Brock Bowers jokes about being called 'soft' by Kirby Smart, opens up on Georgia culture

“Soft” is probably the last word one would use to describe the game of Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. Standing 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, Bowers doesn’t shy away from contact, leading all college football tight ends with 249 yards after contact in 2022.

He knows if he played the game any other way, he’d face the ire of Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart. Bowers learned that the hard way upon arriving in Athens as a four-star recruit out of Napa, California.

“I’d feel soft if I wasn’t doing all that,” he told On3’s Andy Staples. “I don’t know, it would just make me feel kind of soft I guess. That’s a big word for coach Smart like, ‘you’re being soft.'”

Bowers has even been on the receiving end of Smart’s “soft” comments, with the coach making a reference to the tight end’s hometown, known for its vineyards in the Napa Valley wine region.

“‘Take that soft stuff back to Napa Valley’ is what he said to me a couple of times,” Bowers said.

That tough coaching style seems to have worked for Bowers, who enters the 2023 season unmatched as the top tight end in college football. He has led the Bulldogs in receiving each of the past two seasons, totaling 119 catches for 1,824 yards and 20 touchdowns. Georgia has also used Bowers in the run game, where he had 109 yards and three touchdowns in 2022.

“It’s always fun just going and trying to dominate somebody,” the tight end said. “It always feels good doing it.”

Bowers’ play helped lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022, and he’ll again be the main piece for the offense as they aim to three-peat this year. He enters what should be the final season of his college career before jumping to the NFL, joining a number of his former teammates in the pros.

Georgia has seen 25 players selected in the NFL Draft over the past two years, including a record 15 in 2022 following its first championship since 1982. Bowers opened up on what the recruiting process is like with the Bulldogs and how Smart is able to identify so many future pros.

“They’re all highly ranked recruits, obviously,” he said. “They all, for the most part, have something to prove and they feel like they gotta do it. …A lot of it has to do with picking apart people’s minds and knowing what they want going into it. Knowing their mindset and how committed they really are.”

Bowers credits going up against those high-profile players on defense every day at Georgia’s practices for helping him develop into the players he is today. The Bulldogs have ranked top 10 in total defense each of the past two years with players such as Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith and Jordan Davis leading the charge.

That’s been a major factor in getting Bowers prepared to take on some of the best defenses in the country in the SEC. Facing the players he has, there’s certainly been no room to be soft.

“It’s hard to go against our defense every single day,” he said. “Especially my freshman year and last year. Even this year again, we’re going up against pretty much the best defense in the nation, which helps us out offensively a lot.”