If Georgia football is going to win a national championship this season, it appears like it will have to do it without starting quarterback Carson Beck.
Georgia is preparing to play in the College Football Playoff without Beck due to the right elbow injury suffered in the SEC championship win over Texas on Dec. 7, ESPN.com reported. Beck is exploring surgery options.
A Georgia team spokesman could not confirm the report Thursday night. It followed a report from On3 that said Beck was expected to miss the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl CFP quarterfinal game.
Beck was considered an NFL prospect, perhaps even a first-round pick, before the injury.
For the Bulldogs, it means Gunner Stockton will step into the starting role for Georgia’s first playoff game against Notre Dame or Indiana for his first college start.
“There’s no good script, right, for losing a quarterback or having to go to your back up,” coach Kirby Smart told reporters the day after the SEC championship while still awaiting Beck’s MRI results. “There’s not a great script for it. It certainly wasn’t a great script last night to have to do it against the No. 1 team in the country on defense. And having to do that at halftime was tough. This situation does give you time if that’s what has to happen. There is time there.”
Georgia has a three-and-a-half week turnaround to get ready for its playoff game.
Beck was knocked out of the SEC Championship Game on the final play of the first half when trying to throw downfield.
Stockton went on to rally Georgia in the second half and the Bulldogs won in overtime when Beck came in for one play after Stockton’s helmet came off. Beck handed the ball off to Trevor Etienne, who ended the 22-19 overtime win on a 4-yard touchdown run.
As for Stockton’s backups, Georgia would turn to transfer Jaden Rashada or true freshman Ryan Puglisi behind him.
“They’re both getting better, man,” Smart said. “They’ve grown a lot since the start of the year to now. Think about all the reps they’ve taken. They’ve taken a lot of reps and they get better and better and better. I wish there more game opportunities for them. There just haven’t been a lot of game opportunities.”
Beck has passed for 52 touchdowns the past two seasons. He leads the SEC this season with 28 touchdowns but also leads with 12 interceptions and is third in receiving yards with 3,485.
