College football analyst confident Carson Beck will lead Miami to CFP in 2025

Fifth-year quarterback Carson Beck entering the transfer portal from the Georgia Bulldogs and joining the Miami Hurricanes was one of the biggest moves in college football this offseason. Beck will replace the NFL-bound Cam Ward in a pass-heavy offense under coach Mario Cristobal.

During Wednesday's segment of "Always College Football," ESPN analyst Greg McElroy broke down the reasons why the divisive Beck would lead the Hurricanes to the College Football Playoff while predicting that the quarterback would bounce back from a disappointing 2024 season.

"You look at what they have coming back around Beck," McElroy said (3:15). You look at the offensive line, you have a bunch of guys back, four offensive linemen back from the No. 1 scoring offense in college football. You have a system with the passing that is well suited to what Beck wants to be. They have at least six top-100 players brought in via the transfer portal.

"The schedule is difficult but not impossible. I look at Miami and while people are concerned about Carson Beck's elbow and being able to participate in the spring and how much chemistry will be lost if he can't throw in the spring, he's a fifth-year senior, he's been around and knows what he's doing. He'll be fine, it's a quarterback-friendly offense and he'll fit right in and probably remind everybody why he was the Heisman favorite going into last year."

Carson Beck compared to Cam Ward by Greg McElroy

Greg McElroy compared Carson Beck's situation in Georgia last year to Cam Ward when he was at Washington State.

"You look at Carson Beck, a lot of the excitement surrounding Miami is probably hedged because of the departure of Cam Ward and how good he was," McElroy said (1:12). "And the perception that Carson Beck is maybe a little bit up and down. I'll go back to what Cam Ward was prior to arriving at Miami.

"He was a guy who played out of structure a lot. If you look back at last year's version of Georgia. So Beck, if you look at where Cam Ward was, what was put on Ward's shoulders is comparable to what was on Beck's shoulders. It was all about him. If he played well they won, if they did not they lost."

Carson Beck has huge shoes to fill after Cam Ward dragged the Miami Hurricanes back into CFP contention after a few down years under coach Mario Cristobal.