t play much last year.”
Bowers, the only back-to-back winner of the Mackey Award as the best tight end in the FBS, missed two games with a left ankle injury and worked his way back from surgery late in the season. McConkey missed five games with back and foot injuries.
To fill in the gaps, the Bulldogs added tight end Ben Yurosek (Stanford) and receivers Colbie Young (Miami), London Humphreys (Vanderbilt) and Michael Jackson III (USC) from the portal.
“We still had one of the most explosive offenses in the country,” Beck said. “I’m looking forward to this year and seeing some of those guys that stepped up last year really make their mark this year.”
At a meeting during preseason camp, Beck wrote what a quarterback needed to do to be successful on a whiteboard. The No. 1 thing was to “be where your feet are.”
With Heisman Trophy and NFL draft speculation surrounding him, that challenge starts Saturday against Clemson.
“I see a guy that’s trying to have a sense of urgency every day about everything he does and not taking anything for granted,” Bobo said. “You hear that a lot, but here’s a guy that had a good season, his first season. There’s a lot of noise outside this building about the future, but he can’t control that. What he can control is being where his feet are every day.”
That shouldn’t be difficult for a quarterback whose feet never left where they started.
With a long-awaited ruling in the settlement of the House case expected this week, college sports are on the precipice of a major overhaul.
While Judge Claudia Ann Wilken still needs to issue a final approval on the long-awaited settlement, a decision is expected to arrive in the near future.
Changes will come quickly to the way college sports work if the settlement is formalized. Most prominent among them will be a change in how enforcement works, as the NCAA will no longer be in charge of traditional enforcement, and a CEO will soon be put in place with powers that never existed prior.
The CEO of college sports’ new enforcement organization — the College Sports Commission — will have the final say in doling out punishments and deciding when rules have been violated, according to sources, a level of singular power that never existed during the NCAA’s era of struggling to enforce its rules.
The CEO’s hire is expected to come quickly after the House settlement is finalized and has been spearheaded by the Power 4 commissioners from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. Their pick to lead the new agency will quickly become one of the most powerful and influential people in college sports. The hiring of a new CEO of the College Sports Commission already is deep in the process, per ESPN sources. The conducting of the search process before the job can officially be created is indicative of how quickly the entire billion-dollar industry will have to transform before games are played again in August. Nothing can happen formally until the judge’s decision, but the process is well underway.
The CEO of the commission will be one of the faces of this new era of college athletics. Sources have told ESPN to expect the person to come from outside college athletics and not to be a household name to college sports fans. The CEO is expected to make seven figures and, once the settlement is in place and they are hired, will have significant authority.
“All the institutions are going to have new membership agreements that we’re all agreeing to these new rules,” said an industry source familiar with the process. “The CEO is going to have responsibility to make sure everything is enforced and the governance model is sound. It’s a critically important role for the future of college sports and college football.”
The CEO is expected to report to a board, which is expected to include the power conference commissioners. The CEO will also be in charge of essentially running the systems that have been put in place — LBi Software and accounting firm Deloitte have been lined up to handle salary cap management and to manage the clearinghouse for name, image and likeness.
With the NCAA no longer involved with traditional enforcement, it will mark a distinct industry shift. (The NCAA will still deal with issues such as academics and eligibility.)
According to sources, a vision of what this leader could look like, and the extent of the position’s powers, is illustrated in drafts of so-called association documents that all schools are expected to sign to formalize the new enforcement entity. Basically, the schools need to agree that they’ll follow the rules.
While sources caution the documents that have been circulated are still in draft stage, sources say the draft includes language that the CEO will make “final factual findings and determinations” on violations of rules. The CEO will also “impose such fines, penalties or other sanctions as appropriate,” in accordance with the rules.
The schools have to accept these rulings “as final,” with the exception being if a school or athlete wants to challenge the discipline. They’d be required, per sources, “to engage in the arbitration process,” which is expected to be the sole recourse.
Per sources, when cases do end up in arbitration, under the procedures that govern arbitration, subpoena power is a potential option via the discovery process — an authority that was not available during NCAA investigations.
As college sports have zigzagged to where they are thanks to the direction of myriad lawsuits and rulings, the association agreement could also include a clause where the schools “agree to waive any right to a jury trial with respect to all disputes arising out of or relating to this agreement.” That notion would still need to be accepted by all the schools, and it’s not expected to prevent lawsuits from entities outside of the schools.
It’s worth noting that the lawsuits that have brought major changes to NCAA rules in recent years have started with attorneys general or with athletes. Congress is expected to still be needed to help create a legal framework for the new system to function without being tripped up by the current patchwork of state laws.
Enforcement has long been a thorn for the NCAA, which is now offloading one of its most controversial and least effective departments. All schools agree with enforcement as an ideal, but the issues come once the enforcement is enacted on them or their athletes.
Few coaches this generation have seen NCAA enforcement as an effective threat to follow the rules.
“It all starts with enforcement, and I’ve said this for a long time, ‘Until we have an enforcement arm put into place, we’re always going to be working sideways,'” Ohio State coach Ryan Day told ESPN on the “College GameDay” podcast recently. “I feel like before we set a rule, before we do anything, we have to put a structure in place where we can enforce rules on and off the field.”
