At Miami, Carson Beck isn't 'trying to be Superman' anymore

EVERY DAY FOR eight weeks, Carson Beck walked into the Miami training room before dawn and prepared to feel more pain than he had ever felt before.

He cringes when he thinks about those moments, even now, as No. 3 Miami prepares to take on No. 18 Florida State (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC). Beck spent hours on the training table, working to restore the range of motion on his surgically repaired right elbow, praying he would be able to throw a football as fast and sure as he once did.

Peter Galasso, director of football rehabilitation and return to sport at Miami, would push and pull on the elbow to get it to start to bend. When Galasso felt resistance, he would push a little more. The pain was so intense, Beck wanted to scream, "What are you doing, get off of me!"

"It is 100 percent the worst part in the rehab process," Beck says. "Your elbow is stiff, it's tight, there's scar tissue, and they are trying to move it against your will. It was pretty awful."

Beck arrived in Miami broken in many ways -- by the UCL tear, by a tough 2024 season that featured a barrage of on-field criticism, by the trappings of newfound celebrity and riches that put him under even more scrutiny.

When Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson met Beck, he saw a guarded man. Trust had to be built quickly, because Dawson, Galasso and the training staff now held Beck's future in their hands.

HAD THE 2024 season gone the way Beck wanted, he would be in the NFL right now. But the entire year proved more difficult than expected, even before the injury. He was living life under a microscope -- there were headlines about his choice of car (a $300,000 Lamborghini), what he was being paid in NIL and his relationship with Miami basketball player and influencer Hanna Cavinder.

His play on the field dipped as the entire Georgia offense took a step back, and -- fair or not -- message boards were abuzz with fans wondering whether his off-field commitments were negatively impacting his on-field performance. To that end, a clip of him smiling toward the end of a November loss to Ole Miss went viral, making fans even testier than they already were.

Still, Beck led Georgia to the SEC championship game against Texas last December. On the last play of the first half, he felt something pop in his elbow when he got hit. He got into the locker room and could not grip a football. He slammed his helmet in frustration.

But that was not the end of his day. Despite standing on the sideline for the bulk of the second half with his elbow wrapped in ice, Beck was asked to go back into the game in overtime, when Gunner Stockton had his helmet knocked off and had to sit out the next play. His right arm dangling at his side, Beck jogged onto the field for what turned out to be his final play in a Georgia uniform.

He took the snap, and handed off to Trevor Etienne for the winning touchdown.

"Thank God I was able to go out there so the injury was not my last play, but handing off to win the game with an arm that was literally injured is crazy, because at the time, the training staff, those guys were like, 'Oh, you're good.' So, in my head, I thought I was good as well,'" Beck said.

The following day, Beck went to the hospital for an MRI, then drove to the team facility. He spoke to offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who asked how he was feeling as the Bulldogs began to prepare for their College Football Playoff semifinal game against Notre Dame in January.

"I was like, I'm good. I have high hopes, hopefully it's not too bad. Hopefully it's just a sprain and I'm able to play and we get some treatment," Beck recalls.

Then one of the trainers asked to see him. Beck could tell right away it was bad news. When he walked into the room, he saw six people, doctors and trainers, waiting for him. They told him he had a torn ulnar collateral ligament and would need surgery. Smart arrived shortly afterward. Longtime head athletic trainer Ron Courson laid out the details.

But Beck had zoned out as he grappled with his new reality.

"Everything was just ripped away from me," Beck said. "I'm thinking, what does this mean for me? What does this mean for my career? What does this mean for my future?"

Beck excused himself from the room and walked to his car and broke down. He sat there, in the parking lot, for hours. He eventually drove home, where his mom, Tracy, sister, Kylie, and other loved ones waited.

"We just hugged and cried," Tracy Beck said. "But the good thing about our family is we take things, and we make the best out of it. Yes, you take a minute to cry, but we've got to get back up, and we've just got to do whatever it takes."

Over the next few weeks, Beck and his family sought opinions on doctors to perform his surgery. Only a handful of quarterbacks had ever sustained this type of injury, most recently Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers. Just before Christmas, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache did the surgery in Los Angeles. Beck said his injury was similar to the one sustained in 2023 by Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, whom ElAttrache treated multiple times.

Beck said ElAttrache assured him after surgery he would be like new again. Quarterbacks recover at a faster rate from this injury than pitchers because throwing a football puts less torque on the elbow than throwing a baseball.

"The stress on the elbow is a lot less being a quarterback versus being a pitcher," Galasso said. "So that changes how you plan out the rehab process, in terms of when they start throwing, how many throws they're doing and at what distance."

