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Kirby Smart explains his relationship with Carson Beck, approach to handling QBs

On3 imageby: Sam Gillenwater11/15/24samdg_33
Georgia QB Carson Beck
Petre Thomas | Imagn Images

Carson Beck has been struggling this season, especially as of late. Still, Kirby Smart knows that their quarterback understands what he needs to do.

Smart spoke about the Bulldogs’ QB while making an appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ in Athens on Friday. He said that he does his best to help his quarterback up but noted that he only has to do so much considering Beck knows what he’s supposed to be doing already.

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“What I want to do is support him, tell him to be positive, keep fighting, keep chopping, keep doing the things we’ve got to do,” Smart said.

“Carson is very bright so it’s not like you need to go over there and say, ‘Hey, what coverage was that?’. He knows what coverage it was. He knows what decision has to be made,” said Smart. “He has got to protect the ball. He has got to make good decisions. That’s been one of the things that we’ve been working on this week.”

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It’s also harder for Smart because he’s not as hands-on with his quarterbacks as he used to be, specifically in-game. He spends much of his time with the defense which makes game week more of when to work with Beck.

“Well, I’ve learned with quarterbacks. I think, probably early on in my career, if you started with Jake Fromm or Jacob Eason, I was more with them a lot of the time. Always talking to them with the quarterback coach, in between drives talking to them,” said Smart. “I’m very involved with the defense. So my time with Carson is usually during the week, not necessarily in-game. I think most head coaches that work on the defensive side of the ball will tell you. I’m not in every quarterback meeting.”

Again, Beck has not been anywhere near his best this fall for Georgia, including during conference play. Overall, he has completed 65.4% of his passes for 2,488 yards, good for 276.4 per game, with 17 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Then, against SEC opponents, he’s posting 64.8% completion for 1,968 yards, still good for 281.1 a game, but the touchdown-to-interception ratio is much worse with ten scores to the dozen picks with three games with a trio of interceptions apiece.

The ‘Dawgs are going to need much better from Beck over the last three games of this season. Smart thinks they can get it too with what he expects from him as their quarterback.