The new organization looks to have expedited timelines and a highly compensated CEO to be the face of the decisions. (The NCAA used a committee on infractions.)
The drumbeat leading to the settlement is indicative of the past generations of behavior, as schools have been rushing to spend outside of the expected cap, with frontloading so significant that the highest-paid basketball roster is expected to have compensation totaling close to $20 million and football rosters are expected to be in the $40 million range.
Will schools fall in line once rules are put into place? Will the threat of enforcement be enough to settle down the landscape? It’s difficult for coaches to imagine player salaries going backward for 2026.
The ultimate deterrent will be stiff and consistent penalties to deter rule-breaking behavior, which have been elusive historically because of lack of NCAA enforcement prowess and the lengthy process of enforcement.
Purdue AD Mike Bobinski told ESPN in March that the punishments need to “leave a mark,” and he mentioned the New Orleans Saints’ Bountygate sanctions as an example of the type of punishment that changed behavior. (Then-Saints coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season as part of the penalties.)
“We’ve screwed this thing up now to the point where we have to be willing to draw a line in the sand, and that will create some pain,” Bobinski said. “There’s no two ways about it, and we’ll find out who’s just going to insist on stepping over the line. But if they do, you got to deal with it forcefully and quickly.”
He added that the Big Ten has put a lot of thought and conversation into this, as he said the mindset has to be changed to where coaches and programs can’t consider breaking the rules “worth it.”
Bobinski added: “People are working hard on this thing. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy or it’s going to be accepted right out of the box, but I’d like to think we’ve got a chance at least to do it well.”
ESPN reporter Dan Murphy contributed.
Following the Florida Panthers‘ Game 7 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, the NHL’s final four is official: The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals, while the Dallas Stars face the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference finals.
This Eastern matchup is a rematch of the 2023 conference finals, won by the Panthers in a sweep. Can Carolina win this time, or will Florida head back to the Stanley Cup Final for a third straight year?
To help get you up to speed before the series begins Tuesday, we’re here with key intel from ESPN Research, wagering info from ESPN BET and more.
Paths to the conference finals:
Hurricanes: Defeated Devils in five, Capitals in five
Panthers: Defeated Lightning in five, Maple Leafs in seven
Leading playoff scorers:
Hurricanes: Seth Jarvis (four goals, six assists), Sebastian Aho (three goals, seven assists)
Panthers: Brad Marchand (three goals, nine assists), Eetu Luostarinen (three goals, nine assists)
Schedule:
Game 1: Panthers at Hurricanes | May 20, 8 p.m. (TNT)
Game 2: Panthers at Hurricanes | May 22, 8 p.m. (TNT)
Game 3: Hurricanes at Panthers | May 24, 8 p.m. (TNT)
Game 4: Hurricanes at Panthers | May 26, 8 p.m. (TNT)
Game 5: Panthers at Hurricanes | May 28, 8 p.m. (TNT)
Game 6: Hurricanes at Panthers | May 30, 8 p.m. (TNT)
Game 7: Panthers at Hurricanes | June 1, 8 p.m. (TNT)
Series odds:
Panthers: -125
Hurricanes: +105
Stanley Cup odds:
Panthers: +250
Hurricanes: +300
Matchup notes from ESPN Research
Hurricanes
The Hurricanes reached the conference finals for the sixth time in franchise history and third time in the past six years. Carolina’s three conference finals appearances since 2019 are tied with the Edmonton Oilers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights for the second most in the NHL. The Dallas Stars have gone four times in the past six years.
Logan Stankoven is expected to make his Eastern Conference finals debut, after he appeared in the Western Conference finals with the Stars last year in his first NHL season. He will join Ville Leino (2009 and 2010) as the only players to play in both the Eastern and Western Conference finals in their first two seasons in the NHL (since 1994).
The Hurricanes have lost 12 straight games in the conference finals round. Their last win was Game 7 in 2006 vs. the Buffalo Sabres, when now-coach Rod Brind’Amour scored the eventual winning goal on a power play with 8:38 left in the third period after a puck-over-glass penalty. That 12-game losing streak includes being swept by the Panthers in 2023.
Carolina won its 10th playoff series under Brind’Amour since 2019; only the Lightning (11) have more series wins during that span.
Andrei Svechnikov‘s series-clinching goal 18:01 into the third period is the second-latest series-clinching goal in regulation in franchise history. Eric Staal scored 19:28 into the third period in Game 7 of the 2009 first round at the New Jersey Devils.
With their series win over Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the second round, the Hurricanes became the first team to eliminate the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer since the 1997 Philadelphia Flyers, who ousted Wayne Gretzky and the New York Rangers in the conference finals. Brind’Amour, then with the Flyers, had the series-clinching goal.
Panthers
The Panthers advanced to their third straight conference finals with a 6-1 win over the Maple Leafs in Game 7 in Toronto. Florida joins the Dallas Stars in 2023-25, Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020-22, Chicago Blackhawks in 2013-15, Los Angeles Kings in 2012-14 and Detroit Red Wings from 2007-09 as the only teams in the salary cap era (since 2005-06) to make it to three straight conference finals.
