Here's what made Brock Bowers America's top tight end

Brock Bowers fired out of his two-point stance and went left.

Roughly three-and-a-half minutes remained in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game. With Georgia facing a third-and-1 at the Alabama 15-yard line, Bowers went into the left flat and looked over his shoulder.

He saw the football floating toward him against the backdrop of the rafters of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Just over four years ago, he had been the quarterback for the junior varsity team at Napa High School, throwing passes like that. Now, he waited for what felt like an eternity as the ball descended to him as a tight end.

The true freshman snagged the ball and turned upfield. He outraced Alabama linebacker Henry To’o To’o, received a block from receiver Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, and stormed into the end zone, pumping his arms in celebration as he crossed the goal line.

***

In the stands, Bowers’ mother DeAnna sat frozen in disbelief. Three hundred and sixty-five days earlier, she had just dropped her son off across the country for his first semester of college. Covid-19 destroyed Bowers’ senior year of football and of high school, convincing him to enroll early in Athens.

Bowers and his mother had watched the previous season’s national championship game, an Alabama victory over Ohio State, in the home of Georgia tight end coach Todd Hartley. He had seen how hard the week’s events had been on Mrs. Bowers and invited the family to watch the game before she flew back to California the next day.

The early enrollment came after months of anger and frustration following multiple postponements of high school football in California. Bowers once slammed his hand on his mother’s kitchen counter following a second delay. His main senior highlights consisted of training in local parks and fields around Napa, dodging school administrators in the process.

Now Bowers’ mother watched as her son made the biggest play of his life.

***

In a restaurant in San Antonio, Nathan Kenion watched as his former star pupil put Georgia up by eight points.

Kenion coached Bowers for several years with his 7-on-7 team, KT Prep. When he first met Bowers as an eighth grader, Kenion had no idea how much potential Bowers possessed.

From his quarterback phase to receiver and then tight end, Kenion coached Bowers up every step of the way. Bowers attended twice-weekly training sessions with KT Prep, fighting Northern California traffic each way.

But there’s one thing Bowers always possessed. From day one, he held himself to an impossibly high standard, powered by his internal drive. Kenion had seen Bowers in tears after losing 7-on-7 tournaments, despite being the main reason the team advanced as far as it did in the first place.

That motivation carried Bowers from a small California school to an SEC powerhouse. At the end of one of the best receiving seasons in Georgia history, Kenion watched from San Antonio and said what so many others who knew Bowers said throughout the season.

"Yep, that’s Brock.”

Bowers had a normal childhood in Napa. He played with Legos and GeoTrax and spent plenty of time outdoors with his older sister, Brianna.

But Bowers also had an internal drive that pushed him a bit farther than some of his peers. Once, in an attempt to dunk a basketball in his driveway, he stacked up some chairs and used those as a springboard. The first try worked, but he fell and broke his arm when the chairs gave way on the second attempt.

The roots of that drive and determination can be traced back years to Bowers’ parents, DeAnna and Warren.

Warren Bowers played college football at Utah State. There he met his future wife, DeAnna. Both were good athletes for the Aggies, but they originally had other plans.

Mr. Bowers went to high school with other players who played at larger Division I colleges. DeAnna Bowers said her husband “was always like the underdog guy—had to work hard to get where he was.”

As a high school softball player, DeAnna Bowers reached out to other programs in northern California. San Jose State, Cal-Berkeley, and Sacramento State all passed before she settled on Utah State.

“When I saw San Jose State, well, they didn’t beat us,” DeAnna Bowers said. “My junior, senior years, we were going to regionals for softball both years. It didn’t matter. It went all the way from my sophomore to my senior year. If I saw San Jose State coming on the schedule, or Sac State or anybody who decided to pass on me, they were going to get it.”

Reminders of those times surfaced in the Bowers household. Both parents had pictures and memorabilia from their playing days, and the kids always asked questions about their parents’ careers.

Bowers absorbed those stories from an early age, using them to fuel his own internal drive. His mother recalled a story from the sixth grade when another soccer player stole the ball from her son.

“He spun around, and the look on his face was like fury,” DeAnna Bowers said. “He sprinted as hard as he could the length of the field to get back to the ball. He went so hard that he knelt down on the ground, because he’d lost his entire vat of oxygen. He couldn’t breathe. The coach came over and said, ‘Does he have asthma?’ I’m like, ‘No, he got angry.’”

There’s also a story from a Legoland visit that Ms. Bowers called “infamous.”

