Kirby Smart made official Saturday what had long been rumored, that Carson Beck will start Georgia’s Sept. 2 season-opener vs. UT-Martin.

Beck, a junior from Jacksonville, Fla., beat out redshirt sophomore Brock Vandagriff and redshirt freshman Gunnar Stockton for the job of replacing two-time national championship quarterback Stetson Bennett. Beck played in seven games as Bennett’s primary back-up last season, completing 26 of 35 passes for 310 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.

“He’s done the best job,” Smart said, via DawgNation.com. “We communicated that earlier in the week. The other guys have done a tremendous job in terms of competing.”

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Beck was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2020 out of Mandarin High School, where he was named Florida’s Mr. Football as a senior and led his team to a state championship as a junior. He has appeared in 12 games total in his Georgia career, completing 36 of 58 passes for 486 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions.

Georgia, ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls in the preseason, faces UT-Martin at 5 p.m. on Sept. 2 at Sanford Stadium in Athens. The game will be streamed live via ESPN+ and SECNetwork+.