Florida trailed 2-0 in the series before coming back to win 4-3, marking the first time in franchise history they’ve overcome a 2-0 series deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series (they had previously been 0-5). The Panthers are the seventh reigning Stanley Cup champions in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to win a best-of-seven playoff round after facing a 2-0 series deficit.
The Panthers now have a 4-1 record in Game 7s, including 3-0 on the road, becoming the third franchise to win each of its first three road Game 7s (along with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Minnesota Wild).
Brad Marchand had three points for the Panthers (one goal, two assists), giving him 10 career points in Game 7s, moving ahead of Alex Ovechkin (eight) for the most Game 7 points among active players, and tied him with Paul Stastny and Jari Kurri for 10th place on the all-time list. Marchand’s three-point total gives him 37 career playoff points vs. the Maple Leafs, passing Alex Delvecchio (35) for the second most by any player against Toronto in their playoff history, behind Gordie Howe (53). Marchand improved to 5-0 against the Maple Leafs in Game 7s for his career, becoming the first player in NHL history to defeat one franchise in five winner-takes-all games.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice also stayed perfect in Game 7s as a head coach, improving to 6-0. He is one of two head coaches in NHL history to win each of his first six career Game 7s, along with current Dallas bench boss Peter DeBoer (9-0).
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Greg Wyshynski
No player in Stanley Cup playoff history has tormented an opponent the way Florida Panthers winger Brad Marchand has tormented the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Panthers eliminated the Maple Leafs 6-1 in Game 7 on Sunday night in Toronto, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes. Marchand became the first player in NHL history to defeat the same opponent in at least five winner-take-all games. He moved to a perfect 5-0 in Game 7s against the Maple Leafs — winning with the Boston Bruins in 2013, 2018, 2019 and 2024, before winning with the Panthers on Sunday.
Marchand had a goal and two assists in the victory.
“I grew up a Leafs fan. I enjoy playing against the Leafs. I enjoy interacting with fans. Like, it’s fun. It’s not something I’ll forever get to do,” he said after Game 7, which was Toronto’s seventh straight loss in a Game 7.
Marchand said that he hadn’t historically played well against Toronto in Game 7s. “It wasn’t me that beat them, it was our team,” he said. But Marchand was anything but a bystander in Florida’s Game 7 win. Marchand set up two goals — including the primary assist on Eetu Luostarinen‘s critical third-period goal just 47 seconds after Max Domi scored for the Maple Leafs — and tallied an empty-net dagger for his third goal of the playoffs.
With his three-point effort, Marchand is now second all time in career playoff scoring against the Maple Leafs with 37 points, trailing only Hockey Hall of Famer Gordie Howe (53).
“I think the thing about Toronto is that their fans are very in your face. They’re aggressive. They let you hear it all the time. So it’s just fun to interact [with them]. I interact with a lot of fans and I enjoy that part of it,” said Marchand, who also passed Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin (8) for the most career Game 7 points (10) among active players.
Boston traded Marchand, its captain, to Florida at March’s NHL trade deadline, ending a 16-year run with the Bruins that included a Stanley Cup championship in 2011 and two other trips to the Stanley Cup Final.
“It was his personality that I didn’t know,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He’s moved into that Matthew Tkachuk ‘hate them’ [role]. That’s a horrible word, but it’s close. And then they get here and they’re the exact opposite person that you thought they were. He’s just a wonderful human being.”
The Panthers dominated the Leafs from the opening draw, carrying play in Game 7 after Toronto extended the series with a Game 6 road victory Friday night. After two periods, the Panthers held a 70-33 advantage in shot attempts. That included a 39-14 gap in the second period, when Florida scored its first three goals.
Marchand factored into two important ones. Just 4:03 after Seth Jones opened the scoring, Marchand’s shot was deflected by Luostarinen off of goalie Joseph Woll‘s pads, and center Anton Lundell was there to clean it up for his fourth goal of the playoffs to make it 2-0. In the third period, Marchand’s pass was tipped home by Luostarinen.
“There are moments that you need to enjoy. Careers fly by. I’ve been at it a long time. I’m very fortunate. But it’s almost over. I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by. I wish I was able to enjoy more moments,” Marchand said.
With the loss, the Maple Leafs suffered yet another postseason failure. Toronto hasn’t advanced past the second round since 2002. They infamously haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, the longest drought in the NHL for any franchise — including those that have never won a Cup in their existence.
After the game, Marchand was complimentary of this Toronto team. He said of all the Game 7s he has played against the Leafs, he was most nervous about this one because “they competed way harder than they ever have.” He felt criticism of this group, which might have played its last game together, was unwarranted.
“If you look at the heat this team catches, it’s actually really unfortunate. They’ve been working at building something really big here for a while,” he said. “They were a different brand of hockey this year, and they’re getting crucified. I don’t think it’s justified.”
That said, Marchand did have a little fun at Toronto’s expense on the TNT postgame show. When asked what the difference was in the Panthers locker room from Game 6 to Game 7, Marchand said “we just had that be-Leaf” — a winking reference to one of the rallying cries of Toronto fans.
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