Carson Beck vs Alabama

I still think Ward lost the GT game by not taking checkdowns. As great as he was, he was at his best when he was operating within the structure of the offense. The offplatfom stuff was next level but too many times put us in tough spots. See Cal
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Some fans don't appreciate how staying on time and schedule will limit the need for heroics.
 
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He's a very, very, very good college QB. D said it on a pod this week and I agree with him, if it wasn't for just being blessed with Cam, what he's doing at practice would be blowing people's weaves back. From everything I've heard and been told, he has been nothing short of sensational for the vast majority of camp. It's just that, everyone there just saw 1.1 for a whole year. So this is nothing new. But if Cam wasn't here last year, what he's doing on Greentree would have the building ready to burst at the seams.

I'm very, very excited and incredibly confident that this dude is going to play well enough to make the playoffs. He's got an elite arm and it's accurate as ****. However, it's not all pie in the sky. If he has some issues, here's where I have my concerns. Again, not enough to feel like he can't lead the team to the playoffs (if the rest of the dudes pull their weight too), but kind of where I think the dropoff from Cam might show up:

1. The OL will be fantastic, but when there are breakdowns and/or when defenses send a free rusher, Beck doesn't have near the escapability or pocket presence of Ward. There were a lot of times last year where Ward made things happen *in the pocket*, only to then make an insane play down the field. Shining example #1 is the play to George in the gator game. Beck can't make that play. To be fair, very, very few college QBs can. So it's not a knock on Beck, that's otherworldly talent. But those types of plays are probably going be few and far between this year, whereas Cam seemed to do that a couple times a game. He had one against Duke for a TD to X, he had one against Louisville for a long gain to X, etc. Now, this was sometimes detrimental. He held onto the ball too long at times looking for massive plays and either took sacks or turned it over. So there was a boom/bust situation there. I expect Beck to play a lot more "in structure" and not have those plays where he's evading guys in the pocket.

2. Along those same lines, his accuracy dips when he has to throw off-platform, whereas Cam's really did not. So in those times he is pressured, will he be able to evade in the pocket, and will he be able to deliver accurately? I think this will be a downgrade from what we saw last year.

3. Will the receivers be able to get open? A lot of us are thinking the ball will come out quicker, on average, versus Cam. For the reasons I said above. But for the ball to come out quick, a receiver has to be open quickly. Do we have kids who can win off the line consistently? X was elite in this area. Horton was, too. How many passes did he catch at a less than 10 yard aDOT? He used that big body well (pause), and Cam peppered him. A lot of it is Dawson, but think back to last year. We had a LOT of guys open by a considerable margin. Can this group follow suit?

4. Can we catch the football as well as we did last year? I said it time and time again, the collective group had VERY few drops. Guys made sensational catches all year, but just as importantly, they made routine catches consistently. The UGA WR struggles are well-documented. Those clowns couldn't have caught COVID in a Cuomo nursing home. The ball is going to be accurate most of the time, can the kids get open, and more importantly, can they catch the football time and time again?

These are my overall concerns for Beck and the passing game. It's almost certainly not going to be what we saw last year. We all know that. But it doesn't have to be. If the defense can be Top 25-30 (or god forbid better), and the offense can just stay in the Top 20 this year, that's one of the ~5 best teams in the country. I hope Dawson is preaching over and over, just be yourself, you don't need to do too much on this team. Make your pre-snap and post-snap reads, hit your back foot, hit MFs in the chest with footballs. If he doesn't turn the ball over, we're going to win a ton of games.

He threw 6 INTs on 417 attempts in 2023. Yes, he had McConkey and Bowers. But those dudes weren't stealing INTs from DBs. They were open, and he was hitting them, and he wasn't putting the ball in harm's way. Of the kids that year with as many attempts as Beck or more (and there were 21 such players), only 4 threw six or fewer picks. Bo Nix (3), Shedeur Sanders (3), Chandler Rogers (5), and Gunnar Watson (6).
I didn’t read it all but I’m betting it was pretty good
 
1000%

Some fans don't appreciate how staying on time and schedule will limit the need for heroics.
When he did he was incredible.

Dawson is very good at scheming players open. That's where Beck thrives. Hoping Daniels and Moore are ready for the contested catches because Beck loves this too. Sound like him and Toney have have doing a lot of that in practice
 
I follow college football but I don’t really watch any team closely except Miami so I don’t really have a deep understanding of other teams. So my opinion on Beck was just what I’d read.

After watching Beck vs Alabama last year I came away thinking a lot of the criticism was completely unwarranted. You can just watch the first few series and see the drops on perfectly placed balls. He did have one awful pick- that gave me TVD ptsd but otherwise he was putting the ball in a place his WRs could make a play. It surprised me how often his receivers were covered and he had to put it into really tight windows. It’s so different than our offense last year where everyone was running wide open and you just had to find them.

