Brock Bowers‘ parents were skeptical at first. They knew their son was good at football thanks to his obvious size and speed. But good enough to be one of the top tight end prospects in the country? Good enough to earn eventual offers from the likes of USC, LSU and Notre Dame before ultimately signing with Georgia?

Bowers’ trainer Nathan Kenion though had a pretty good idea of how capable the Napa, Calif., tight end was. Kenion began working with Bowers when he was an eighth-grader and had previously worked with the likes of former Atlanta Falcons tight end Austin Hooper.

“I assured them he was that good,” Kenion said.

That situation is not too dissimilar from what Bowers is once again experiencing. He arrived at Georgia as the No. 3 ranked tight end prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings and as one of 16 early enrollees at Georgia. Like any top prospect, Bowers arrives at Georgia with expectations. True freshmen though do not always meet those as it takes some time to become acclimated to the physical and mental rigors of college football.

So far though, Bowers might actually be that good. And it’s made all the more impressive by the fact that he didn’t get a chance to play a single down of high school football as a senior.

“He’s an excellent player,” safety Chris Smith said. “Smart route runner, a good amount of speed. He done broke a little ankles on me, I had to speed it up to catch him and bring him down. I didn’t know he was that fast. Brock is a great player and real level-headed.”

Related: Brock Bowers: Breaking down the ‘Unicorn’ Georgia’s offense added in its 2021 class

California was one of 13 states that elected to not play high school football this past fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While he wasn’t the only Georgia 2021 signee to have his season delayed — Jared Wilson in North Carolina and Jamon Dumas-Johnson of Maryland also had to wait until the spring to strap on the pads — Bowers was the only one who was an early enrollee, and thus wouldn’t get a season at all.

While Brock Vandagriff was winning a state championship this past fall in Georgia, Bowers was having to train at a local outdoor gym and work with local prospects to stay in football shape.

There were no Friday night lights for Bowers this fall.

Bowers’ high school team will only end up playing five games this spring and for a while, it was even doubtful that teams in California would even be able to have a spring season. The uncertainty shaped Bowers’ decision to go ahead and get to Georgia sooner rather than wait around for games that might never happen.

That choice — to leave his California home in the heart of wine country early — seems to have paid off so far.

“Brock, he’s been looking really good,” fellow California native Kendall Milton said. “He’s getting better every day and I’m just glad to see a guy from my side because there’s not a lot of guys on this team from California. It’s good to see somebody from my area kind of balling out and everything. So I’m just glad to see him getting better every day and just taking his game seriously.”

Bowers is one of four Bulldogs who played their final high school season in the state of California, with quarterback JT Daniels and wide receiver Jermaine Burton also doing so. It wouldn’t come as a shock if all four of those California kids played big roles in the 2021 Georgia offense.

Bowers will be one of the many Georgia players getting a chance to play in their first G-Day scrimmage on Saturday. It will be his first chance to show to the public what he has already started to show his Georgia coaches and teammates: That he can be a one of one within this Georgia offense.

At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, Bowers is quite different from his fellow Georgia tight ends. Darnell Washington and John FitzPatrick are both at least 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds. They each have a size advantage compared to Bowers.

But the freshman tight end is a much more fluid athlete than either Washington or FitzPatrick. He’s able to move around and be a more versatile piece of the offense. If Washington and FitzPatrick fit the Rob Gronkowski mold of tight ends, Bowers might be more like San Francisco 49ers’ All-Pro George Kittle.

“His explosiveness,” Pinion said on what allows Bowers to stand out. “The way he’s able to get in and out of routes. It really helps him stand out and offers him great flexibility. At times it feels like he’s a wide receiver out there.”

In high school, Bowers did it all for his team. They’d play him at tight end, wide receiver, linebacker kick returner and even some running back. As a junior, he piled up 1,499 all-purpose yards and 18 touchdowns for Napa High School in 11 games.

Bowers’ new head coach Kirby Smart hasn’t exactly been dolling out tons of praise for early enrollees this spring as he doesn’t want to set unrealistic expectations for players who dealing with newfound levels of notoriety.

Smart though can’t deny that Bowers has the ability to make an early impact. Of the 16 early enrollees this spring, Bowers has taken the most first-team reps so far. That’s even with some holes in his game at this point in his young career.

“He’s got a ways to go in terms of the blocking game in terms of the run game, but that’s something he’s going to develop because he has toughness,” Smart said. “He’s going to continue to work in the weight room to get stronger and do some things, but he can do things with the ball in his hands and he’s a good athlete.”

Related: What we’ve learned so far about Georgia’s 2021 early enrollees

When Bowers steps onto the Sanford Stadium grass on Saturday, it will be his first semi-real game action since November of 2019. He’ll be competing with and against athletes who are able to physically match what he can do on the football field for perhaps the first time in his life.

But it will also represent an opportunity for Bowers. One where he can show that he is in fact that good. One worthy of being talked about as a potential difference-maker for the Georgia football program, despite not getting to play his senior season of high school football.

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