ATHENS – Turns out that everybody inside Georgia’s Butts-Mehre Football Complex had a pretty good idea Carson Beck was sticking around to quarterback the Bulldogs for one more season. Even so, coach Kirby Smart doesn’t think his presence affected Georgia’s recruitment of the position of the class of 2024.
The Bulldogs signed only one quarterback on Wednesday – that was 4-star Ryan Publisi of Avon, Connecticut – after losing No. 1-rated prospect Dylan Raiola to Nebraska over the weekend. But Smart believes those developments were unrelated.
“I don’t think Carson’s decision had any impact on our quarterback recruiting situation,” Smart said at Wednesday’s signing day press conference. “I think it was a lot of independent variables there. We’ve felt pretty good that Carson was coming back the entire time.”
That’s because Beck let Smart know a while ago. Though he never left campus and continued to work out and conduct volunteer practices, Beck didn’t go public with his decision until the last few days. On Sunday, he told reporters at a Christmas charity event he intended to play in the Orange Bowl. On Monday night, he posted on social media his intention of returning for his senior season.
Meanwhile, after having an in-home visit with Georgia last week, Raiola took an official visit to Nebraska this past weekend. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound, 5-star commitment signed with the Cornhuskers on Wednesday.
That left the Bulldogs short on quarterbacks. Including rising sophomore Gunner Stockton, they currently have only three on scholarship for next season. That’s not enough.
“Our hard number is four. We want to be at four and we’re not at four,” Smart said Wednesday. “So, again, we’ll look at our options and see what we can do there. We would like to be at four, but that’s our goal.”
Because quarterback recruitments tend to start very early, it’s likely the Bulldogs will have to turn to the transfer portal for another one.
Meanwhile, it’s clear that everybody in Georgia’s camp is thrilled to have Beck back in the fold for next season. The 6-4, 220-pound fifth-year senior needs just 155 yards passing against FSU in the Orange Bowl to become the Bulldogs’ single-season record-holder. He heads to Miami with 3,973 yards and 25 touchdowns with 7 interceptions.
“It’s huge; everybody saw what he did this year,” sophomore tight end Oscar Delp said. “With another year under his belt, I can’t even describe how good he’s going to be next year. It’s exciting to have him stay and know we’re going to have the leader of our offense back again.”
Said left tackle Earnest Greene: “It’s good. We’ve got chemistry. That’s my quarterback and my job is to protect him. I know his tendencies and feels comfortable. So it’s all good.
Smart feels pretty good about it, too. Clearly, he has known about it a long time.
“He communicated with us,” Smart said. “He did his research. He certainly had options, but he communicated that he wanted to grow and continue to get better. So, he made that choice.”
Smart never mentioned Raiola by name, but he had a lot of good things to say about Puglisi. The 6-3, 210-pound quarterback from Paxton, Mass., became a 4-star prospect as a senior at Avon Old Farms school, an all-boys school in Connecticut. There he passed for 1,693 yards and 14 touchdowns and ran for two more scores.
Puglisi arrived in Athens this past weekend.
“He checked every box, the right kind of kid, the right kind of competitor,” Smart said. “He’s embraced the part about learning. He sees himself as a guy that needs to come in and develop under a system. He’s seen Carson’s success, so I think he understands that. He wants to grow and get better.
“Quarterback is the leader of the team and leader of your class. He’s a really intelligent, fun kid to be around. He’s been out here at practices, competing. He’s got a really live arm. He’s another one of these baseball guys that can catch it and get it out really fast, which I think is really important in today’s day and age.”
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