As the tale goes, the family took a trip to a theme park in California. The 12-year-old Brianna and 10-year-old Brock, along with their parents, found a competitive ride for families. The teams had to pump water from a fire truck and hit targets, with an indicator moving to the end of a track to show progress. Whichever family won got to go another round.

“We must have beat eight, nine families,” DeAnna Bowers said. “As we got going, as our streak kept going, we’d hit the end and go, ‘Yeah! High-five!’ These other poor families are like, ‘What the—? Seriously? It’s a fire truck ride.’ By the time we got off, we got off on our own accord. Nobody beat us. We were so sweaty and so tired. I remember Brock being red and in a full sweat.”

That manifested itself in various sports exploits. Brock played football, baseball, basketball, and soccer growing up. DeAnna Bowers called her son a “Little League all-star” until the slower pace of baseball cooled him on the sport.

As Bowers approached high school, basketball and football emerged as Bowers’ two passions.

One workout in the eighth grade changed the course of his football career forever.

Kenion first met Bowers during his eighth grade year. Warren Bowers brought his son to a practice for Kenion’s 7-on-7 organization, KT Prep.

Kenion’s first impressions of Bowers were nothing special. He saw a “long, rangy kid” show up, and then he went to work with his defensive players. After the one-on-one session later in the day, however, Kenion spoke to another one of the coaches.

“I went back over to the receivers coach and (I) said, ‘Man, that kid’s going to be good,’” Kenion recalled. “At that point, it wasn’t a clear-cut, he’s going to be what he turned out to be just yet. But it was a clear indication of, the kid can play. For an eighth grade kid, he had to be about six foot, six-foot-one already, and he was coordinated. Most kids that age aren’t that coordinated at that size.”

During his freshman year of high school, Bowers filled the role of triple option quarterback on the junior varsity squad for Napa High School. When the calendar flipped to the new year, Bowers switched to basketball before eventually joining KT Prep.

His sophomore year is when Bowers truly began to take off. He had a strong season as a receiver/tight end hybrid for Napa. He earned his first offer from the University of Nevada-Reno that spring.

When the time came for him to fully devote himself to KT Prep, Bowers had established himself as a force. At one particular tournament in southern California he really turned heads.

“He’s playing receiver, he’s playing tight end, he’s playing linebacker, he’s doing everything. On offense, he’s getting doubled, tripled, quadruple-covered and making catches,” Kenion said. “The dude running the tournament walks over and says, ‘Who the hell is that kid?’ We’re like, ‘That’s Brock Bowers.’ He was like, ‘He’s the best player I’ve seen this whole spring.’”

Kenion made a comment that Bowers would be returning to the tournament next year. Incredulous, the tournament organizer asked again to reaffirm Bowers’ status as a sophomore.

That outing also showcased the drive Bowers already possessed. After losing in the semifinals, he walked up to Kenion with tears in his eyes.

“He was like, ‘I should have caught that pass,’” Kenion said. “I was like, ‘Bro, there were four dudes on you, two were hanging on you. It was probably a PI. We wouldn’t have even been in that game if it wasn’t for you.’ He was like, ‘It touched my hands.’ I was like, ‘Damn.’”

About a month after that tournament, Bowers attended a Nike combine. He had never done most of the drills the players were doing. He ran a 40-yard dash, starting with his hand in the dirt in a lineman stance.

His raw athleticism led to that 40-yard dash clocking in at 4.5 seconds.

“When he ran the 40, the guy was like, ‘Have you not ever done this before?’ Brock’s like nope, never done it. And he ran a quick one,” DeAnna Bowers said. “The guy, we were watching. They made him run it again. The second one, the guy threw his clipboard up and was like, ‘The heck?’”

Kenion said the offers came flying in soon after the combine. That’s not to say, however, that Bowers already checked in as a finished product.

The main improvements came in Bowers’ route running. He already possessed the raw ability, he just needed to refine his technique.

His work ethic enabled him to make those big strides. Kenion said he basically had to beg Bowers to take days off, even when his parents alerted him to injuries.

“We even had a physician, an orthopedist, who did his arm,” DeAnna Bowers said. “I think he had a fibula crack one time. (The doctor) would say, ‘You just need to shut this kid down for a year.’ I’m like, if I did that, I’m moving him in with you because he would not talk to me.”

But Bowers also possessed a lighter side of his personality. He and his friends would sneak off to Lake Berryessa and dive into the lake off a bridge. Bowers ribbed one of his high school coaches, Askari Adams, about his time at Penn State.

