Cam Ward led the Miami Hurricanes well last season. The Heisman finalist and the first overall pick of the 2025 NFL draft led the Hurricanes to a 10-3 record, logging 4,313 passing yards, with 39 touchdowns against seven interceptions.
With Ward’s departure, Mario Cristobal’s Hurricanes filled the void by signing Carson Beck, who spent the 2024 season with the Georgia Bulldogs. Beck injured himself in the SEC Championship game against the Texas Longhorns, briefly announced to enter the draft before pulling back his name and then initiated a transfer to Miami.
Ahead of what appears to be an important season, CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson offered a sobering reality check regarding Beck, who now inherits the reins from Ward. Patterson raised red flags on whether Beck can handle the pressure, referencing last year when Georgia lost a key offensive line player to injury.
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“Well, the one thing that he’s got to his advantage is a quarterback-friendly offense,” Patterson said (2:25 onwards). “It’s an offense where he is going to be able to really stress defenses with the playmakers that they have on the outside. They are so good along the offensive line, they will be able to protect him.
“Because Carson Beck, when he went through his mid-season slump last year, it was when Tate Ratledge was out—when Georgia had offensive line injury issues. And we started to see that Carson Beck under pressure is a weakness.”
Patterson acknowledged that Beck’s development will be tested in a new system with a fresh locker room.
“He can work to get over that, certainly, as he works on his own development,” Patterson said. “But with the offensive line Miami has in place, I think that that’s just so huge for him in terms of masking something that we saw exposed a little bit last season.”Chip Patterson Shares Biggest Challenge for Carson Beck to Replace Cam Ward
During the same segment, Chip Patterson also brought up the importance of leadership in the Hurricanes’ locker room. Citing what Cam Ward did on and off the field to maintain a positivity inside the locker room, Patterson believes Beck must assert his leadership to get that kind of respect.
“The biggest challenge for Carson Beck is going to be to step into that role that Cam Ward had as the leader of the team,” Patterson added. “And we heard so many stories about what Cam Ward was doing on Cam Ward’s time—even outside of the meetings, outside of the regularly scheduled team activities—just to try to be the voice of that group. Carson Beck, a big challenge for him to step into the shoes both in terms of the production but also the role as the leader of this offense.”
Whether Miami could make it to the College Football Playoff and conference championship will largely depend on Beck’s success. He helped Georgia to the playoffs, and thus, expectations are soaring in Coral Gables.
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