US Trends

how is carson beck still eligible

Carson Beck was still eligible because of a perfect storm of NCAA rules: a redshirt year, the COVID-19 waiver, and the way the NCAA counts its “five years to play four” clock for football.

Quick Scoop: How Is Carson Beck Still Eligible?

In simple terms, Carson Beck squeezed the maximum out of modern NCAA rules. He started college in 2020, but two special factors let him keep playing all the way through the 2025–26 season as Miami’s quarterback.

The short version: redshirt + COVID year + grad transfer = six seasons of college ball.

The NCAA Eligibility Math

Normally, college football players get:

  • 4 seasons of playing eligibility
  • To be used within a 5-year window (often described as “five to play four”).

Here’s what changed things for Beck:

  1. Redshirt in 2020
    • He redshirted his first year at Georgia in 2020, meaning he practiced but didn’t use up a full season of playing eligibility.
  1. COVID-19 Waiver for 2020
    • The NCAA gave all athletes a one-time COVID waiver so the 2020 season didn’t count against anyone’s eligibility at all.
 * That effectively turned 2020 into a “free” year on top of the redshirt.

Put together, that gave him:

  • 4 normal seasons of eligibility
  • Plus a redshirt year
  • Plus a COVID “free” year
    Which is how he ended up playing in a sixth season in 2025–26.

Grad Transfer & “No Class” Confusion

A lot of fans got confused when Beck joked “no class, I graduated two years ago” while preparing for the 2026 title game with Miami.

Key points:

  • He graduated from Georgia , then moved to Miami as a graduate transfer , which is fully allowed by NCAA rules.
  • For the fall 2025 season , he was enrolled in a graduate program at Miami, which made him properly eligible to play.
  • Once the regular season and most of his requirements were done, he didn’t need to enroll again for spring 2026 just to appear in the national title game, because his eligibility was already locked in for that academic year.

So the “no class” line was more of a quip than a smoking gun; on paper he had met the enrollment and eligibility conditions for that season.

Was 2026 Still on the Table?

Despite some forum and social media chatter asking “can he come back again?” , the answer as of January 2026 is no.

  • Beck’s college career is over after the 2025–26 season and the College Football Playoff National Championship with Miami.
  • Reports are clear that he cannot play another college season in 2026 , because he has fully exhausted his eligibility (redshirt + COVID waiver already used).
  • The focus for him now is the 2026 NFL Draft , where he’s viewed as one of the more intriguing quarterback prospects in a relatively thin QB class.

Why This Became a Trending Topic

This turned into a big forum and social media debate because:

  • Fans saw “2020 start date” + “2026 game” and assumed something shady.
  • The NCAA’s COVID rules were messy, and most casual viewers don’t track redshirts, waivers, and grad-enrollment technicalities.
  • Beck’s “no class” quote made it sound like he wasn’t a student at all, which sparked hot takes about college football turning into a pure pro league.

But when you strip away the noise, the explanation is straightforward:
He used every legal tool the modern NCAA rulebook allowed—nothing more, nothing less.

TL;DR:
Carson Beck was still eligible because his 2020 redshirt and the COVID-19 waiver gave him an extra cushion, and as long as he was enrolled as a grad student for the 2025–26 year at Miami, he could legally play a sixth season. That run ended with the 2026 title game, and he cannot suit up again in college.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.