The photo is from just before her son’s second birthday. Tracy Beck still has it on her phone: Carson is gripping Nerf basketball and soccer balls to his head while holding and looking at a football. It’s like he knew which sport would become his calling.
His family members knew he loved sports. They knew he would be tall: Born three weeks early, he was still 21 inches, 7 pounds and 5 ounces. He proved to be smart: His younger sister, Kylie, marvels at Carson’s ability to solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than a minute.
“He just sees the colors, sees the patterns. Everything fits together,” Kylie said. “Football is a puzzle. He can fit all the pieces together. Who he’s passing it to, who he needs to hand it off to. Everything, it all comes together for him.”
Except when it doesn’t. Like on one recent Sunday afternoon at a golf simulator in the back room of Parsons Xtreme Golf store in Atlanta. Beck was being fitted for a new golf grip, and a swing he took would have gone high. A store worker went to get him another grip. Beck looked at a friend, smiled and shook his body.
Beck got another iron, and he hit that one solid.
“I hope everybody got that on video,” Beck said. “I do that every time.”
He smiled. Life has been fun lately for Beck. He is the starting quarterback at Georgia. He drives a Lamborghini, in case you haven’t heard, the fruits of money from name, image and likeness deals. The reason he was in the golf simulator is another NIL deal, with PXG golf and The Players’ Lounge, an NIL entity.
In this new era of NIL, Beck is a poster child. A test case. And sometimes he gets criticized for it.
“It’s so interesting because it’s a new situation,” Beck said of NIL and any criticism that may come with it. “When I first got here, I was happy to get my $220 stipend the second week. It’s so weird to look back and that was reality four or five years ago. Now I mean freshmen are coming in and getting bags. They’re getting paid. It’s just such a different time. It’s weird to navigate.
“Over the years I think we’ll see regulation and that type of thing. But right now, yeah you’re right, we’re the new guys, and it’s an interesting situation to be in.”
Beck is getting the bag. He’s enjoying his life. And he earned it
Discover more from SuperD24
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.