Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry details how elite TE prospect Brock Bowers feels about coming from across the country to play at UGA.
Brock Bowers could be the most versatile prospect Georgia will recruit in the 2021 cycle. There’s a quote from his head coach that serves as the proper introduction to everything with Bowers.
Let’s stress that term “everything” in regard to this young man from California.
His Napa High coach, Richie Wessman, even played at USC and coached in the NFL. He told the Napa Valley Register about an early evalution period when he started to see what Bowers can do.
“He broke three tackles in a very impressive fashion,” Wessman said. “It was like if you’re playing a video game and you’re pressing all the buttons. He hit the stiff arm, he hit the spin move, hit a juke and then ended with a speed burst. It was really impressive.”
That was from a story which honored Bowers as the Napa County Football Player of the Year. Lots of coaches will often say that their player might have that “X” or “speed burst” button.
When you flip on this film, his conjecture is validated. Bowers does indeed have all the buttons.
But that “Mr. Everything” stuff about Bowers only begins with what he did that day on the practice field. Let’s just tick off all the elements of distinction here.
- Has a grade-point average that is already north of 4.2 in the classroom.
- His mother is a schoolteacher and hails from a family of athletes. His father was an offensive lineman at Utah State. His mother played softball in college. His older sister still does.
- The 6-foot-3 rising senior is now up to 225 pounds.
- Had a season-opening game last fall in which reeled in eight catches for 91 yards and two scores AND also paired that performance up with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. That was the same game. Pretty impressive stat line for a tight end.
- Bowers scored touchdowns on 14 of his 39 catches as a junior in 2019. That’s a ratio of reaching pay dirt on 36 percent of his catches.
- Those 39 catches also produced 1,098 yards. That meant a gaudy 28.2 yards per catch.
- He ran a 4.55 laser in the 40 and tested with a 40-inch vertical leap at an Opening regional in 2019.
- Bowers played tight end, running back, wide receiver, linebacker and punt returner for his high school team.
- He also wrapped up 25 stops, eight tackles for losses and a sack on defense as an OLB as a junior.
- In his last two varsity seasons, he has recorded 21 combined touchdown catches and over 1,700 receiving yards.
- The 4-star recruit also finished third on his team in rushing with 355 yards, including a pair of 100-yard games.
- Bowers ranks as the nation’s No. 6 TE and No. 152 overall prospect for 2021 on the 247Sports Composite.
Check out his Opening testing below. The crazy part of that is he didn’t train for that at all.
Brock Bowers: An inspired backstory
Bowers didn’t play football until he was in the fifth grade, but then he skipped his sixth grade year. There’s a pattern there. He played his seventh, but then skipped his eighth grade season.
He grew up admiring a player that is seen as the best ever from his community.
His name is John Boyett. That guy is as synonymous with high school football around Napa. Pretty much how Napa is with vineyards to the rest of the world.
“He went to Oregon and then got drafted and everything,” Bowers said. “So it was cool to grow up watching him. He was like a big role model for me. I kind of always wanted to play because I was like always the biggest kid out of all of our friends. The fastest. I always thought it would be fun to play.”
When he walked onto the turf for his Opening regional performance, he did so as an under-the-radar prospect. His Napa team was fresh off an 0-10 season in 2019. That was the program’s worst record since 1955.
He had just a single offer from Nevada. When he posted those times, that changed rapidly.
There’s a play on his highlight tape which follows below. It reflects that “everything” appeal here.
“I caught like a little boot pass in the flat and I stutter step and like stiff arm a kid and then I just kind of made my way into the end zone,” he said. “I don’t even know how. There are like so many people around me. I didn’t really think about it. I just kept moving.”
He was a marked man from a winless team in 2018. But he still came up with that monster average of 28 yards per catch in 2019.
“I think I only caught like one or two fade balls,” he said of his junior year. “I caught like two go balls my whole year. Most of them my coach set me up for passes in the flats and naked boots. Getting the ball to me in the flats and shovel passes and stuff like that. Just let me run.”
His answer translates about what really elite athletes can do. They may do it, but are not certain where it all came from.
“I don’t know how it really happens sometimes,” he said. “I just catch a ball and go for a long time. But my coach really set me up well with the play calling and the plays we were running.”
College coaches do harp on his versatility. It would be unfathomable if they did not.
Brock Bowers: Which schools are standing out
Bowers already has a few table stakes set for where he wants to play college football.
“Just like the location to start with,” he said. “The place where I would live around the football program. When I am not on a football field or in the classroom, I want to be in somewhere that I would like to live.”
He has another priority for what he is looking for.
“Just a good program,” he said. “Like a winning program. It has got to be good and then the culture of the program and the overall vibe around the school.”
Location will not be a major factor.
“When I think about I know I am going to be doing school and football and be super busy,” he said. “I won’t be able to go home even if I am on the west coast.”
There’s a homespun feel to the young man. He says “shoot” a lot while discussing certain topics in easy conversation.
“Georgia is one of those schools,” when asked which schools were making him a priority. “I’ve been talking to Cal, UCLA, Oregon and Washington. Those are the main ones in the Pac 12. I’m going to take visits to Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State in the spring.”
The Bulldogs were able to garner one of his three “Junior Day” trips last month. He also checked out Clemson and LSU.
The Tigers were away visiting The White House when he was in Baton Rouge. So he was able to see the facilities, the stadium and met with a recruiting assistant.
“I didn’t get to meet any of the coaches but Baton Rouge is a cool place and everything,” he said. “The campus was a lot prettier than I thought it would be.”
Clemson didn’t really work out with another timing aspect. He stressed the “super nice” facilities, but also noted how it didn’t seem like he will be a fit there.
“They got that one kid committed for tight end that just committed right after I took my visit,” he said. “So I’m not sure if that will work out at all. I think they were just taking one tight end for this year. I think. I could be wrong.”
He has no specific timeline.
“I am trying to narrow it down in the summer after I take my visits in the spring,” he said. “Then just figure it out whenever I know where I want to go.”
Bowers did grow up an Oregon fan. Naturally. That’s where Boyett played as a safety before he was a sixth-round draft pick in 2011.
“They are recruiting me hard,” Bowers said. “A little bit.”
Brock Bowers and Georgia: The connection there
That was his first trip to check out UGA.
“I really liked Georgia,” he said. “Athens really reminded me a lot of Napa. Like the vibe and the town and everything. That was cool.”
He said it was hard to explain why he liked the visit so much. But he continued to bring up a “vibe” at UGA from both the players and coaches.
He’s from California, but feels at home in a blind or a tree stand. He considers himself an avid deer and duck hunter.
Bowers doesn’t even know yet that he will have that in common with a few members of the team.
“Everyone seemed like they wanted to be there,” he said. “That was the main thing I took away from all of that. It was just a good visit.”
He didn’t see the coaches at LSU. At Clemson, they added a commitment for his position just after his visit.
Georgia afforded him the chance to watch film with both the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach.
Todd Hartley, the tight ends coach, and Todd Monken, the new coordinator, showed clips of what he could be in the new Georgia offense.
“They were pulling up film and they were just basically saying ‘you could be like one of these guys’ in their offense,” Bowers said. “It was cool. I mean I really liked it.”
Bowers got to see former first-rounder O.J. Howard and his clips from the Buccaneers with Monken.
Georgia is in line for two more visits here.
“Right now I am thinking about coming back for an unofficial,” he said. “Pretty sure about that right now. Taking that unofficial and then another official if Georgia stays up there for me.”