Georgia football after more than Carson Beck in Florida

Kirby Smart pulled his quarterback of the future from the Florida Gator’s back yard. Lock the gate, because, Georgia football will be back for more than Carson Beck

Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart covets Florida talent. If you didn’t know that by the promotion of coach James Coley and the hiring of coaches Charlton Warren , and Todd Hartley,  you know it after the Bulldogs lifted local Florida four-star quarterback recruit Carson Beck from the arms of Florida football coach Dan Mullen’s 2020 recruiting class.

While the Gator Nation spits nails and the Bulldog Nation dances, the Beck decision is no surprise.

By the numbers

First, Beck is a traditional pocket passer, not the half-thrower half-fullback hybrid Mullen needs at shot-gun for his offensive system. It only took Smart and his offensive staff a day to convince Beck the Georgia offense is better suited to his talents than Dan Mullen’s offense.

Second, when visiting the Georgia campus, Beck toured the new thirty million dollar indoor practice facility, the new sixty million dollar stadium locker rooms and recruiting lounge, and saw the plans for a likely fifty million dollar Georgia football facility expansion. When visiting Florida, Beck saw the plans for the new sixty-five million dollar football complex and learned construction has been delayed a year.

Third, Beck got a look at the Georgia offensive line, the line that will be the best in college football next year and will challenge for that brag the two years after.

Fourth, before Beck even left Jacksonville, Georgia claimed a long distance home-town recruiting advantage. In fact, Georgia was in the driver’s seat even as Beck named the Gators his top pick.

Said Beck to First Coast News, “My head coach was a Georgia fan. My offensive coordinator was a Georgia fan and the quarterback coach. Our defensive line coach, who was a really great friend of my dads, was a Georgia fan.”

Five, Kirby Smart knows his ABCs – always be closing. Smart and the Georgia football staff convinced  Carson Beck that he is the quarterback they wanted, that he is the man, and he could be the man in Athens. Before the offensive skull session with the Georgia staff was over, Kirby Smart gave Beck the marker and asked for his input.

“[Georgia] truly looked at Carson as the future of Georgia football,” Chris Beck said to Seth Emerson and Will Sammon of The Athletic.

Short term setback, long term worry

This is a giant short-term set back for the Gators. Eight months out from early signing day, Beck was the only high quality quarterback prospect the Gators had in their sites. To make matters worse, Beck plays his high school ball in Jacksonville an hour and a half from the Florida campus. Beck seemed a near sure thing to wear the orange and blue, and the commitment to Georgia is not being taken well.

“[Georgia] truly looked at Carson as the future of Georgia football.”

Georgia football targets Florida talent

The Carson Beck incident illustrates the Gators long-term problem: Georgia football wants Florida talent, and Georgia has the coaches, the facilities, and the funding in place to make life on the home front miserable for the Gators.

Do the Gators know what they are facing? Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin discussed plans for the new football facility with the Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, “At some places — and I’m not talking about anybody in particular — you do things to create a wow factor, or to create an interest or to make it different. And at some places, that’s perfectly reasonable to do, but I don’t think we’re in that position.”

That may be a popular notion among the Gator Nation. Reality is, however, the Gators face a much better equipped and more motivated Georgia football program, not to mention the fortified programs at Alabama, and Clemson. The Carson Beck tale is a cautionary one for Florida football.