With Brock Bowers officially out of play recovering from his tightrope surgery, as Georgia Sports Communications put out in a press release on Monday, the Bulldog Faithful are scrambling wondering who’s going to replace Georgia’s IT guy.
It’s hard to put a pin on it, but this guy’s just special. For the past three years, Brock Bowers has grown to become THE face of the Georgia offense. In two and half seasons playing for the Dawgs he’s caught 160 passes, taken those 2,391 yards, and scored 24 touchdowns. It’s record-breaking stuff he was doing– literally. He has the fifth most career receiving yards and is second all-time in career receiving touchdowns at Georgia to name a couple of Bowers’ accolades.
But back to the Dawgs in the here and now, who’s the next guy up? Everyone’s looking at sophomore tight end Oscar Delp to pick up the pieces, but respectfully Delp is not Bowers. Coach Smart knows that, and he knows that the fans are thinking that Delp is just going to step in and be Bowers 2.0, but that’s just not how football works. You can’t replace one guy with another guy. Smart doesn’t think that’s how it works either saying:
“If they think that one guy’s going to replace Brock Bowers, they’re wrong.”
The two play the position very differently. Bowers is often seen out in the slot, and Delp often plays more of an inline tight end position; the two are just labeled “tight end.” People just want quick answers to questions with slow answers.
But Smart did mention some areas where Delp could stand in for Bowers, but quite frankly so can a lot of guys on the team. He said, “…our offense is not built around one person doing one thing. It’s built around a plug-in…”
Yes, when Bowers was in he had the ability to make something special happen, but he’s not the only one who can get targets off of those plays. Smart explains:
“The plays that you design, guys, I think y’all think of them as Brock plays. There are a lot of positions that can be in those spots. Delp can be in those spots. Dom can be in those spots. Dillon Bell can be in those spots.”
Bowers is a receiver who can play tight end, so that gives Georgia the flexibility to have multiple position groups sub in for him in his absence, i.e. the wide receivers and the tight ends. Delp alone isn’t just the next man up. It’s anyone who’s job is to catch a football. This is a team game, and the Dawgs are treating it as such.