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Georgia Football: 3 players who must step up due to Brock Bowers’ injury

By Elliot Reeder

ATHENS, GA - OCTOBER 7: Brock Bowers #19 of the Georgia Bulldogs surveys the field during a run during a game between University of Kentucky and University of Georgia at Sanford Stadium on October 7, 2023 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Steve Limentani/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
ATHENS, GA - OCTOBER 7: Brock Bowers #19 of the Georgia Bulldogs surveys the field during a run during a game between University of Kentucky and University of Georgia at Sanford Stadium on October 7, 2023 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Steve Limentani/ISI Photos/Getty Images) /
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Georgia Bulldogs tight end Brock Bowers (Photo by Perry McIntyre/ISI Photos/Getty Images) /

Georgia football got bad news coming out of a closer-than-expected 37-20 win over Vanderbilt. Brock Bowers, the best tight end in the nation, is reportedly having surgery on his ankle with an early timeline of 4-6 weeks out. Bowers went down in the 2nd quarter on Saturday against Vandy on a jet-sweep in which he got tackled awkwardly along the sidelines. Bowers got up limping initially, but eventually went down to all fours, slamming his fist on the ground in frustration in the process. It was at that moment that Georgia football fans really started to worry, as it was evident that Bowers knew something was really wrong. Initial reports were a sprained ankle, and reports came out this morning that Bowers needed surgery (reportedly tight-rope surgery) to help stabilize the ankle.

That timeline could put Bowers out anywhere from 3 games (Florida, Missouri, and Ole Miss) to the rest of the regular season (Tennessee and Georgia Tech after those other three) or further. Georgia football is heading into their bye week this week, which if anything gives Kirby Smart and the coaching staff extra time to formulate how to maneuver ahead without Bowers.

3 Georgia football players who must step up due to Brock Bowers’ injury

This is a brutal turn of events for the reigning back-to-back national champs in their quest for a three-peat as they are losing arguably their best player and potentially the best player in the country heading into a tough final five games of the year. Bowers was starting to get Heisman hype after a strong 3 week stretch, and was playing some of the best football of his career. For the year, Bowers has 41 catches, 567 yards, and 5 total TD’s.

It’s not just the production of Bowers that Georgia is losing however. So much of their offense was predicated around him. It genuinely felt like that when Bowers was not making the catch on a play, he was getting double-teamed and it was opening up the target for someone else. Bowers is one of those guys that defenses have to formula their whole plan around, and Georgia is now losing that for potentially the rest of the year.

With that being said, here are three players that Georgia football needs to step up in the absence of Brock Bowers. (Also, an obvious person here is quarterback Carson Beck, who now will have to move forward without his top target, but I’m not including him in the list since it is a given that a QB will have to change when losing weapons).

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