Carson Beck's QB career in college wasn't perfect. He says that can help in adjustment to NFL

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — One big reason Arizona Cardinals first-year head coach Mike LaFleur liked quarterback Carson Beck during the NFL draft process was that the quarterback had been though a healthy dose of adversity during a six-year college career.

His new team can definitely relate.

Beck has a chance to be the Cardinals' new starting quarterback after the Kyler Murray era ended with a thud last season. The 24-year-old was selected in the third round of last month's draft, giving LaFleur a prospect who has plenty of college experience.

Beck was introduced at the team's practice facility on Thursday and agreed that his not-so-great experiences — including three years as a backup and a major elbow injury — could be asset in his NFL career if used properly.

“I think going through things and facing adversity helps you — if you respond to it the correct way,” Beck said. "Just going through stuff doesn't give me a leg up on anyone if I don't use that or respond to it the correct way.

“Yes, I've faced a lot of adversity in my career. It's never been perfect. There's been ups, there's been downs, there's been really good moments and really low moments. All that has accumulated and created who I am today as a quarterback.”

Beck joins an Arizona quarterback room that is a little crowded, but also low on high-ceiling options.

Veteran Jacoby Brissett started the final 12 games of last season after Murray’s foot injury, piling up big numbers but finishing with an 1-11 record. The 33-year-old has made 65 starts in 10 seasons in the league.

The team’s other experienced quarterback is Gardner Minshew. He’ll be 30 years old later this month and has bounced between five NFL teams in seven seasons.

The two have a combined 37-75 record as a starting quarterback.

Those resumes seem to leave an opening for Beck, who is about as experienced as a college quarterback can be. He made 43 starts with Georgia and Miami, leading the Bulldogs to an SEC championship in 2024 and the Hurricanes to a runner-up finish in the College Football Playoff last season.

Even so, Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort said he didn't want to put too much pressure on Beck too soon.

“We just want to get him in the building here, show him where the cafeteria is, where the locker room is and get him fitted for his gear," Ossenfort said in April. "We’re excited to add him. There will be great competition in that room and we’ll see how it shakes out.”

Beck agreed that his main job in the coming weeks wasn't to worry about his role. Instead, he wants to learn the playbook, adjust to professional football and soak up any “breadcrumbs” of knowledge that come his way.

“Everybody wants to play football, especially at the position of quarterback,” Beck said. “You want to be the guy out there. It's such an interesting position. That's why I think it's the best position on Earth — there's only one guy out there.”

Beck is roughly 18 months removed from major elbow surgery after an injury he suffered in December 2024. That meant he couldn't practice much between his transition from Georgia to Miami, making him focus on the mental aspect of football and learning the Hurricanes' playbook.

He said that should serve him well as he prepares to join the Cardinals.

“You come in, you put your hard hat on and you go to work,” Beck said.

Beck is the Cardinals' highest selection at quarterback in the draft since Murray was taken with the No. 1 overall pick in 2019, bringing huge expectations after winning the Heisman Trophy during his final college season at Oklahoma. Murray was the AP's Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019 and a two-time Pro Bowl selection, but struggled with injuries and could never win consistently.

He had a 38-48-1 record as the starter over seven seasons, leading the team to the playoffs once in 2021. Now he's with the Minnesota Vikings.

The Cardinals finished 3-14 last season which resulted in the firing of third-year coach Jonathan Gannon.

LaFleur — who is the brother of Packers coach Matt LaFleur — was hired after three seasons leading the Los Angeles Rams offense. Now he's got an intriguing prospect to work with.

Beck plans to do his part.

“My arm is as strong as it's ever been,” Beck said. “I feel like I've been throwing the ball really well. Obviously, finally having an offseason to train and work and lock in ... making sure the mechanics are 100% exactly where I want them to be. I think that will really help."

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FILE - Miami quarterback Carson Beck (04) runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A judge sentenced a man to life in prison without the possibility of parole Thursday after he pleaded guilty to killing one person and injuring a dozen others in a 2025 firebombing attack on a demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Speaking to the court through an interpreter, Mohamed Sabry Soliman apologized to the victims and expressed regret for the attack last June as not in line with Islamic teaching.

Yet Soliman, an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was living in the U.S. illegally, targeted the victims because they were Jewish, Boulder County District Judge Nancy Salomone pointed out before sentencing him.

“You chose a time and a place and a set of circumstances and weapons that were designed to inflict the most pain that you could,” Salomone said.

Besides life in prison, Soliman's sentence includes hundreds of years for dozens of charges including attempted murder, assault and attempted assault.

The June 1 attack rattled Boulder, a scenic city of 100,000 people near the mountains northwest of Denver.

Posing as a gardener, Soliman attacked the demonstrators on Pearl Street, a quaint downtown pedestrian mall lined with shops and restaurants. Jewish community members had been demonstrating there weekly in support of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023.

Yelling “Free Palestine," Soliman lit and threw two Molotov cocktails out of 18 he'd brought in a box. The bursting bottles filled with gasoline badly burned Karen Diamond, 82, and injured a dozen others.

Diamond died three weeks later after what her sons in a statement called “indescribable pain.”

Soliman still faces federal hate crimes charges. He has pleaded not guilty while prosecutors in that case weigh whether to seek the death penalty.

The attack could have been even worse, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty told the court before the sentencing. Soliman tried twice to buy a gun and was denied, Dougherty said. So he “decided to set them on fire" in what Dougherty called a “cowardly” crime.

Soliman entered the U.S. in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023. He filed for asylum and was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that also expired, federal authorities said.

He worked a series of low-paying jobs. At the time of the attack, Soliman was living with his wife and their five children in an apartment in Colorado Springs.

Federal authorities alleged Soliman planned the attack for a year, and an FBI affidavit said Soliman told police after his arrest that he sought "to kill all Zionist people," a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel.

Soliman said in court that he respected Jewish people he has known, but questioned the deaths of innocent people in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

“Yes, I am against Israel and I can’t deny that. And that is my right,” Soliman said.

Soliman’s federal defense lawyers argue he should not have been charged with hate crimes because he was motivated by opposition to Zionism. An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.

State prosecutors identified 29 victims in the attack. Thirteen were physically injured. The others were considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, and Soliman was charged with animal cruelty.

Soliman’s wife, Hayam El Gamal, and their children spent 10 months in immigration detention until April, when a federal judge in Texas ordered their release. The couple divorced in April.

An immigration appeals court had dismissed their case to stay in the U.S. and issued a deportation order. But U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio allowed their release on the condition that El Gamal and her oldest child, who is 18, wear electronic monitoring.

Soliman’s attorneys seek to block the family’s deportation until a judge determines they won’t need to be present for court proceedings in his federal case.

Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this story.

FILE - Law enforcement officials investigate after an attack on the Pearl Street Mall, June 1, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, file)

FILE - Bouquets of flowers stand along a makeshift memorial for victims of an attack outside of the Boulder County courthouse on June 3, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, file)