Beck had declared for the NFL draft in late December, and began his rehab back home in Jacksonville, Florida, with his longtime trainer, Denny Thompson. But the feedback Beck received about his draft prospects led him to withdraw his name and enter the transfer portal.

Shortly afterward, Dawson got a call from Thompson. Beck wanted to play at Miami.

CAM WARD DAZZLED at Miami a season ago, choosing the Hurricanes for his final season in college football to not only try and win a championship, but to boost his future NFL prospects. Ward led Miami to 10 wins and helped the Hurricanes become the No. 1 offense in the country, but the team didn't make the ACC championship game or the College Football Playoff. Still, his play got the attention of NFL teams, and he became the No. 1 pick this past April.

With Ward gone, Miami was in the market for a transfer quarterback. Dawson started making some calls to find out what he and the Hurricanes would be getting in Beck.

Though Beck went into the year as the top-rated quarterback in the country, he was not nearly as efficient as Georgia trudged through the regular season, losing twice and barely squeaking out wins against Kentucky and Georgia Tech as double-digit favorites.

After turning the ball over 14 times over six games between late September and early November, coach Kirby Smart was asked whether he had considered benching Beck. "Absolutely not," Smart said.

Beck's decreased efficiency and accuracy weren't necessarily all his fault: Georgia had issues across its offensive line, both in protecting Beck and running the ball. Georgia ranked No. 102 in the nation in rush offense, the worst mark under Smart. The pressure rate on Beck increased, too, from 19.1 percent to 20.6 percent. The Georgia receivers dropped 36 passes to lead the nation.

As teams started to pressure Beck more, his completion percentage dipped from 72 to 65 percent, and he threw more interceptions -- 12 in all, double what he threw in 2023. One source familiar with the situation at Georgia said the two biggest issues Beck had last season were his body language, and losing confidence in the offensive line and receivers. When mistakes piled up, he would go to the sideline, dejected and disengaged.

Beck said he started to press, "trying to be Superman, trying to save the day," and that the scrutiny kept mounting.

"It's really weird, because my whole life I've been very introverted, and whether people believe it or not, I've really tried to stay out of the limelight," Beck said. "A lot of times, in my position, you can't because there is that hyper focused attention on you. I probably put myself in some situations that wouldn't align with me saying that I tried to stay out of the limelight, and obviously that's on me."

The source said Beck was well-liked in the locker room, and his car and girlfriend were not the distraction the outside world perceived. But Beck's introverted nature meant he was often not around his teammates while off the field.

Tracy Beck said all the negativity "took a toll on him."

"To go through what he was going through, and all the negative and all the noise and all the things people were saying -- at the end of the day, he only lost three games the entire time he was the quarterback. I don't know how that's so bad," she says.

Dawson called former Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who recruited Beck to Athens and coached him for three years before leaving for the Baltimore Ravens in 2023, because he knew he would get an honest answer. Yes, the Lamborghini came up.

"There was a change in him, from what I got from Coach Monken, as far as the newfound celebrity," Dawson said. But Monken also told him, "If you get the Carson that I know with the right mindset, and he is 100 percent physically, you're going to get a first-round quarterback. But that's what you've got to find out."

Dawson and Miami coach Mario Cristobal understood what they saw on tape, and believed they had the pieces in place to help Beck not only succeed, but regain his confidence and ultimately, his belief in himself.

"He is an extremely smart dude, and he's actually a really good leader. He connects with people," Cristobal said. "He could do what we like to do well, and at a high level."

It was a given Beck would miss spring football, but after talking to the doctors and getting a timeline for his return, the coaches at Miami felt confident they would be getting the best version of Carson Beck.

Though he could not practice, Beck spent as much time as he could learning the offense, and perhaps more importantly, getting to know his teammates. Beck remembers walking into the Miami football facility for the first time in January and seeing Dawson and receiver CJ Daniels sitting together at a table.

Daniels had just transferred in from LSU and was coming off his own injury. They felt an immediate kinship -- guys looking for a second chance, with a last opportunity to show what they could do. Dawson, meanwhile, told Beck the offense was his.

"Everybody wants to feel a sense of appreciation," Dawson said. "It was just about making him comfortable. I do think his personality and my personality mesh well. I appreciate the times when things go well, and when we make mistakes, we hit them head on and then we move on. We don't harp on it, and I think he appreciates that."

ONCE BECK GOT his full range of motion back, it was eight weeks of arm strengthening exercises before he could throw a football again, four months postsurgery. He was on a pitch count: 20 total throws. Five at 7 yards, five at 10 yards and then 10 at 12 yards.

