Georgia football announces Carson Beck has UCL surgery, out for the rest of the season

ATHENS — Carson Beck’s 2024 season has come to an end, as Georgia football officially announced that Beck had successful surgery to repair an elbow injury and would miss the remainder of the 2024 season.

Georgia put out an official statement announcing the news.

“Georgia quarterback Carson Beck underwent successful surgery Monday on his right elbow to repair his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), performed by renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, Ca,” the statement read. ” A full recovery is expected with throwing to begin spring of 2025.”

Beck has started all 13 games for Georgia this season, throwing for 28 touchdowns, 3,485 yards and 12 interceptions. In his time as Georgia’s starter, Beck is 24-3.

Beck does have an NFL decision to make, as he is draft-eligible. Beck does have another season of eligibility remaining. The NFL draft deadline is set for Jan. 15, though those playing in the national championship game will have five additional days to declare.

With Beck out, Gunner Stockton now emerges as the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs.

Stockton took over for Beck in the SEC Championship game, leading the Bulldogs to a 22-19 win. With Beck away from the team, Stockton has gotten the bulk of the first-team reps at practice.

“He got lots of reps prior to these practices, but he’s getting much more now,” Smart said of Stockton during a press conference on Monday. “I do think knowing that, you know, when you get ready for a, opponent like Notre Dame, you need time. We haven’t known who we were going to play for you know, I guess now what, 24-48 hours we’ve known, 72 hours. There’s certainly a lot of time in prep you can do to prepare for that. We prepared for some of that prior to that because we knew it would be within two opponents. But I think the biggest thing is just the competition at practice. You know, the situations we put him in, all those things allow him to get better as a quarterback.”

Stockton would be making his first career start against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who advanced in the College Football Playoff on Friday with a 27-17 win over Indiana. It will be a strong first test for Stockton, as Notre Dame fields one of the best defenses in the country.

Stockton is a more mobile quarterback than Beck, but Smart pumped the brakes on if the offense will look any different.

“I think we are who we in regards to that,” Smart said. “We’ve played an entire season offensively. Gunner is a good athlete. I think Carson is a good athlete. It’s one of those deals of I don’t know how much that changes things.”

Smart has some experience with a quarterback making his first start against Notre Dame, as the Bulldogs did so with Jake Fromm back in the 2017 season. The Bulldogs came away with a 20-19 win over the Fighting Irish that day. Fromm would go on to lead Georgia to an SEC title an appearance in the national championship game.

The game against Notre Dame is set for an 8:45 p.m. ET start. ABC will broadcast the game.