Brock Bowers earns spot on Biletnikoff Award watch list
Brock Bowers probably felt slighted last season when he wasn’t a finalist for the John Mackey Award given to the nation’s top tight end. I’m not sure it’ll make up for it, but on Thursday, Bowers – keep in mind, a tight end – was included on the preseason watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, handed out each year to the country’s top receiver. That sure is some strong praise for a player that doesn’t even play the position.
Bowers broke almost every record in the book last season for Georgia as a freshman. Hauling in 56 passes for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns, he now holds the single-season records for a tight end in all three of those categories. His 13 touchdowns is the most of any single-season pass catcher in program history. He caught a career-high 10 passes in the SEC Championship Game, establishing a new record for tight ends on the conference’s biggest stage. Other strong single game performances included a career-high 150 yards against UAB, including a career-long 89 yard reception for a touchdown, a trio of other 100+ yard days against Kentucky, Georgia Tech and Alabama, scoring twice in two of those games, and a three touchdown day versus Vanderbilt with two receiving and one rushing. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week after that game, the first of two times that he took home the weekly award – other was against Kentucky – and his second of five multi-touchdown games on the season.
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But that’s not all. Bowers was named to the AP and Coaches All-SEC First Team and won the SEC Freshman of the Year award by both groups too. He was named a First-Team All-American by USA Today, a Second-Team All-American by the Associated Press, a True Freshman All-American by ESPN and the national Freshman of the Year by both the Football Writers Association of America and the Maxwell Football Club.
Bowers missed spring practice in 2022 with a torn labrum, but Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said at SEC Media Days that he’s expecting all players with labrum injuries to be fully cleared by the start of fall camp in a couple of weeks. Bowers was previously named to the watch list for the Maxwell Award, one of 85 players at any position to be included, and an All-American by numerous organizations ahead of his sophomore season. So far, Stetson Bennett is the only other Georgia player to be included on a preseason watch list, named to the watch list for both the Maxwell Award and the Davey O’Brien Award. Other watch lists including the Bednarik, Butkus, Mackey, Nagurski, Outland, Rimmington, Thorpe and Walter Camp awards will be announced over the next two weeks.