Given the lack of open WRs he had to make a lot of back shoulder and contested catch throws. He also threw to the TEs a decent amount. I guess the question is how will it look in our offense where someone always seems open. Will he still go for the big play and throw into tighter coverage and expect the WR to make a play. If he does Id expect Jojo and Moore will end up having big years. If the reports of his processing abilities are true Malachi and the slots will eat. I’d expect Lofton and Bauman to have a huge year in either scenario.

Final thought is that his game really translates well to the NFL where the windows are tight. The biggest tell to see if someone knows what they’re talking about is if they say Allar is a better prospect.
GA WRs lead the power 4 drops last year

They couldnt run the ball or protect

We arent playing Bama's D
 
I still think Ward lost the GT game by not taking checkdowns. As great as he was, he was at his best when he was operating within the structure of the offense. The offplatfom stuff was next level but too many times put us in tough spots. See Cal

Pretty tough to say a guy who went 25/39 for 348 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs lost you a game, but I think it's been beaten to death on here about his propensity to look for the big play versus sometimes just taking what's there. To be fair, he did have a fumble on what could've been a game-winning drive, too. But he was pretty good in that game. I know the point you're trying to make, however.

That game, like the other ones we lost or came close to losing, was on the defense.

We only ran 63 plays that day, when we averaged 72 in all our other games. That's a MASSIVE difference. Why? Because GT held the ball for almost 35 minutes, and our defense got their **** pushed in all night at 3-4 yards a clip. Just could not get off the field.

But we only had 10 possessions. Teams usually average at least 12 or so per game. In those 10, we scored 3 TDs, kicked a FG, were stopped on downs 3 times (at the GT 23, GT 39, and GT 22). We punted twice, and lost a fumble.

The crazy part though is we wound up 14th in the country in time of possession for the season. But that day, we held the ball for 25:11. USF was dead last in the entire country in time of possession for the season....they averaged 25:22. We just never really had the ball, and still should've won that game. Dawson was great last year, but I'll still never understanding throwing the ball on 4th and 1 on the first drive of the 2nd half when we had converted every single 4th and 1 we had the entire season to that point running the ball. Just run it, pick up your 2-3 yards, and you've got a first down at their ~35, in a 14-10 game. Instead we try to throw the ball, don't get it, and of course the defense lets GT's one-armed QB go right down the field to make it a 21-10 game, oh while taking another 4:30 off the clock. Sigh.
 
Given the lack of open WRs he had to make a lot of back shoulder and contested catch throws. He also threw to the TEs a decent amount. I guess the question is how will it look in our offense where someone always seems open. Will he still go for the big play and throw into tighter coverage and expect the WR to make a play. If he does Id expect Jojo and Moore will end up having big years. If the reports of his processing abilities are true Malachi and the slots will eat. I’d expect Lofton and Bauman to have a huge year in either scenario.
Your premise assumes one of my big questions for this season. Will we still have WRs open (or seemingly open) on a regular basis?

Not sure how much of last season was Dawsons’s scheme, our WRs separating (e.g. X’s plus route running), and/or Cam buying time and making things open up.

We love to assume new/young players will play to or exceed expectations, but that’s not always the case. I hope Dawson can scheme it up, and I hope our WRs can give Beck some good looks. But can’t say I’d be shocked if things look a little tighter and don’t come as easy as last year. Too many reasons to think we’ll take a step back in that department.

Doesn’t mean we can’t be effective, but I don’t expect guys running wide open everywhere making it look easy. Especially not against the better teams on our schedule. Happy to be pleasantly surprised, though.
 
Sorry, who's the last QB Mike BOBO developed ??

UGA and Kirby threw Beck under the bus last year when he literally has no help. His OL was trash. His RB were average. His WRs couldn't create separation and, when he did, the couldnt hold onto the ball. UGAs WRs led the country in drops last year.

After Bowers and McConkey left after 2023, he had no one to throw to in 2024.

To me, he's the most overlooked players in CFB, by a mile. The guy held his own against top SEC defenses game after game. And now, he gets the work with a real OC against ACC defenses. Maybe its my oranges and green glasses but I think Beck ends up having a better season then Klubnik, easily.
I’m not here to grease Klubnik, but his stats last season get overlooked a lot on here. 3,639 yds with 36/6 and 7 rushing TD are good #’s.

For reference Cam was 4,313 39/7.

If Beck is near those 2 type seasons then we’re winning a lot of games. He was 3,941 22/6 and 6 rushing TD in 2023.
 
