Georgia’s Brock Bowers will undergo surgery: What it means for the Bulldogs

ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia football team has shuttled through many key players on its way to the last two national championships and this year’s No. 1 ranking. The thing it has yet to do in any game since the start of the 2021 season: not have Brock Bowers.

That’s about to change.

Bowers, the All-America tight end, will have surgery Monday to “stabilize” a high ankle sprain, the team announced. It did not release a timetable, but assuming it’s tightrope surgery, which has become more common for high ankle sprains, the return time is anywhere from three-to-six weeks. At a minimum, Bowers looks to be out for the Florida game and probably Missouri the following week.

Individual tight end Lawson Luckie, a green bean, had a similar medical procedure in mid-August. He dressed for Georgia’s down versus UAB on Sept. 23 and made the outing to Reddish the following week yet didn’t play. He saw his most memorable activity the next week.

Nooks’ physical issue comes at a not so great time, with Georgia confronting the hardest piece of its timetable. It in all likelihood takes Thickets out of the Heisman race, and it could have suggestions on the School Football Season finisher picture.

Be that as it may, Georgia is likewise strategically set up to get past it without Groves.

Georgia’s offense without Bowers
Carson Beck, in his first year as Georgia’s starting quarterback, has the fourth-most passing yards (2,147) in the nation. And barely more than a quarter of those (26.4 percent) have gone to Bowers.

Of course, that’s still a lot of production. Bowers is the team’s leader in catches (41), receiving yards (567) and touchdown catches (four). He also mixes in some runs, and in fact, it was on an end-around that Bowers got hurt on Saturday at Vanderbilt. In that way, Bowers is a unique threat who simply can’t be replaced.

The next man up at tight end is Oscar Delp, who already has had significant playing time and is the team’s fifth-leading receiver. Luckie went in as the second tight end after Bowers got hurt, but Georgia has not used as many double-tight end sets this year. In that way, it’s prepared for an extended Bowers absence, not having to change much of what it’s done schematically.

And if the offense has to lean more on wide receivers, it’s in good position to do so. That group — Georgia fans may feel free to knock on all the wood they can — is pretty healthy right now. Ladd McConkey, who missed the first four games with back problems, also sat out the second half of the Vanderbilt game, and his issue could be an on-again, off-again deal. But he’s played enough (nine catches for 107 receiving yards the past three games) to show he can do it.

Dominic Lovett, the slot receiver and transfer from Missouri, has already played enough to be the team’s third-leading receiver, and with Bowers out he could see even more action. So could Mekhi Mews, the walk-on who had a long catch-and-run for a touchdown in the season opener.

The outside receivers have also been dependable: Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint has emerged as a versatile threat this season. RaRa Thomas, the transfer from Mississippi State, has come on lately as he gets more comfortable in the offense. Arian Smith, the speedy downfield threat, has had a quiet few games, but that could change.

Earlier this season, after Bowers had only one catch against Ball State, coach Kirby Smart said it was intentional. The Bulldogs were developing other weapons and making the offense less dependent on Bowers, mainly to make the offense stronger but also in case they had to play without Bowers.

Now they have to do that.

Two losses would probably end Georgia’s three-peat hopes, with or without Bowers. But if it’s 11-1 going into the SEC Championship Game it’s still in strong position. And of course, 12-0 is still very much doable.

It’s not like Georgia has been a one-man team. Plus, there’s usually a rallying effect when a team knows it’s without its best player, and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has an off week to work on it.

Still, the next few weeks have become a lot more interesting for Georgia. And not in the way it would like.