There is plenty of excitement about that opportunity, of course, but as he prepares for Saturday’s game, Beck can’t help but feel something else.
Gratitude.
“It’s honestly unreal to just kind of step back and look at the whole of everything that’s happened,” Beck said this week. “And it’s surreal to get to this point, honestly and to realize everything I’ve been through and realize the adversity that I’ve had to face and overcome.
“And that being said, it doesn’t mean that just because I overcame it that everything’s going to be perfect moving on, right? You’re going to continue to face things like that. You’re going to continue to have challenges and have to overcome certain things. But like I said, if you take a step back and look at it full circle, it’s super surreal and I’m super grateful to have gotten to this opportunity. You go back to January, February, and it was really hard to see this part and see everything forthcoming.”
While Beck was on campus for Miami’s offseason conditioning program early in the year, and was there during spring drills, there was little he could do, other than rehab his elbow, get to know his new teammates and try to provide support from the sideline.
He wasn’t able to throw, wasn’t able to practice, and couldn’t start building chemistry with the offensive line that would protect him or the wide receivers who would catch his passes.
Still, the sixth-year redshirt senior put his head down and worked as hard as he could to get his elbow stronger and the Hurricanes couldn’t help but take note – particularly once Beck was cleared to throw and fall camp got underway.
“He’s like an educator of football. That’s what I call him,” Hurricanes running back Mark Fletcher Jr. said earlier this year. “He just knows a lot of football. He’s played a lot of football and anytime he sees something, he just tries to give back. That’s not only to me, that’s to everybody.”
Said offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa after Miami’s first day of camp, “It was a glimpse of something. The first practice was really great. He went out there, and did his thing, as we expected. I mean, shoot, he’s Carson Beck.”
A glimpse indeed.
Beck navigated preseason camp as best he could and set his sights on Miami’s season opener against Notre Dame.
Despite all the work he’d done to prepare and all he’d endured since his surgery, it wasn’t until he threw his first pass against the Irish – a short completion to receiver Keelan Marion – that Beck said he finally felt like himself again.
“First game against Notre Dame, I walked out on that field, and we had a pass play called on the first play, but they pinned us inside the 10, so we ran the ball, and I was like, ‘Damn it. I need to get this over with,’” Beck laughed. “Then we run a concept and they drop into one-high and I come back to Keelan. He’s got a little end route, and I bang it on him. He gets 15 and I was like, ‘Alright, I’m back.’ And from there on out, I was back and I was ready to roll, and it’s been one hell of a season.”