Pretty tough to say a guy who went 25/39 for 348 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs lost you a game, but I think it's been beaten to death on here about his propensity to look for the big play versus sometimes just taking what's there. To be fair, he did have a fumble on what could've been a game-winning drive, too. But he was pretty good in that game. I know the point you're trying to make, however.

That game, like the other ones we lost or came close to losing, was on the defense.

We only ran 63 plays that day, when we averaged 72 in all our other games. That's a MASSIVE difference. Why? Because GT held the ball for almost 35 minutes, and our defense got their **** pushed in all night at 3-4 yards a clip. Just could not get off the field.

But we only had 10 possessions. Teams usually average at least 12 or so per game. In those 10, we scored 3 TDs, kicked a FG, were stopped on downs 3 times (at the GT 23, GT 39, and GT 22). We punted twice, and lost a fumble.

The crazy part though is we wound up 14th in the country in time of possession for the season. But that day, we held the ball for 25:11. USF was dead last in the entire country in time of possession for the season....they averaged 25:22. We just never really had the ball, and still should've won that game. Dawson was great last year, but I'll still never understanding throwing the ball on 4th and 1 on the first drive of the 2nd half when we had converted every single 4th and 1 we had the entire season to that point running the ball. Just run it, pick up your 2-3 yards, and you've got a first down at their ~35, in a 14-10 game. Instead we try to throw the ball, don't get it, and of course the defense lets GT's one-armed QB go right down the field to make it a 21-10 game, oh while taking another 4:30 off the clock. Sigh.
Admittedly, I never rewatched that game but I remember feeling that Cam blew it despite the box score. That's what that game needed was patience from Cam. Take the easy stuff. Sustain drives and give that **** defense a breather. At the end of the day, we held GT to their season averages if I remember correctly.
Our running game was awful too. Second year in a row being ineffective against GT. That's why the check down stuff was there.z their LBs were over commited leaving backs and TEs open all day.
And I do think you can easily blame the defense because they were that bad.
 
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quality of opponent matters too. We all hate the sec but let’s be real here they are miles better than the acc. Beck played vs some very good defenses last year. Uga played 4 top 25 defenses in the regular season. 2 in the top 6. His best game was probably vs tenn and they finished 6th in defense.

The best defense in the acc last year was smu and they were 26th overall. As bad as we were we was 4th in the acc in defense but was 2nd highest in total as they was ranked 27th overall. Beck should have a big year
 
quality of opponent matters too. We all hate the sec but let’s be real here they are miles better than the acc. Beck played vs some very good defenses last year. Uga played 4 top 25 defenses in the regular season. 2 in the top 6. His best game was probably vs tenn and they finished 6th in defense.

The best defense in the acc last year was smu and they were 26th overall. As bad as we were we was 4th in the acc in defense but was 2nd highest in total as they was ranked 27th overall. Beck should have a big year

I'll say this related to QBR, which uses opponents defensive strength in the metric, and Miami's offense in generak:

Related to QBR - Cam Ward came to Miami ranked 50th in QBR in 2023. He left ranked #1. Beck was ranked 7th in 2023 and dropped to 12th in 2024, even with a "bad" season.

Related to offense - Beck threw for 3,495 yards with 22 TDs in 2023 and threw for 3,429 yards with 28 TDs in 2024. The INT's doubled. Meanwhile, UGA's offense went from 496 ypg in 2023 to 405 ypg in 2024. This was mainly because the running game went from 191 ypg to to 124 ypg.

I think Beck took a step backwards last year regarding decision making. I also think where that step back landed him is better than everyone in college football outside of a handful of players. It's also fair to say UGA as a team was much worse off last year on offense. It's likely Beck finds himself somewhere between 2023 and 2024 form, which makes him a top 10 QB.
 
He's a very, very, very good college QB. D said it on a pod this week and I agree with him, if it wasn't for just being blessed with Cam, what he's doing at practice would be blowing people's weaves back. From everything I've heard and been told, he has been nothing short of sensational for the vast majority of camp. It's just that, everyone there just saw 1.1 for a whole year. So this is nothing new. But if Cam wasn't here last year, what he's doing on Greentree would have the building ready to burst at the seams.

