Backs to the wall in 2025: Beck. Allar. Castellanos.
3 QBs, one last shot at redemption
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ATLANTA — Former Georgia QB1 Carson Beck crumpled on the turf at Mercedes-Benz Stadium back in December, his throwing arm mangled just before halftime of the 2024 Southeastern Conference Championship Game.
Add insult to injury, largely unknown backup Gunner Stockton came off the bench in the second half and led then-No. 5 Georgia to an improbable 22-19 overtime victory over the No. 2 Longhorns for the SEC title.
Once deemed Georgia's next first-rounder, Beck ended 2024 with more questions than answers.
After surgery to repair a torn UCL in his throwing elbow and a 700-mile move south to Miami, Beck has one last chance to regain his once-mighty Draft stock.
Beck isn’t the only quarterback with something to prove this fall. Three names stand out as Power-4 QBs trying to rewrite the final act of their college careers.
Let’s start with Beck.
1. Beck, Miami
Beck’s stat line in 2024: 3,485 yards, 28 TDs, 12 INTs. It wasn’t terrible. But Georgia fans expected dominance. Instead, Beck looked unsure in key moments. Doubled his INT percentage from the season before, and then tore ligaments in his throwing elbow midway through the SEC title game.
Now through UCL surgery, cleared to throw and portal-hopped to Miami, Beck joins Mario Cristobal's Hurricanes program that's, frankly, starving for relevance. The Canes have only hit 10 wins twice in the past 22 years.
First at Oregon and already at Miami, Cristobal has built a reputation as a great guy, a fantastic recruiter, an absolute bonehead about game-clock management, and a shockingly bad manager of QB talent.
Exhibit A: Bend the knee! Oct. 2023, Cristobal had Miami up 20-17 with 0:34 seconds left at home. Take a knee; win the game. In a pattern of abysmal clock management we've seen from Cristobal before and since, he insisted on a run play. A-Gap Dive. Fumble. Turnover. Snatch 23-20 defeat from the jaws of victory. At home. To Georgia Tech. Hashtag-facepalm.
Exhibit B: Justin Herbert. Jan. 2020, Herbert's final college game was a 28-27 Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin. Cristobal somehow had Herbert RUSH for three TDs and pass for none, in the same calendar year he won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year with 4,336 pass yards and 31 TDs for the Chargers.
So, on one hand, Beck just signed over his Draft future to the coach who was, in fact, in the building while Cam Ward wrote the checks he cashed in April as first pick of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Other hand, this is the same coach who limited Herbert to Pistol Read-Option the season before he won RotY in an NFL system that optimized his deep vertical passing.
Miami's 2025 receivers skew young, plus the experience of portal transfers Tony Johnson and Keelan Marion.
One of Miami's most experienced players is returning starter, OT Francis Mauigoa (26 starts). Being a former OT himself, Cristobal's career has been repeatedly defined by tunnel vision on running the ball.
All in all, this is a little dicey for Beck. Zero margin for error. If he falters early, Miami’s fan base won’t be patient.
Even Beck's best case scenario for 2025, he’s banking his NFL future on a bounce-back in the ACC, not the SEC. That's already Strike 1. Will his surgically repaired throwing arm be Strike 2? Mentally, will he be ready to trust his rebuilt arm from the literal first second in a game situation after the hit that ended his time at Georgia?
Beck's play for redemption walks a narrow path. It has to start now. And he can't afford to falter.
2. Allar, Penn State
On paper, the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Drew Allar looks like he was built in a QB lab. The former five-star recruit was expected to bring balance and firepower to Penn State’s offense.
Instead, in 2024's most critical moments, he was often inconsistent and sometimes looked overwhelmed. His 3,327 pass yards and 24 TDs came with a lack of presence and rhythm against top-tier defenses.
Allar's completion percentage never topped 60% after November, with a season-low of 51.3% in the 45-37 loss to Oregon in the Big Ten title game. In the playoffs, Boise State and Notre Dame held Allar to consecutive 52% passing games, with a total of 3 TDs in as many games.
Returning for Year 4 was probably a sound business decision, even after the Draft took All-American tight end Tyler Warren. Allar will have some talented playmakers at Receiver and RB. But if Penn State wants to compete in the new-look Big Ten, Allar likely has to level up from 2024 with better consistency in his decision-making, pocket awareness, and leadership.
For Allar and very possibly for Penn State coach James Franklin, it’s put-up or shut-up time in Happy Valley.
3. Castellanos, FSU
Of these three QBs, Thomas Castellanos is the most electric dual-threat and the most volatile.
However, coming off a rancid 2-10 run in 2024 and losing QB1s to the Draft in consecutive seasons, Florida State doesn't have much choice but to gamble. The answers the Seminoles needed clearly weren't in the depth chart.
At Boston College the past two seasons, Castellanos dazzled at times in 2023, rushing for 1,113 yards and 13 touchdowns; passing for 2,248 yards and 15 TDs. But he's been erratic at best, finding himself benched in 2024 and hitting the portal to land at Florida State.
It's been said that Castellanos is too reliant on improvising and is too unpredictable for the coaching imperative of building a program on continuity and consistent execution.
Enter Florida State, and the offseason hire of OC Gus Malzahn.
Malzahn is known for building around mobile QBs, so 2025 likely won't demand that Castellanos be predictable. Just dangerous. And more efficient in scoring vs. turnovers.
With Florida State bouncing from 13-1 to 2-10 in the past two seasons, time will tell what the Seminoles will put on the field for 2025. Anything less than getting back into contention for the ACC title looks like a career-breaker for Castellanos and FSU coach Mike Norvell.
Three quarterbacks. Three different paths. One shared goal.
Redemption in college football doesn’t come easy. But for Beck, Allar, and Castellanos, it just can't be about what’s behind them. The 2025 season is a moment that calls for an epic transformation in this last chapter of their college careers.
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