If Georgia can overcome Brock Bowers’ absence, it’d tell us everything we need to know about the 3-peat pursuit

On Sunday night, a reliable source texted me that Brock Bowers was likely to go through with the “tightrope” surgery to repair the ankle injury that he suffered against Vanderbilt.

Six days removed from banging the drum for his case as a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate, my stomach dropped. That development meant that Bowers would inevitably miss significant time. Former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa popularized the procedure in college football in 2018 when he suffered an ankle injury in the SEC Championship on Dec. 1 and he returned to lead the Tide in a Playoff semifinal win exactly 4 weeks later.

So at best, I thought, Bowers would miss a pivotal chunk of the regular season. Then again, playing tight end and making the cuts required of an elite route-runner like Bowers is a touch different than playing quarterback on a hobbled ankle.

Monday morning, Georgia confirmed that Bowers would undergo surgery to stabilize the ankle and that he was expected to make a full recovery. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the injury would sideline Bowers for 4-6 weeks. That would mean Bowers could be out for the rest of the regular season, which suddenly looks trickier than initially anticipated:

• Bye
• Oct. 28 — vs. Florida (in Jacksonville)
• Nov. 4 — vs. No. 20 Mizzou
• Nov. 11 — vs. No. 13 Ole Miss
• Nov. 18 — at No. 17 Tennessee
• Nov. 25 — at Georgia Tech
• Dec. 2 — SEC Championship

Forget style points. A Bower-less Georgia squad is in survive-and-advance mode.

It remains to be seen what that timeline will be. What we do know is that there are multiple significant games that Bowers will miss. Three of Georgia’s final 4 foes are currently ranked in the AP Top 25. That doesn’t include Florida, which exorcised some road demons by rallying back from a double-digit deficit in the 4th quarter to beat South Carolina and improve to 5-2. The Gators are No. 3 in the “receiving votes” category.

Gone should be the notion that Georgia can sleepwalk through the regular season to get to 12-0. Even with Bowers, that might not have been the case. Without Bowers, we’re about to find out just how ready UGA is for a 3-peat run.

That offense is built around Bowers’ versatility at the tight end position. That’s well-documented. The guy entered Week 7 with 202 more receiving yards than the next-closest Power 5 tight end, and he was the only FBS tight end who played 300 snaps and had a PFF run-blocking grade of 75.0.

Replacing him won’t be a 1-man job, even just at tight end.

That’s not a knock against the emerging Oscar Delp, but there’s only 1 Bowers. Fortunately because of the 2-tight end sets that UGA likes to operate out of, Delp has played a ton for a “second-string” tight end. He played 259 snaps this season, including a career-high 64 snaps in the Vandy game after Bowers went down. The second-year tight end figures to step into the Bowers role as someone who plays in the slot and out wide just as much as he lines up inline (Delp played 197 inline snaps compared to 54 in the slot and 2 out wide).

Ironically, offseason star Lawson Luckie underwent a tightrope procedure in mid-August and the true freshman returned to the lineup in Week 6. Luckie played in 9 snaps in the blowout win against Kentucky and with Bowers sidelined, he played in 10 snaps against Vandy. Luckie’s potential was on display in the spring game with a play design that was similar to one that we’ve seen used with Bowers:

Lawson Luckie is the next big thing for Georgia pic.twitter.com/i7pQeTJd4B

— Dayne Young (@dayneyoung) April 15, 2023

Brock Bowers TD #Devy pic.twitter.com/asWvB7vcGN

— Greg Brandt (@devywarehouse) September 11, 2021

By the way, both guys were true freshmen running that route.

Here’s the real potential issue. In order to continue to run these 2-tight end sets to disguise looks, that means you’re relying on a true freshman to play a significant role in the passing game or in the trenches against some proven SEC defenses. Bowers showed that he could do that. He’s also perhaps the best tight end in college football history, and not a guy with 3 career routes run like Luckie. As exciting of a player as Luckie is for the future, it’s not a guarantee that he’ll continue to allow Georgia to operate the way it would prefer to operate.

That task falls to OC Mike Bobo. He’s got to find the right way to utilize those 2 tight ends, and perhaps Bowers’ injury will force him to get more creative with Ladd McConkey as he ramps up his snap count in his return from the back injury that sidelined him the first 4 weeks.

Speaking of that, nobody will ever feel sorry for Georgia’s injuries because of the bevy of blue-chip recruits who are waiting in the wings. But it does feel like the Dawgs have endured more than their fair share of them:

If Georgia wins a title this year, it will have down so with a lot of players missing games:

( 7 Voted as Preseason All-SEC )
– Smael Mondon LB
– Brock Bowers TE
– Javon Bullard S
– Amarius Mims RT
– Ladd McConkey WR
– Kendall Milton RB
– Mykell Williams DL

Also missing…

— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) October 16, 2023

With all due respect to every non-Bowers player on that list, none of those guys is anywhere close to as valuable as the Mackey Award winner. This isn’t comparable to when George Pickens was out for the 2021 regular season with a torn ACL and he was able to return in a limited capacity in the postseason. Bowers does more things for that Georgia offense than Pickens did at his peak.

It’s unfortunate on a variety of macro levels for the Dawgs and their quest to do something that hasn’t been done since 1936 Minnesota. It could be the difference in getting a chance for the 2-time defending champs to defend their title(s).

As for Bowers, who has been the ultimate competitor during that run, you can rule out the idea of him getting to New York for a Heisman Trophy invite. That would’ve been a fitting honor for someone who changed what we thought was possible for the tight end position. He was coming off the best 3-game stretch of his career with a trio of 100-yard games. That chemistry with Carson Beck appeared to be growing by the week.

If Bowers can return late in the season, it’ll provide a boost no matter what the circumstances are. Maybe UGA is the team best suited to weather the storm, or maybe we’re about to see just how valuable the All-American is.

Bowers returning to an undefeated Georgia team would mean a few things. It would mean that other pass-catchers in the offense stepped up. It would mean Delp and Luckie held themselves to the Bowers blocking standard in the run game. It would mean Bobo worked well with Beck to make sure he didn’t regress after losing his favorite target.

Above all else, Bowers returning to an undefeated Georgia team would send a loud message to those title challengers — it’ll take more than a Bowers injury to deny the Dawgs some history.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.