Adams first met Bowers in the spring of his sophomore year at Napa. He came to interview for the defensive coordinator position, and at one point he saw Bowers working out.

“I went back into the coach’s office and was like, ‘Coach, you’ve got some coaches working out in the weight room,’” Adams said. “He goes, ‘Oh, no, that’s Brock. He’s a sophomore, going to be a junior.’ I was like, ‘Holy shit, he looks like a grown ass man.’”

Bowers and Adams only overlapped at Napa during the 2019 season. At the start, Adams felt anxious to see what Bowers could do on the field.

His questions were answered literally as soon as the season began. Bowers fielded the opening kickoff of the season and ran it back for a touchdown.

Napa used Bowers all over the field, splitting him out as a receiver and handing him the ball on jet sweeps—-similar to how Georgia used him last season. Napa got him the ball however it could.

As the spring season with KT Prep approached, Bowers battled a lingering injury. He neared full strength as a tournament in Florida approached. Then Covid-19 arrived and shut the world down.

Bowers slammed his hand on the kitchen counter in frustration.

The 2020 high school football season in California had just been delayed for the second time. Bowers’ odds of playing his senior season had just plummeted.

With school not meeting in person and the KT Prep workouts first stopped, then limited to small groups, DeAnna Bowers had noticed her son’s mental health beginning to suffer.

“It was the same thing every day,” DeAnna Bowers said. “Groups were banned. You weren’t allowed to be in groups. The kids would get together at different places and that was it. A lot of dead time.”

Bowers took it upon himself to burn off his frustrations. He tried to work out at local high schools, but often got chased off by school administrators. Alston Park in Napa became its own safe haven for Bowers, hosting his workouts through the spring and summer.

Shortly after Bowers committed to Georgia on Aug. 10, 2020, his mother felt it would be best for him to enroll early in Athens. That of course came at the end of a long recruitment by Todd Hartley and the Bulldogs.

The interest picked up shortly after Bowers’ strong performance at the Nike combine. Hartley and the Georgia coaches began showing up in DeAnna Bowers’ classroom where she taught.

“The first time (Hartley) came to the classroom, I saw a G and I’m like, ‘Oooh, that’s awful far away from home,’” DeAnna Bowers said.

But Hartley and the rest of the Georgia staff won over the parents, convincing them the best place for their son happened to be more than 2,500 miles away.

For one, DeAnna Bowers felt her son would be cared for by the coaches. Georgia also had stability, something the family looked for following heavy coaching turnover in Brock’s high school career.

“He wanted a secure place,” DeAnna Bowers said. “Georgia checked every box. Hartley’s kids are here in school, they’re kind of small. There’s no promise he won’t go somewhere, but it looked pretty promising. Kirby went to the school, that looked pretty promising, too.”

Bowers told his mother he wanted to go to Georgia in January of 2020. Other visits followed, but the Bulldogs landed Bowers in August.

But that’s when the staff truly showed how much they cared for Bowers. Despite the decision being made later in the process than normal, the coaches worked out a way to get Bowers on campus early. They found him a place in the dorms, slotting him in with Brock Vandagriff and Chaz Chambliss.

When the family came to move Bowers in in January, several coaches, including offensive coordinator Todd Monken, came to lend a hand. Hartley then hosted the family to watch the national championship game.

“A month after he got (to Georgia), his dog Frank died,” DeAnna Bowers said. “I remember texting (director of player development Jonas Jennings) and Hartley and saying, ‘We’re going to tell Brock tomorrow night, just heads up.’ Hartley just sent back, ‘We got him.’ I guess twice during the week, one of them checked in with him.”

Smart let Bowers return home for his high school graduation ceremony on June 13 last summer. As Bowers went back to Athens, he and the rest of the world had no idea of what the season had in store.

Bowers always has a plan. The thing is, he doesn’t like to share it.

That’s how he operated with his Legos. Only his sister earned the privilege of helping him carry out his constructive vision.

His first few months in Athens followed a similar script. Any time his parents asked about how things were going, he responded briefly with “fine” or “good.”

Meanwhile, Warren and DeAnna Bowers began talking to some of the other parents. They learned that, while Brock only had a couple years of varsity experience with some little league, players such as Chambliss had almost a full decade of football experience on their son.

But as they worried, Brock continued to turn heads. They saw on Twitter that their son had started “running with the ones.”

