The hurricane stemming down in southern Florida dwindled into nothing more than a passing breeze last season. Miami flirted with breaking through that glass ceiling looming over their heads and making the playoffs. For the most part, Miami was riding the coattails of QB Cam Ward. But alas, this storied program continues to underdeliver in the grand scheme of things. Faltering down the business end of 2024 may have adjusted expectations for Mario Cristobal within the Canes faithful. But it hasn’t deterred one prominent college football analyst. Who saw the merit in that 9-0 start and reckons new QB1 Carson Beck has a lot to gain from repeating something similar.

Throughout his stint with Georgia, Carson Beck was synonymous with polarizing. Conduct a survey in the streets of Athens, and you’ll find a distinct split in opinion. There’s a faction that lives by his natural arm talent. They think his perceived decline from ‘23 to ‘24 was a product of his environment more than himself. After all, the Bulldogs did lead the entire FBS in dropped catches. Losing Ladd McConkey and Brown Bowers to the NFL fanned the flames of what was a deteriorating supporting cast around Beck. However, there’s a faction of opinions on the opposite spectrum as well. That thinks Beck isn’t what he was touted to be. So as he looks to resuscitate his reputation and, by extension, career in Coral Gables, how are things shaping?

Not too well, to be frank. Carson Beck’s arrival in Miami was already hindered by his elbow injury and subsequent surgery. Which kept him from being a full participant and throwing in spring camp. Couple this with some problems in his personal life, including a very public breakup. It’s safe to say Carson Beck ‘taking his talents to South Beach’ hasn’t been a very smooth transition. However, he does have a clean slate. A new program, a new conference, new fans, and new cynics. Most importantly, new, somewhat lowered expectations. Or so you’d think. On3’s J.D. PicKell has aired a potential scenario where Carson Beck walks the trail Cam Ward just blazed. Down to being a first-round NFL Draft pick, even! The stumbling block, though, is that he needs to take things a step further than Ward did.

Speaking over the On3 YouTube channel, J.D. PicKell hypothesized the tangible yet dreamy world where Mario Cristobal’s Miami wins the ACC. Something they did come close to doing last year but couldn’t see out. “I have to believe [that] if Miami wins the ACC, they’re doing it because Carson Beck is slinging that thing,” he said. The message is clear: Miami can’t do it without Beck channeling his best self.

Throwing darts over the top. Something he’s shown to be capable of doing at different junctures with Georgia, albeit not enough lately. “That’s what the offense is built for. It’s built to push the football downfield…they want to take shots vertically,” added PicKell. He then claimed, “If they win the ACC, I happen to feel like [Carson Beck] probably played like a first-round pick. And probably played his way into being a first-round pick.”

This isn’t as outlandish as it may instinctively seem. This time last year, Carson Beck was widely regarded as a future first-rounder. But a year is an eternity in college football. Cam Ward just epitomized how you can ascend from a relative nobody from an NFL lens to the No. 1 overall pick in that span. We’ve seen a QB transfer to Miami and go from strength to strength a la Ward. It remains to be seen whether Beck can do something similar or even surpass his predecessor. It’s quite literally impossible to surpass his NFL eminence, but there is room from a CFB standpoint—win the ACC and make the playoffs. This segues into what J.D. PicKell said about his head coach, Mario Cristobal. 

Mario Cristobal’s fate is intrinsically tied to Carson Beck

The power dynamic in the ACC sure is spreading across more. But for the most part, Clemson continues to be the gold standard. The team to beat, to trump. After a ‘down’ year where they still managed to win the conference, Dabo Swinney’s Tigers are very much back in their element. This doesn’t just mean ACC dominance but national championship contention. So amid this, how does Mario Cristobal manage to pave the way to supremacy for his Canes? 

It’s subjective and depends on a multitude of factors, of course. One of the prevailing ones being Carson Beck’s quarterbacking. But in the vein of airing hypotheticals, J.D. PicKell aired one more. “If you beat Clemson, I think it would be the ultimate legitimizer of what Miami is,” he said. The implication here was that while Miami can prove they’re back on their pedestal competing near the upper echelons of the sport if they win the ACC, it’ll be multifold more “legitimate” if they do so against a very strong Clemson side. Rather than something akin to ‘24 Clemson, or a UNC team that has just hired a new head coach in Bill Belichick. Do it against $115 million Dabo Swinney at his full might.

There’s a lot to gain for Carson Beck, Mario Cristobal, and Miami as a collective. They’ve come a long way under Cristobal’s custodianship. But there’s still some way left to go. It’ll be fascinating to see if they can take those requisite strides forward this season.