Georgia head coach Kirby Smart excited about explosive plays and key connections emerging for Carson Beck
Georgia didn't play the perfect game defensively in their 41-31 victory over Mississippi State, to say the least. On the other side of the ball though, Georgia's offense did manage to do something they've struggled with outside of the second half of the Alabama game. They actually strung together several explosive plays in the passing […]
Georgia didn't play the perfect game defensively in their 41-31 victory over Mississippi State, to say the least. On the other side of the ball though, Georgia's offense did manage to do something they've struggled with outside of the second half of the Alabama game. They actually strung together several explosive plays in the passing game.
After the victory, Smart spoke on balance between the run and pass game, sharing some of the good (and the bad). But it was the success in creating explosive plays specifically that Smart made sure to mention first:
"We need some [more] explosive plays. And I thought that our offense was able to do that tonight with some deep balls…I am pleased with where we are in terms of throwing it. We had some good timing in the passing game today."
Georgia had been improving their overall offensive efficiency ever since their second half against Alabama where they almost came back and won, but their yards per play mark coming in this week was still barely Top 30 in FBS (much lower than standard for Georgia). But then early in the game Carson Beck began connecting deep with his wide receivers, especially Arian Smith, as demonstrated by this beautiful connection in the post below that went for 55 yards.
When asked about Carson Beck's emerging special connection with Arian Smith, Kirby Smart didn't hold back any details. The two have been putting in work together for a long time:
"Shoot, how many years have [Arian Smith and Carson Beck] both been here? Is it five for both of them? Four? Something like that? I don't even know. They've known each other for a long time. They throw. We work a lot of timing routes on Monday so the receivers don't do conditioning. They go throw with Carson. They get their running through their long extended bombs, and comebacks, and deep routes. I thought that the last three or four weeks that's really helped Arian and Carson in terms of throwing vertical balls."
It's true. Carson Beck and Arian Smith were both members of Georgia's 2020 recruiting class together. They've been connecting on throw for five years now. The dynamic duo continues to work every week on timing routes, vertical routes, looking to improve any way they can. It's no wonder Smith is finally putting together a breakout season. If this connection continues to impress Georgia's explosive plays should certainly thrive through the air.
However, Kirby also mentioned that while the passing game saw some incredible explosive plays, the offense needs to make sure they're not passing up explosives in the run game as well:
"It's a little bit [based] on what the defense does…You run the ball to prevent turnovers. You run the ball to keep people from pass rushing all the time–to keep people honest. I do think we left some plays out there in the run game. And that's getting to be frustrating. There were a couple plays where the balls going to spit [for a bit run play] and we throw the RPO [instead]. We get four yards on the RPO, but the run play would have hit for 50."
Carson Beck has struggled at times this year making the right post-snap read, and it seems that's still the case in RPO situations, settling for short gains there when there are explosive opportunities in the run game. Hopefully he can clean that up. However, it's incredible to see him continue to improve in the deep game as a passer as he tallied nearly 460 passing yards against Mississippi State this week.
Georgia's offense keeps finding itself and taking big steps forward each week. It's only a matter of time before they're in College Football Playoff form.
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