Brock Bowers legacy at Georgia to last a lifetime and beyond

Georgia tight end Brock Bowers announced the end of his three-year career in College Football on Tuesday night, declaring for the 2024 NFL Draft. Going three-for-three as an All-American, Bowers joins the company of just Herschel Walker in Athens. David Pollack earned All-American status three times, but he did it in four years and never earned unanimous honors like Walker, Bowers and 14 others.

Needless to say, memories of Bowers between the hedges will last a lifetime. His impact on the Bulldog program will too.

In three seasons, the Napa, Calif. native hauled in 175 receptions totaling 2,538 yards. He made 26 trips to the end zone through the air, half of which came as a freshman in 2021 while helping Georgia to its first National Championship in 41 years. Bowers also added five rushing scores and 193 yards on the ground on just 19 attempts.

Do the math on all those numbers, and you’ll come out to 2,731 total yards and 194 touches. That’s over 14.0 yards per catch or carry. But numbers don’t do Bowers’ impact justice. Words from his teammates and coaches might.

“I don’t know what impact he had today but the impact he had over the last 30 days was tremendous. He came out of the SEC Championship game really beat up, banged up, and did all kinds of work to get healed and get healthy,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after the Orange Bowl.

“They were at every single practice, every single meeting. They were at everything they were supposed to be at, and we told them we were going to bring them down here later in the week, and we did that,” he added, talking about both Bowers and offensive tackle Amarius Mims. “I got tremendous respect for those two guys who pushed everything they had to get back and really to be honest with you, to give us an opportunity to be in the National Championship. They both came back and really pushed hard. They’re tremendous leaders. The team has nothing but respect for them, and I’ll never forget what they gave to this program.”

Bowers did not play in the 63-3 win over Florida State, and he wasn’t with the team for the majority of the week. He continues to get his injured ankle – one that required tight rope surgery in October and the story of a comeback in record breaking time – back to full speed ahead of the pre-draft process. Bowers did however arrive in South Florida prior to game day to be with the Bulldogs on the sideline, showing how much he wanted to be with his teammates.

Among those teammates is Oscar Delp. Bowers’ fellow tight end, Delp was asked to step into a larger role when the star went down following the mid-season surgery. He’ll be asked to do the same next season when Bowers is suiting up in the NFL. Every step of the way though, Bowers was there for Delp to try and make sure there was no drop off. That’s the legacy he’ll leave behind.

“Yeah, it’s huge. I mean, having a guy like that in our room to kind of teach me and the younger guys and everyone else in that room, it’s huge. It’s almost like having another coach in there,” Delp said of Bowers during the season. “I mean, he’s an awesome dude. He’s one of my best friends on the team and we’re hanging out all the time. But just the way he approaches practice and meetings and walk-throughs and everything, it really puts everything in a different perspective and I think it pushes everyone in the room a little bit more.”

Delp had the pleasure of spending two seasons alongside Bowers. Tight ends coach Todd Hartley was with him for all three and played a part in landing him at Georgia during his recruitment. That’s why for Hartley, this year was special.

“I just try to not mess him up, I guess. He challenges me to find new ways to reach him. He challenges me to continue to find new ways to make him a better tight end. To continue to improve upon maybe little things in his game that can help possibly at the next level,” Hartley said. “So that is a challenge because he is good at a lot of things. So continuing to maybe find new individual drills or new ways to perfect his run game technique or his pass-protecting technique or even his route running technique can improve at times. And that’s a challenge. But he pushes me at different times to become a better coach.”

“He set a precedent. He set a standard of how to practice at tight end. He set a standard of how to watch tape at tight end. The best thing for Oscar Delp is seeing how Brock Bowers does it. The best thing for seeing Lawson Luckie and Pearce Spurlin is seeing how Brock Bowers does it,” he continued. “Hopefully long after he’s gone, the legacy he’s left stays for many years about how you’re supposed to work, how you’re supposed to approach each day and how you become a pro, man. Because that guy is a pro in everything he does and hopefully that leaves a lasting legacy.”

As for Bowers himself – in typical fashion for someone who has openly admitted talking isn’t his favorite thing to do – he was straight to the point when asked what his legacy would be. It wasn’t the 100-yard games or records he’ll likely hold for quite some time that he wants to be remembered by, nor is it the hardware he collected. Instead, Bowers hopes he’ll be remembered for how he worked each and every day.

“I guess I want to be remembered as hard-working,” Bowers said in the locker room after the Orange Bowl. “That might be my thing. Hard-working and always doing the right thing.”

Mission accomplished, young man. Mission accomplished.