His arm felt dead as he adjusted to not only throwing again, but the way his elbow felt. Within two weeks, he felt normal -- and knew he would be ready for the start of fall camp in August. But while he was working his way back, Beck was in the news again. Shortly after moving to Miami, he had his Lamborghini and a Mercedes stolen from the home he was sharing with Cavinder. The cars were not recovered. Then in April, Cavinder posted on social media that the two had broken up. They have not spoken since.

"You make mistakes as a person, but it sucks that you have to go through something like that with someone that you care about, and now it's all over the Internet," Beck said. "Half of what you see in the media is true. Half of what you see is not true. So, people pick their side of the story and run with it. The people that know the truth know the truth. But it's been difficult."

Beck says everything he has gone through over the past year has changed his approach to not only this team, but his own goals.

"I've been able to connect to myself more, and find who I am, and really do some soul searching," Beck said. "It's hard to say that I'm thankful for it all, but I am because I wouldn't be the person that I am today without all of these things that have happened."

Though Beck could not participate in team workouts until June, he spent hours at the facility with Dawson and his teammates. Dawson knew that the offensive game plan for this season would shift with Beck behind center because Miami had a strong offensive line returning, and its defense would be stout.

Because Beck came from a program that emphasized complementary football in similar ways, they all fit together.

"Cam came along at the right time because we needed that injection of confidence, we needed that swagger, we needed to be a certain offense last year to win 10 games," Dawson said. "But we're built different this year. Our defense is really, really good, our run game is really elite. So, Carson probably fits better into what we do this year."

Once Beck was able to practice in August, those inside the building got to see what they hoped they were getting when he signed. He had chemistry with his receivers; he had an expert grasp of the offense; and yes, he had an offensive line that protected well and excelled in the run game. Offensive lineman Markel Bell praised him for his "humble" approach.

Everyone else got to see that for themselves in the opener against Notre Dame -- as Miami relied on its defense, physicality and some explosive plays in the passing game to win. Afterward, Beck grew emotional in his postgame television interview as he reflected on what it took to reach that moment.

"The past eight months have been so hard," he said as he fought through tears. "I'm just so blessed to be out here to have an opportunity to play again."

Daniels, the leader of the receiver group, pointed to the relationship the two developed in the offseason, saying, "We had a point to prove, and I can't be more grateful for Carson being the leader of it."

THESE DAYS, BECK drives a truck and lives in a more secluded area. He's living a less-flashy life. Now, it seems, he is getting enjoyment from other places. He has spoken repeatedly about how much fun he is having again, about the way his teammates have embraced him, about being allowed to play "free" this year.

Though he has not played perfectly, he is playing more efficiently, throwing for 972 yards, seven touchdowns to three interceptions while completing 73.2 percent of his passes -- nearly 10 percentage points higher than a year ago.

So far, he is facing less pressure -- a 16.2 percent pressure rate compared to 20.6 percent last year. He also has more time in the pocket -- 3.2 seconds average time to the first pressure compared to 2.9 at Georgia last year. Those numbers directly correlate to his increased accuracy. "When I'm given time, and I'm able to dissect defenses, I believe that I'm very efficient, and I rarely miss," Beck said.

The Hurricanes led the nation in offense last year, in part because they had to come from behind to win many of their games. This year, as Dawson predicted, the Hurricanes do not need the most yards or points in the country. They have relied on their superior defense (No. 13 among FBS teams) and ground game -- with passes accounting for 48 percent of their offense through four games, compared to 57 percent last year. Despite losing the No. 1 pick, Miami is now the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC.

"The confidence of our group right now is high," Dawson said. "We feel like we can beat you in a lot of different ways, which is a good place to be in offensively."

Beck has embraced that, too. Dawson said in the second half against Florida, Beck turned to him and said, "We're pushing them around up front. Let's just grind it out." That is what Miami did. There are areas Dawson wants to see Beck improve, starting with going through his progressions a little more slowly.

"Because they were getting a lot of pressure on him last year at Georgia, he is getting through his reads really quick and we're missing a little bit of the intermediate passing game with that," Dawson said. "My theme is this: Trust your progression and trust the protection."

What his start to the season means for his draft stock remains to be seen. ESPN NFL Draft analyst Jordan Reid said Beck has been "one of the biggest surprises among quarterbacks in the country," and is now a Day 2 prospect.

"His playing style as a true pocket passer, the weapons and protection of the Hurricanes, have helped him showcase those flashes of why evaluators were excited about him prior to the 2024 season," Reid said. "With a pivotal upcoming matchup against Florida State, Beck has an opportunity to catapult his name up the rankings and improve his draft stock."

For Beck, those conversations are for another day. Right now, he is focused on helping Miami win.

Mark Schlabach contributed reporting.