Brock Bowers had a final 8 that he established back in April. Yet it seemed like it really came down to two schools.
Georgia. Washington.
Those were the two programs that Bowers and his family took it upon themselves to go check out again in July. The global pandemic and the NCAA’s ruling preventing hosted on-campus visits from college football recruits.
It meant that Bowers and his parents had to endure some long flights from Napa in California to see those schools on their own. They couldn’t go face-to-face with the coaches at either staff, but they made the best of it.
There was that power breakfast he had at Mama’s Boy with two anchors of the 2021 Georgia recruiting class in 5-star QB Brock Vandagriff and 4-star OLB Chaz Chambliss.
It makes sense to say that Bowers, Chambliss and Vandagriff will be eating more biscuits, eggs and those SEC-style cinnamon rolls over the next four years. That’s because the nation’s No. 3 TE (247Sports Composite ratings) decided today was the day he wanted to tell the world he wanted to be a ‘Dawg.
Sorry, Huskies. This will be of the red and black variety. Bowers becomes the 12th public commitment for Georgia in the 2021 cycle. His decision moves Georgia to the nation’s No. 15 overall class for 2021 on the 247Sports Team Composite rankings.
That early July trip was the second out-of-pocket trip this year for the Bowers clan to check out Athens despite some very obvious Covid-19 hurdles.
Bowers also ranks as the nation’s No. 92 overall recruit for this cycle. The Napa (Napa, Calif.) standout has been prolific over the last two seasons catching the football. He now slots in as the fourth-highest rated commitment for Georgia’s 2021 class up to this point.
The 6-foot-3,5, 235-pound senior has produced the following statlines of late:
- Let’s start with his 4.33 GPA in the classroom. Bowers is the son of a teacher, after all.
- He turned 14 of his 39 catches into TDs in 2019. He averaged 28 yards per catch. It followed an 0-10 season in 2018.
- Bowers played tight end, running back, wide receiver, linebacker and punt returner for his team as a junior. He totaled up 355 rushing yards, including a pair of 100-yard games on the ground. He wrapped up 25 stops, eight tackles for losses and a sack at OLB.
- The 2021 All-American Bowl commitment has caught 21 touchdowns over the last two seasons.
- There was that season-opening game last fall in which he reeled in eight catches for 91 yards and two scores. He also had an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in that contest.
What else is Georgia getting here? Check out this embedded clip below.
BROCK BOWERS: How that summer Athens visit sealed the deal
The 2-day visit concluded with a trip to the Vandagriff home. The 5-star QB was at his grandmother’s house, but the Bowers family was able to hang with the rest of the Vandagriffs a little while longer.
For the Bulldogs, this off-the-cuff visit was fitting. That’s because the connection Bowers feels to Georgia has never largely been about a facility or a locker room. Not even one of those breathless moments looking at an empty Sanford Stadium.
It has always been about people and that was his biggest takeaway about UGA from this trip, too.
“I think it is just like the relationship I have with the coaches there,” Bowers said last month. “I really like the coaches there and then my [potential] incoming class that’s coming in with me. I like Brock. I like Chaz and also talking with a couple of the other players that are already there like Ryland Goede. He just seems like a good dude. All those guys seem like good dudes over there. Ryland is a great dude. He’s great, man.”
That was key.
“That’s pretty important,” Bowers said. “That’s who you are going to spend all of your time with year-round and associate yourself with.”
Georgia tight ends coach Todd Hartley also made a difference here in this recruitment. While he couldn’t see Bowers or his family face-to-face, he was able to connect over FaceTime and other means.
“We were just driving around and he was kind of on the phone with us,” Bowers told DawgNation after that visit. “Kind of like instructing us and showing us around over the phone. So it was good.”
Hartley even put together a tour guide document, too.
“He made us this little booklet thing and everything,” Bowers said, laughing again. “It was pretty funny. He gave us little points to do and everything. He just told us to call him if we had any questions and he’d just like to call us here and there on our visit to check in with us. It was good. It was really good.”
It helped.
“The campus is awesome,” Bowers said. “I really liked the campus and I really liked downtown Athens. It is pretty cool down there, too. And then just like it is just cool and it is just not like California at all. Athens is different.”
Brock Bowers was the 2021 target for Hartley at tight end
Georgia doesn’t really have an athlete in the program at the TE spot. Check this recent tweet out for proof of that.
There’s more than just that to consider here with Bowers.
He timed at 4.55 seconds on the laser in the 40 at an Opening regional in 2019. That combine showing for him that day, when he had just an offer from Nevada at the time, also included a 40-inch vertical.
That really sent his stock soaring. His 2019 junior film only elevated that.
Check out his junior highlight reel below.
