ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia’s soccer team has gone through many key players en route to the last two national championships and this year’s No. 1 ranking. The thing it hasn’t done in a game since the start of the 2021 season: not having Brock Bowers.
That will change soon.
Bowers, the All-America tight end, will undergo surgery on Monday to “stabilize” a high ankle sprain, the team announced. No timeline has been released, but assuming this is rope surgery, which is more common for ankle sprains, the return time is about three to six weeks. At the very least, Bowers appears to be out for the Florida game and probably Missouri the following week.
Fellow tight end Lawson Luckie, a freshman, had the same surgery in mid-August. He dressed for Georgia’s game against UAB on Sept. 23 and traveled to Auburn the next week, but did not play. He experienced his first action the following week.
Bowers’ injury comes at a less than ideal time as Georgia faces the most difficult part of its schedule. It almost certainly knocks Bowers out of the Heisman race and could have an impact on the College Football Playoff outlook.
But Georgia is in a good position to come through even without Bowers.
Bowers is an important part of Georgia’s offense, but the Bulldogs have other weapons in the passing game, including wideout RaRa Thomas. (Dale Zanine/USA Today)
Georgia’s offense without Bowers
Carson Beck has the fourth-most passing yards (2,147) in the country in his first year as Georgia’s starting quarterback. And barely more than a quarter of that (26.4 percent) went to Bowers.
Of course, that’s still a lot of production. Bowers is the team’s all-time leader in catches (41), receiving yards (567) and touchdown catches (four). He also mixes in some runs, and in fact Bowers was injured on an end-around at Vanderbilt on Saturday. In this way, Bowers is a unique threat that simply cannot be replaced.
The next man up at tight end is Oscar Delp, who has played a lot and is the team’s fifth-best receiver. Luckie entered the game as the second tight end after Bowers was injured, but Georgia hasn’t used as many double tight end sets this year. That way, it’s prepared for an extended Bowers absence and doesn’t have to change much of what it did schematically.
And if the offense needs to lean more heavily on wide receivers, it is in a good position to do so. This group – Georgia fans feel free to knock on as much wood as they can – is pretty healthy right now. Ladd McConkey, who missed the first four games with a back problem, also sat out the second half of the Vanderbilt game, and his problem could be an on-again, off-again deal. But he’s played enough (nine catches for 107 yards in the last three games) to show he can do it.
Dominic Lovett, the slot receiver and transfer from Missouri, has already played enough to be the team’s third-best receiver, and he could see even more action without Bowers. So could walk-on Mekhi Mews, who had a long catch-and-run for a touchdown in the season opener.
The outside receivers were also reliable: Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint has proven to be a versatile threat this season. Mississippi State transfer RaRa Thomas recently came off the bench as he becomes more comfortable on offense. Arian Smith, the speedy downfield threat, has had a few quiet games, but that could change.
Earlier this season, after Bowers had just one catch against Ball State, coach Kirby Smart said that was intentional. The Bulldogs developed other weapons and made the offense less reliant on Bowers, primarily to make the offense stronger but also in case they had to play without Bowers.
Now they have to do this.
The upcoming schedule
Bowers could return sooner, but he could also miss the rest of the regular season, and there are currently three teams left on the schedule.
Florida, the opponent after the idle week, isn’t one of them, but the Gators are 5-2 with some momentum and crazier things have been known to happen in Jacksonville.
Then come home games against No. 20 Missouri and No. 13 Ole Miss, followed by a trip to No. 17 Tennessee. Everyone is experiencing a loss right now. The regular season finale will take place at Georgia Tech.
Let’s say Georgia lost one of these games. It might not be the end of national title hopes, especially without Bowers. But if the loss were to Missouri or Tennessee, that team would have to lose at least one more game for Georgia to win the division. That’s entirely possible: Missouri and Tennessee play each other on November 11th (in Columbia). Tennessee plays No. 11 Alabama on Saturday, and Missouri has other potential pitfalls (South Carolina and Florida at home, Arkansas).
Two losses would likely end Georgia’s hopes of going three-peat, with or without Bowers. But if it’s 11-1 heading into the SEC Championship Game, it’s still in a strong position. And of course a 12:0 is still entirely feasible.
It’s not like Georgia was a one-man team. Plus, there’s usually a boost when a team knows it’s without its best player and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has a week off to work on it.
Nevertheless, the next few weeks have become significantly more interesting for Georgia. And not in the way it would like.
(Top photo: Jeffrey Vest / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)