MIAMI BEACH — The play continued, but Carson Beck knew he was done.

A Texas defender strip-sacked Beck, who was the Georgia starting quarterback in the SEC title game, and Beck landed in a heap on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium field.

“Obviously, I felt my arm. I felt everything,” Beck said. “It was one of the lowest moments of my life.”

Beck returned for one final play — to hand the ball off on the game-winning touchdown replacement Gunner Stockton had to come off the field — but his Bulldogs career was over, too.

Fast forward a year, and Beck is now the starting quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes as they get ready to play Indiana on Monday in the program’s first national title game since 2003. Beck got Miami to this point, running in the game-winning touchdown against Ole Miss in the playoff semifinal.

“Running into the end zone at Ole Miss, that was one of the highest moments of my life, one of the better memories that I’ll always hold onto and cherish,” Beck said. “Obviously, it’s been a crazy year of ups and downs, but to be able to get back to this point, it’s really awesome.”

Beck’s season-long tenure at Miami has come with its own ups and downs. He started off on a high, helping lead the Hurricanes to an upset victory over Notre Dame in the season-opener. But the lows came soon after. Beck threw four interceptions in a loss to Louisville.

“This is when I knew that, really, we were going to be fine because I went up to the office the next day, and he was extremely positive,” offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “I was probably more down than he was. But he was very positive, very move-on type approach.”

Beck did throw two more interceptions in a second loss to SMU (though one bounced off a receiver’s hands), but as the Hurricanes surged into the playoffs in the season’s final month, Beck was a major reason why. In UM’s last seven wins — including the program’s first three playoff victories — Beck has completed 74.4 percent of his passes for 1,634 yards. Most importantly, he had 15 touchdown passes and just two interceptions.

“His superpower is understanding football,” Dawson said. “He dissects the game very quickly in the run and pass game. In the run game, he does things that are next level, as far as getting people moved around and targeted up. Our run-game system has grown over time, and it takes a guy to understand where the fits are, especially with receivers and how their safeties are fitting or who the extra fitter is. So he’s really elite at that. And in the pass game, he takes care of the football.”

UM coach Mario Cristobal, who recruited Beck to Miami, has called Beck “misunderstood.” He said Beck is locked in on winning and helping people around him.

“His experience, both good and bad, has allowed him to come in and establish himself very quickly as a leader and one that has helped groom leadership within the team itself,” Cristobal said. “It starts with the fact that he’s an unselfish person. Tons of gratitude to him. He wants to win and he wants to see people around him do really, really well. He has absolutely zero interest in personal accolades and all that attention. He wants to do right by people.”

Beck’s Miami and college career will end in either celebration or dejection on Monday night. Beck won a pair of national titles as a backup at Georgia, but now he will try to win one as the starting quarterback.

“Obviously, it feels awesome,” Beck said. “To finally be the guy and the quarterback, a part of a team that has done this and gone through a season and eventually earned the opportunity to play in a national championship, obviously it’s a dream of mine.”

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/01/18/carson-beck-feature/