The Miami head coach, Mario Cristobal, is coming off an incredible season, finishing 10-3. Moreover, his QB, Cam Ward, produced more than 4,500 yards and was drafted first overall in the NFL draft. Talk about winning momentum! Cristobal now has a mountain of it. The head coach is stockpiling high-profile players like he’s ready for war and is even making big moves for his 2026 class. The context? In came Jackson Cantwell on a $5 million deal, and the head coach literally snatched Xavier Lucas from the Wisconsin Badgers without the player having entered the transfer portal. But amid all of these moves. The biggest was probably Carson Beck’s. Not because it was a $4 million deal, but because there were glaring doubts about the QB’s abilities.

Carson Beck’s move to Miami has been a topic of discussion for all sorts of reasons. The quarterback’s 2024 season, on paper, looks okay, especially considering the Bulldogs won the SEC Championship. Beck started the game but couldn’t take a snap in the second half due to an injury. The injury opened a whole new Pandora’s box for Beck that is still radiating its doubts. That UCL injury against the Longhorns ended his season, yet Mario Cristobal, considering Beck’s quality, brought him to Miami on a multimillion-dollar deal. Questions were raised, critics came in full blazing, and Cristobal? He was busy dodging those questions and focusing on Beck’s recovery. However, it wasn’t easy.

Beck didn’t throw in April throughout Miami’s spring practices and instead focused on making his injured throwing arm strong. Still, the coaches described Beck as a ‘revelation’ and had high praise for him even when he wasn’t throwing. Take, for instance, the Miami OC Shannon Dawson, who praised Beck for his “football IQ,” and later Mario Cristobal, who described his recovery as being “ahead of schedule.” While, all of these claims bolstered his recovery process, concerns remain about his last season’s debacles.

Greg McElroy, the ESPN analyst, in the May 15th episode of ‘ESPN College Football,’ asked a similar question, and this time? The head coach finally cleared the air regarding his 2024 season. “We feel we can protect him really well, and we feel what we do offensively. So much of our stuff is NFL oriented as it relates to protections, our play-action game, our quick game, and intermediate stuff. He fits it perfectly. He’s going to be surrounded by some really talented, skilled guys as well.” Mario Cristobal’s answer described perfectly why Beck struggled last season.

There’s no doubt that Carson Beck was one of the top QBs in the country last year after producing 3,485 yards for 28 touchdowns. But when you compare his performance to his 2023 season, it’s a massive downgrade both in efficiency (7.7%) and yardage (500 yards). So instinctively, people started criticizing him without knowing the deeper picture. What was the deeper picture? Georgia led last season in drops (37) and had an offensive line that failed to protect the QB. The numbers?

Georgia stood 58th in sacks per game last year (1.8) and 92nd in incomplete passes per game. While a part of it can be blamed on Carson Beck. But the offensive line and the receivers weren’t exactly world-class. Now, in Miami, these are changing for good. Beck’s getting a revamped O-line and receivers like CJ Daniels, who had 1,000+ yards in 2023. Sure, success now won’t be that elusive for Beck in Miami, right? This takes us to the actual progress Beck has made this season.

Carson Beck finally provides a glimpse of his incoming on-field heroics

On April 12th, 2025, Mario Cristobal finally announced that Beck would begin throwing and would take a “significant step” in his recovery. However, despite the claim, a cautious approach was followed. Beck was a big-money and highly anticipated QB who had a lot to prove, but more than this? Mario Cristobal’s season also rested on Carson Beck’s shoulders since Cam Ward wasn’t there now. Cristobal even said it in a statement.

“He’s done everything regarding the ball. The only thing he hasn’t done is actually throw. He’s there. It’s ready. Since we’re at the end of spring ball, we just took the extra precaution to (wait) another week.” But now, after long anticipation and waiting, the QB has finally released a video throwing that pigskin after all.

In a video posted by Beck himself, he can be seen throwing the ball with that zip and the same throwing motion that we witnessed in the 2023 season. Sure, it’s just one pass, but it shows the optimism and the quality that is about to come to the Hard Rock Stadium. The video also provides a glimpse into the extent of Beck’s recovery, and he looks comfortable doing so. All in all, we can expect more of these videos to grace Miami’s and Beck’s social media pages in the future.