ATHENS — Needless to say, the 2024 season did not go as how Georgia wanted it to.
The Bulldogs lost multiple games for the first time since the 2022 season and ultimately lost 23-10 to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff.
Offensively, it was not the year the Bulldogs expected to have. Quarterback Carson Beck entered the year as someone who was seen as a possible first-round pick.
But Beck won’t be participating in this week’s NFL combine. Instead, he’s at Miami as he rehabs after suffering a season-ending arm injury. He’ll play for the Hurricanes next season as he elected to transfer.
Georgia will have a new quarterback next season, with Gunner Stockton likely to be the team’s first option at quarterback.
And given how much Georgia put on the shoulders of Beck in 2024, it knows it can’t do so again with the quarterback position in 2025 and beyond.
After the season-ending loss to Notre Dame, everyone saw just how limited the Georgia offense was. Kirby Smart and Georgia players spoke about how those players around Stockton, who was making his first career start, needed to do more.
"We didn’t help him out a lot," tight end Oscar Delp said. “He made his plays, and he’s really special. Everyone saw a glimpse of what he can do. We didn’t help him out too much.”
Beck didn’t have Brock Bowers or Ladd McConkey at his disposal like he did last season. All-American center Sedrick Van Pran and first-round offensive tackle Amarius Mims needed to be replaced as well.
Georgia has plenty of talent but it struggled to replace all four of those players. It knew doing so would be difficult but the hope was that with an experienced quarterback returning, Beck would be able to elevate those around him.
For large stretches of last season, that didn’t happen. In games against SEC foes, Beck was rather mediocre as he threw 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
It didn’t help Beck that he had the worst rushing offense of the Smart era in addition to a group of pass catchers that led the nation in drops.
But at times, Beck felt himself trying to do too much. It’s obvious in hindsight that he felt the pressure of trying to be Georgia’s best player.
“Our identity here for so long has been to run the ball and we just weren’t able to that tonight,” Beck said after the Ole Miss game. “And maybe whenever that happens, I got to step up and we got to make some explosive plays in the pass game or maybe I got to start making some plays on the ground. I tried to start extending plays and, you know, running a little bit more in the second half.”
It’s a bit of a misnomer that you need an elite quarterback to win a national championship. The last quarterback who was clearly the best player on the offense of a national championship winner was Joe Burrow back for the famed 2019 LSU squad. And that team also had Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson on it.
The 2021 and 2022 Georgia teams had Brock Bowers, along with a host of defensive stars. Last year’s Ohio State team had wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Even the 2023 Michigan team had standout running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards at running back and a similarly stout defensive line.
That’s not to say that those teams got poor quarterback play and found a way to win. On the contrary. But the recent national championship winners — which Georgia aspires to be — have had great talent surrounding its quarterbacks.
Not to mention elite defenses as well. Georgia’s defense was very good in 2024 but in speaking after the loss to Notre Dame, Smart outlined how the group could’ve done more to help the offense.
“If you go to years-past defense, we created more turnovers, better third downs to get the ball back," Smart said. “There’s a lot of things we can do better to help our offense, but we certainly have to play better and do better.”
Georgia forced 19 turnovers in 2024, two more than it did the season prior. But the Bulldogs went from allowing 25.7 percent of their third downs to 32.8 percent, which speaks to what Smart’s point.
The Bulldogs know offensively they have to be better in 2025. Yes, there’s room to do so at the quarterback position given Beck had turnover issues last season.
But Beck still did a lot for this Georgia team. His work prior to the ball being snapped was often talked about as a major strength of his. Replacing that with a player who has played six quarters of first-time football won’t be easy.
Georgia more importantly needs its offensive line to be healthier and just better. A consistent and explosive rushing attack is a must. Georgia has to eliminate the drops from the pass catchers and take advantage of mismatches.
Georgia added help at the receiver position via the transfer portal. The continued emergence of Nate Frazier could go a long way in helping the Georgia rushing offense. We’ve written plenty about how the offensive line simply has to be better in 2025, with some of that being tied to health.
Coaches will often say you learn more in losses than you do in wins. Georgia’s most recent loss served as a reminder of how to construct an offense.
So while the Bulldogs may be excited about what Stockton or redshirt freshman Ryan Puglisi can be, the Beck experience — and the Notre Dame game without him — showed that a quarterback can’t mask over every issue on the offensive side of the ball.
It’s going to take a collective effort in 2025 if Georgia’s offense is to get back to being a championship-winning unit. And not one that is reliant on the quarterback position.