I'm very, very excited and incredibly confident that this dude is going to play well enough to make the playoffs. He's got an elite arm and it's accurate as ****. However, it's not all pie in the sky. If he has some issues, here's where I have my concerns. Again, not enough to feel like he can't lead the team to the playoffs (if the rest of the dudes pull their weight too), but kind of where I think the dropoff from Cam might show up:

1. The OL will be fantastic, but when there are breakdowns and/or when defenses send a free rusher, Beck doesn't have near the escapability or pocket presence of Ward. There were a lot of times last year where Ward made things happen *in the pocket*, only to then make an insane play down the field. Shining example #1 is the play to George in the gator game. Beck can't make that play. To be fair, very, very few college QBs can. So it's not a knock on Beck, that's otherworldly talent. But those types of plays are probably going be few and far between this year, whereas Cam seemed to do that a couple times a game. He had one against Duke for a TD to X, he had one against Louisville for a long gain to X, etc. Now, this was sometimes detrimental. He held onto the ball too long at times looking for massive plays and either took sacks or turned it over. So there was a boom/bust situation there. I expect Beck to play a lot more "in structure" and not have those plays where he's evading guys in the pocket.

2. Along those same lines, his accuracy dips when he has to throw off-platform, whereas Cam's really did not. So in those times he is pressured, will he be able to evade in the pocket, and will he be able to deliver accurately? I think this will be a downgrade from what we saw last year.

3. Will the receivers be able to get open? A lot of us are thinking the ball will come out quicker, on average, versus Cam. For the reasons I said above. But for the ball to come out quick, a receiver has to be open quickly. Do we have kids who can win off the line consistently? X was elite in this area. Horton was, too. How many passes did he catch at a less than 10 yard aDOT? He used that big body well (pause), and Cam peppered him. A lot of it is Dawson, but think back to last year. We had a LOT of guys open by a considerable margin. Can this group follow suit?

4. Can we catch the football as well as we did last year? I said it time and time again, the collective group had VERY few drops. Guys made sensational catches all year, but just as importantly, they made routine catches consistently. The UGA WR struggles are well-documented. Those clowns couldn't have caught COVID in a Cuomo nursing home. The ball is going to be accurate most of the time, can the kids get open, and more importantly, can they catch the football time and time again?

These are my overall concerns for Beck and the passing game. It's almost certainly not going to be what we saw last year. We all know that. But it doesn't have to be. If the defense can be Top 25-30 (or god forbid better), and the offense can just stay in the Top 20 this year, that's one of the ~5 best teams in the country. I hope Dawson is preaching over and over, just be yourself, you don't need to do too much on this team. Make your pre-snap and post-snap reads, hit your back foot, hit MFs in the chest with footballs. If he doesn't turn the ball over, we're going to win a ton of games.

He threw 6 INTs on 417 attempts in 2023. Yes, he had McConkey and Bowers. But those dudes weren't stealing INTs from DBs. They were open, and he was hitting them, and he wasn't putting the ball in harm's way. Of the kids that year with as many attempts as Beck or more (and there were 21 such players), only 4 threw six or fewer picks. Bo Nix (3), Shedeur Sanders (3), Chandler Rogers (5), and Gunnar Watson (6).
Great write up.

Here is a good take from a Georgia podcast guy (think he played for them but not sure) who isn’t seeing summer camp obviously but had a fair assessment of the two years at uga

 
Your premise assumes one of my big questions for this season. Will we still have WRs open (or seemingly open) on a regular basis?

Not sure how much of last season was Dawsons’s scheme, our WRs separating (e.g. X’s plus route running), and/or Cam buying time and making things open up.

We love to assume new/young players will play to or exceed expectations, but that’s not always the case. I hope Dawson can scheme it up, and I hope our WRs can give Beck some good looks. But can’t say I’d be shocked if things look a little tighter and don’t come as easy as last year. Too many reasons to think we’ll take a step back in that department.

Doesn’t mean we can’t be effective, but I don’t expect guys running wide open everywhere making it look easy. Especially not against the better teams on our schedule. Happy to be pleasantly surprised, though.
Dawson Scheme is Air Raid dna, its easy offense passing game.. Not bro style we were stuck with for decades while the game passed us by (I will forever be ****ed because we had yearssss of debates people talking about fullback in flats as a big play while we go 7-5 with boring dull cant recruit a qb offense)

Cam is an IMPACT DYNAMIC player that had a flair to even routine schedule plays that many people seem to take for granted. There are soo many messes that Cam cleaned up and made seem routine that I dont think fans realize. His command of offense was SPECIAL AND ELITE. Took it to another level. I just wonder who is gonna replace that Dynamic aspect of the offense, to cause teams to stay up at night and make easy plays int touch downs. I dont think we have recruited an explosive player yet like that.

Restrepo is a LEGEND, his feel and experience operating out of slot is ELITE and he ran 4.8 with George 4.6, You would think Dawson got blood out of stone looking at it like that.. Imagine with some legit NFL athletic talent. Hopefully we have that now, we will see.
 
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Cam's presser today. He was asked what he is working on with Callahan and the OC & QB coaches - "staying on schedule". He talks about being a gunslinger and what he and Callahan have talked about with regard to that....
 
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