Brock Bowers at the Combine another reminder of Georgia TE turnover

Brock Bowers is at the NFL Combine this week in Indianapolis, and it’s yet another reminder of the turnover in Georgia’s tight end room taking place in 2024. Todd Hartley has three returnees plus three newcomers making up a group that’s plenty talented to withstand the loss, even one of the magnitude of a star like Bowers.

At the top of the depth chart starting spring is now Oscar Delp. In his third year out of West Forsyth, the 6-foot-5, 245-pounder brings a veteran presence to the group. He saw action in all 14 games during the 2023 season, starting 11 times, and totaled 24 catches for 284 yards and three scores. While he isn’t Bowers and plays the role of a more traditional tight end, Delp’s experience in Georgia’s offense absolutely makes him one to watch in 2024.

“Where Oscar had to show the most growth was maturity in understanding what it takes to be an elite level tight end,” Hartley told reporters ahead of the Orange Bowl. “Oscar was from West Forsyth and a really good player in high school, but he had to understand the magnitude of the position he was being put in. You had to see personal growth in his maturity and how he attacked his preparation.”

“Oscar is a 400-500 pound bench presser. Brock Bowers wasn’t that. Darnell Washington wasn’t that. He’s unbelievably strong in the weight room, runs 21 miles per hour, has all the physical traits, but it was the mental capability of handling the situation of playing tight end at an elite level that he had to show the most growth,” he continued. “That’s where I’ve seen the progression, especially recently knowing that Brock’s here, Brock’s not here, Brock’s able to play, Brock’s not able to play, he’s had to take that role on of being TE1. He’s had to do that, and I’ve seen some really good things out of him. Very pleased with where he’s at.”

Been watching a lot of Georgia tape the last couple days, and I am all aboard the Oscar Delp bandwagon, which I'm pretty sure only consists of me and his family.

He won't be Bowers in the passing game, but the run game will be a lot better. pic.twitter.com/bG3nheb65w

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) February 25, 2024

Lawson Luckie and Pearce Spurlin represent the next grouping as a pair of players entering their second seasons in the program. Both considered to be top-10 tight ends coming out of high school, their respective freshman seasons forced them to handle tough circumstances the right way.

Both were banged up at points. For Spurlin, that happened just days into his first spring on campus with a broken collarbone. Meanwhile, Luckie lit the world on fire as he made headlines that painted him out to be a potential impact player early in his Georgia career. Then, it was his turn for an injury: suffering a sprained ankle that required surgery during fall camp.

“Lawson’s extremely talented, but the biggest thing with Lawson was getting confidence back. He played last spring with a large amount of confidence – it’s what he brought with him, the type of kid he was – and then the injury kind of took that away,” Hartley said. “It wasn’t really even the injury, but more as long as it took him to come back. It’s amazing with the high ankle how different each can be for each individual person. Brock came back really fast, Mims and everybody else were kind of in the middle and Lawson probably took on the longer end. That really zapped some confidence from him, so that’s what I’ve really tried to work on the last month or two. ‘Be that guy you were before, and I’m not talking physically. You’ve got that when you’re healthy. I need you to go out there and be a dude, man. Have that confidence, that presence about you that you can go out there and make these plays, because that’s what you can do. We believe in you.'”

“I think they really had to grow up faster than they thought because of the injury with Brock. They have matured in the right way,” he continued. “You look at two guys who are very athletic and probably, size-wise, strength-wise weren’t physically mature enough to contribute right away but mentally, they’ve attacked it. They’ve gotten better, and I’ve seen progression from each of them. They’re different in what they bring to the table. Lawson is a little bit more at the line of scrimmage, but you can flex him out. Pearce is more of a wideout, and we knew that going in. He’s still learning how to play tight end whereas Lawson actually played tight end in high school. I’m very pleased with both of them.”

Some new Dawgs made the trip 😄#DawgNation give them a warm welcome!#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/YoI9BxLtsx

— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) December 27, 2023

Georgia signed two tight ends once again in 2024, and both joined the team for bowl practices after signing early. Jaden Reddell represents the higher rated of the two, coming in as a top-100 player and the nation’s No. 5 prospect at the position. Colton Heinrich adds a developmental project for Hartley. Both were able to impress the UGA staff enough to take commitments early and keep them as parts of the class, allowing Hartley to turn his attention to 2025 before the summer even began in full.

“You go through the recruiting process, and it’s not an exact science. You watch the tape and try and make the best evaluation as possible. You go see them in person and try to get the best evaluation as possible. And then you really don’t know until you get them on campus,” Hartley said of the two incoming freshmen while in South Florida, just a matter of days into their UGA careers. “You try to eliminate as much risk as possible by getting them to camps and seeing them as many as you can, but you don’t know until you get them to your campus … They just got here, so I don’t know much more than what I knew going into recruiting, but I’m glad that they’re here, and you see some things that are like, ‘Wow.'”

Of course if you did the math of the three returnees and three newcomers, you know there’s one more to go. That would be Stanford transfer Benjamin Yurosek who won’t be with the Bulldogs this spring but certainly factors in to the plans for the fall. Hartley – or Kirby Smart for that sake – hasn’t had an opportunity to talk about Yurosek quite yet, but it’s easy to see, assuming his stats (108 catches, 1,342 yards and five touchdowns in 35 games the last three seasons) can carry over from the PAC-12 in some form, he’s a natural fit for the need there is in Athens as Georgia tries to fill the shoes of Bowers.

Georgia is set to begin spring practice in less than two weeks on Tuesday, March 12th. The Bulldogs will conduct a total of 15 sessions including three scrimmages. The final of those on Saturday, April 13th will be open for the public to see in the annual red vs. black G-Day spring game.