The key to success for Brock Bowers is consistency, at least in the eyes of Kirby Smart.

The Georgia head coach appeared on Duke head coach Mike Kzyerwiski’s SiriusXM show on Thursday and was discussing the standout tight end. As a freshman, Bowers led Georgia in every receiving category and set a school record for touchdown receptions in a season with 13.

Bowers only took one visit to Georgia during his recruiting process, coming just before the pandemic started, so Georgia didn’t really know what it had in Bowers. He wasn’t exactly in Georgia’s backyard as a prospect, as he’s from Napa, Calif. Bowers also didn’t have a senior season of high school football due to the pandemic.

But Georgia did have a pretty good idea based on the workouts Bowers constantly sent the staff.

“We asked kids during COVID to send us videos and he would work out film his workout with a cell phone laying down, nobody doing it for him, just leave it flat,” Smart said. “He would send the workout in and I was like man, ‘This guy’s working out this much and sending us videos.’

“You know he’s wired the right way. And he just kept sending them. He loved the SEC football factor.”

Smart added that when Bowers did arrive at Georgia he continued to impress during offseason workouts. So much so that he was consistently beating teammates in offseason running drills.

Bowers’ athleticism propelled him to First Team All-American honors along with being named Newcomer of the Year by the SEC.

Georgia won’t have Bowers available this spring as he recovers from shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. But given his work ethic, Smart doesn’t expect Bowers to miss a beat once he returns to the field. The expectation is that Bowers will be good to go by the time fall camp rolls around.

Related: Brock Bowers injury makes Georgia tight end room much more interesting in spring practice

Smart shared another story of Bowers and the consistency in his work ethic.

“I was talking to our nutritionist today,” Smart said. “We were talking about guys struggling to maintain their weight. We have a bigger problem with guys gaining weight than guys being too heavy. I asked, ‘Why does Brock Bowers not have that problem?’ He comes to every meal. He is there every time on time. He gets a snack. He does everything we asked him to do. He was 235 to start the season and he was 235 by the end of the season. Never had an issue with any of it, because he’s very diligent about his own habits.”

Without Bowers, Georgia will look to further develop Darnell Washington and Oscar Delp at the tight end position. Washington is entering his third year in the program, while Delp enrolled early to get a jump-start on his college career. If Delp is able to find the same early success as Bowers, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see Delp play a role for Georgia in this offense fall.

Even with a once-again healthy Bowers.

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