ATHENS — Georgia knows there is no replacing Brock Bowers. One person can’t do what Bowers can do. It’s part of the reason Bowers is such a special player for Georgia.
Head coach Kirby Smart isn’t just saying that to provide lip service. He and his players truly believe it.
They know it is going to take a collective effort to continue to win in Bowers’ absence.
“If they think one guy is going to replace Brock Bowers, they’re wrong. If anybody thinks they have to be Superman, they don’t need to be on our team,” Smart said. “Because they’ll be disappointed. Superman is not real. He’s dead. He’s not alive. He’s not real. You can’t try to be that guy. There is no player that we’re asking to step up and do more than you can. As a collective effort, every player is going to do more. That includes defense getting turnovers, special teams getting better field position. Other guys get the opportunity to touch the ball and make the most of it.”
The phrase next man up was thrown around often on Tuesday night. Bowers is far from the first star Georgia player to be injured and he won’t be the last either.
The player stepping in at tight end, Oscar Delp, has already lived that mantra. When Darnell Washington went down with an injury in the College Football Playoff game against Ohio State, Delp came off the bench to fill a role.
While Smart wouldn’t say that Delp needs to try and provide what Bowers can to this offense, the Georgia team knows he’s a player capable of playing winning football. That doesn’t change with Bowers out.
“He’s a really gutsy player. He’ll jump in the air, y’all have seen him do front flips and stuff,” offensive lineman Dylan Fairchild said. “He’s a gutsy player who does a great job of coming to work every single day and trying to get better. That’s just something he does really good.”
Bowers is Georgia’s leading receiver through the first seven games of the season. All of his targets won’t fall to just Delp. They’ll be spread around the offense to players like Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and Dominic Lovett.
Georgia is also likely to lean more on its ground game, especially with the emergence of Daijun Edwards. He ran for a career-best 146 yards on Saturday.
“It really falls on everyone’s shoulder to buy in and come together. Knowing that a big part of the team, a big part of the offense is missing,” Rosemy-Jacksaint said. “We’re coming in everyday, especially during this bye week time, to get better on ourselves and just see what we can do to better. Right now that’s the plan and that’s what we’re focusing on.”
This isn’t the first time Georgia has lost a key leader during the season. The 2020 team saw Richard LeCounte suffer injuries prior to the game against Florida. George Pickens missed the first 11 games of the 2021 season due to an ACL injury. Nolan Smith suffered a season-ending injury against Florida last season.
Georgia was able to overcome those injuries in each of the past two seasons, as the Bulldogs still went on to win the national championship.
The goal is to do that once again this season. The Bulldogs are 7-0 but face their toughest stretch of games coming out of the off-week. Three of Georgia’s next four opponents are ranked.
For as much as Georgia knows how talented Bowers is, it also knows it has plenty of other talented players elsewhere on the roster. While the team knows winning without Bowers is a more difficult task, there’s confidence that this situation will bring out the best in this version of the team.
“It’s not just one player, it’s a team that makes up a whole team,” safety Malaki Starks said. “We’ve got some guys who are going to step up and we all believe in everybody that’s here. If everybody steps up their game, offense and defense, individually, we’ll all come together as a group. We’re not really worried about it too much.”
