ATHENS — SEC Network analyst and former NFL and Georgia star Ben Watson believes the East Division is still the Bulldogs’ to lose, even with Brock Bowers potentially out the remainder of the regular season.
Watson, appearing on The Ingles On The Beat Show on Monday night, shared his take on the direction No. 1-ranked Georgia will go now that Bowers is scheduled for ankle surgery as the result of the injury he suffered in UGA’s 37-20 win at Vanderbilt on Saturday.
“I look at last year, and a guy that you and I have talked about coming back from an injury of his own is Ladd McConkey,” Watson said. “This week he got involved.
“Last year he was second on the team to Brock Bowers in receiving and receptions, so he’s been a vital part of this offense (and) there were plenty of games last year where he had big catches.”
Watson said McConkey’s (back) injury will continue to be monitored closely.
“We expect him to factor in tremendously, and he seems to be more healthy,” Watson said, “But the thing with injuries is they stick with you the entire season, because you don’t have a lot of time to get better, so it’s a matter of managing them.”
Watson said offensive coordinator Mike Bobo will also need to continue to get more punch from the run game.
“We saw some big runs from Daijun (Edwards) last week, and you see this offensive line jelling together after I felt in the beginning of the season they were a bit fractured, they weren’t really working together, and I’ve seen them take that next step,” Watson said.
“That will be vitally important because the play-action pass is a huge part of what Mike Bobo does. There are weapons.”
Watson also shared how much respect he has for Bowers, and what he thinks the talented junior is currently going through as he deals with the injury.
“We can expect him to work at coming back as soon as he can,” Watson said. “What Brock has shown is he’s resilient, he’s tough, he’s a very smart player, he takes care of himself, works extremely hard.
“No one is going to outwork him in the training room and on the field and in the class rom, so he’ll be back as soon as possible.”
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