No matter who you ask, when projections for the 2025 Miami Hurricanes come up, they all center around one player: Carson Beck.
The Georgia transfer is expected to have a major impact — one way or another. Either Beck will recapture the form he showed in his first season as Georgia’s starter in 2023, or he’ll fall victim to the same inconsistencies that plagued him last year, compounded by his return from offseason elbow surgery.
“Prized quarterback pickup Carson Beck is cleared to throw and continues to progress on his way back from elbow surgery,” CBS Sports' Carter Bahns wrote. “If he rekindles the success he found two years ago, the aerial attack will again be playoff-caliber.”
If Beck can accomplish what now–No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward couldn’t during his Heisman finalist season with Miami last year — lead the Hurricanes to the College Football Playoff — then he may just flip the script on his career. That’s exactly what On3’s J.D. PicKell is predicting.
“Carson Beck is going to play his way back into being a first-round pick,” PicKell said.
That was Ward’s story coming from Washington State. He entered the 2024 draft process projected at best a fifth-round prospect. But Beck arrived in Miami with a different kind of baggage — namely his relationship with TikTok star and Hurricanes women's basketball player Hanna Cavinder.
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Now, that’s in the past too. Following their reported breakup, PicKell believes it may benefit Beck in a major way.
“I love that for Carson Beck... I love the no-girlfriend part of it for my guy,” PicKell said. “Single Carson Beck, I believe, was the guy who was All-SEC a year ago, if we're going to go by that logic.”
In his first year as a starter, Beck led the SEC in passing yards, throwing for nearly 4,000 while completing 72 percent of his passes. Even last season, he wasn’t entirely off track — finishing third in the conference in yards — but he also tied for the most interceptions with 12.
“I love the idea now that he's hopefully able to lock in on some football,” PicKell added. “I like the fact that he got out of a place where he underperformed — and he'd tell you that — in Georgia last year. And he's in a totally different spot. He’s from the state of Florida, so mentally you hope there’s a reset there a little bit for him.
“I love everything about this situation for him.”
Now entering Year 4 under head coach Mario Cristobal, Miami is hoping Beck can be the next in line after Ward reset the standard at the position in 2024. Ward’s explosive season reignited expectations for the Hurricanes’ offense — and Beck will now be expected to raise the bar even further.
It won’t be easy. But if he delivers, the narrative around Carson Beck could be completely rewritten. His Miami career will begin when the Canes host Notre Dame in Week 1.