NASHVILLE — It’s a running joke that started somewhere in the middle of Brock Bowers’ breakout true freshman season.

Sometime after a ridiculous Bowers performance, I asked on an episode of The Saturday Down South Podcast, “are we sure that Brock Bowers is human?” To that point in his career, we really hadn’t seen any signs of imperfections. Someone who drew George Kittle blocking comparisons before he played in his first college game then proceeded to look like the second coming of Kyle Pitts as a pass-catcher.

Two All-American seasons for a pair of national championship-winning teams isn’t exactly a human way to kick off a college career.

But nearly 2 years later after that question was asked, we finally got confirmation that Bowers is indeed human. It happened in the form of a challenge from Kirby Smart at SEC Media Days.

“Your challenge today is to get more than 3 sentences out of Brock Bowers, which we have not been able to do in three years,” Smart said in the main media room in Nashville. “If you can get him to talk, it’ll be a great challenge for you and see if you can get it done.”

Mission accomplished? Eh, not so much.

Bowers wouldn’t even admit he’s the best tight end in college football (even though that’s not up for debate).

In front of the media masses, Bowers is extremely human. He clams up, he doesn’t finish sentences and he doesn’t really showcase much personality. Don’t take that as some sign that he’s lacking intelligence. The dude is a finance major with a 3.45 GPA. Brains, he isn’t lacking.

Comfortability speaking about himself in front of strangers/media acquaintances? Yeah, he lacks that.

So what, though? Bowers’ play does plenty of talking for him. Who cares that he’s a fish out of water in front of a microphone?

You might be wondering why Smart subjected Bowers to that type of setting given his clear uneasiness around the media. Smart joked about that while giving the Mackey Award winner about as good a complement as one can receive.

“Brock is unique. He’s easily, easily the quietest, hardest worker I’ve ever been around, and it’s such a joy to bring him today to see him squirm on that plane and be uncomfortable and thinking about having to talk to you guys,” Smart said. “I’m so excited to see his growth he gets from visiting with you guys and getting to enjoy it.”

Smart is well aware that in a manner of months, Bowers will be nitpicked by the NFL. He’ll enter a new stratosphere of scrutiny. Yes, it would help his bank account if he became a more marketable superstar who mastered the ins and outs of dealing with the media. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t.

A more important off-field question is about how he is with his teammates. Tell me if this story from Smart suggests that Georgia respects Bowers:

“So our off-season conditioning program, we have these things called boxes. As part of our program we do running in boxes. You’ve got to run down one side of the field and then you jog across the end zone, and then you’ve got to run, sprint the other side. So one day — I don’t think these tight ends would claim for this to be true — but one day our younger tight ends had decided that they were going to finally get Brock. They were going to beat Brock on the boxes.

“So they took turns, which you’re not supposed to do, running as fast as possible down the straight away, the 100 yards you run down the straight away, and they were going to eventually beat Brock. Because while one of them was sprinting, one of the others would be resting and they had to try to beat Brock. Well, not only did Brock win every one of those races, he beat every single one of them turn by turn by turn while they rested and waited up, and they just couldn’t beat the old vet.

“It just shows his work ethic and how hard he competes at everything he does, and does it with silence.”

And just like that, we’re reminded that on-field Bowers might not actually be human. I mean, the guy played 851 snaps last year, which was No. 4 among all FBS tight ends. Stamina, he doesn’t lack.

Oh, and Smart called Bowers “the old vet.” His hairline might not reflect it, but the guy won’t turn 21 until mid-December. In other words, he could very well establish himself as the best tight end in college football history before he’s legally able to buy a beer.

No big deal.

By then, Bowers might’ve already solidified the titles of “G.O.A.T. college tight end” and “G.O.A.T. NFL tight end prospect.” Fellow Mackey Award winner Jake Butt believes Bowers is on his way to doing that.

Whether Bowers can lock down both of those titles remains to be seen. What feels inevitable is that he’ll be judged against his own ridiculously high standard. A year in which he sees a dip in production might lead to some skepticism.

For my money, though, that’s silly. Even if he — heaven forbid — suffered a season-ending injury in fall camp and never played another down of football at the college level, remember this. We’ve already got a 30-game sample size that suggests he’s one of the best tight ends we’ve ever seen in the sport.

Shoot, it’s almost unfair to limit that distinction to a specific position group. Bowers is one of the best players we’ve seen at any position in the sport this century.

So you can see why Bowers led all SEC human beings with 3 scrimmage touchdowns of 70 yards.

Whoops. It probably doesn’t make much sense to lump him in with other human beings.

Unless, of course, you stick him in a room full of microphones, cameras and strangers.