“I’m like, ‘What does that mean?’ Warren’s like, ‘That means he’s running with the first team,’” DeAnna Bowers said. “I’m like, ‘What? That’s weird. Maybe that was just a moment in time.’ He never really said much.”

As the season approached, the family anticipated Bowers getting a few plays here and there every game. Then Darnell Washington broke his foot. Then Arik Gilbert stepped away from the team. Suddenly, the spotlight turned to Bowers.

Before the season opener against Clemson, Brock visited with his family in the hotel. He told them he might be in line for some extended action against the Tigers. Hartley then approached Brock in the locker room before the game.

“Hartley came up to me and he was like, ‘You’re taking the first play.’ I’m like, ‘Shoot, all right, I guess we’re ready to roll,’” Bowers said.

Bowers did indeed catch a pass on the first play of the game. As it unfolded, Brock Vandagriff’s mother Kelly turned and grasped DeAnna Bowers’ arm in the stands.

“He got a couple more. We were like, ‘What is happening?’” DeAnna Bowers said.

The freshman introduced himself to college football by hauling in six passes for 43 yards. He led Georgia in both categories.

The season progressed and Bowers kept rolling. He blew by defenders who had an angle on him against UAB. Against Vanderbilt, Bowers scored three touchdowns—-two receiving and one rushing.

Through it all, Bowers felt the need to appreciate each and every week. After all, he hadn’t played in two years, and he felt the tragedy of having his senior season ripped away from him. Even with the gratitude, however, he kept the same perfectionist attitude.

“He dropped that one in the end zone against Clemson. He had his hands on it,” DeAnna Bowers said. “I said, ‘Brock Allen, Gronkowski dropped passes, Kittle’s dropped passes. It’s going to happen. You just have to look to the next play. You can’t dwell.’ He said, ‘I should have had it. It’s on me.”’

In another contest, Bowers made a freshman mistake and missed a block. It resulted in Kendall Milton going down for a loss and an earful from Smart.

“After the game, I said, ‘So, Kirby really yelled at you,’” DeAnna Bowers said. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, they have signs and I read the decoy sign instead of the real one. That’s why we had to kick the field goal.’ We re-watched it when we got back home… I go, ‘What happens when Kirby yells at you?’ He goes, ‘You just try not to make eye contact and say yes sir a lot.’”

Despite his age, Bowers didn’t make too many of those mistakes. He finished 2021 with 56 receptions, 882 yards, and 13 touchdowns. Bowers led the Bulldogs in all three categories. The 13 touchdowns set a school record.

His parents established their own routine to keep up with their son. At least one parent made it to every game, taking a Delta flight from Sacramento to Atlanta. They rented a condo in Athens to avoid the exorbitant hotel prices for gameday weekends.

The Bowers’ also made it to Miami and Indianapolis for the College Football Playoff contests. Bowers totaled nine receptions for 91 yards, scoring touchdowns in both of those games.

It took Bowers’ parents a couple months to absorb the season their son had. They watched reruns of the national championship game and thought to themselves, “Wow, that really all went down the way it did.”

For Kenion, it didn’t come as a surprise.

“We all knew what he was capable of,” Kenion said. “We knew how he would transition into the next level. For us over here, we weren’t blown away by it. We were more so just excited for him, because not everyone gets that chance to show and be who they are at the next level.”

The superstardom hasn’t changed Bowers much.

He still holds himself to the same impossibly high standards. His mother said Bowers walked off the field after Georgia’s first scrimmage this fall frustrated with his performance. This came after he missed most of spring practice following shoulder surgery.

Bowers is loyal to his friends, old and new. He has become very close with his freshman roommates Vandagriff and Chambliss. The trio engages in “fishing derbies,” as DeAnna Bowers called them, with photographic evidence of the bounty required. To hear Adams put it, once you’re friends with Bowers, you’re stuck with him for life.

When Bowers first arrived in Georgia, he sometimes had trouble picking up what people said. He couldn’t understand the accents. Now he’s picked up saying “shoot” from his roommates and has his own controversial dipping sauce take at Zaxby’s.

“Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I'm a ketchup guy,” Bowers said. “I've eaten it a little bit here and there—-like, going out with some people and just having it once in a while. Not too much though. I'm watching my figure."

Kenion had his own way of summing up his star protege.

“We called him a man amongst boys,” Kenion said. “I would say that’s not just on the football field, but it’s in life. I feel like from a mental capacity, he’s a man. He’s very mature beyond his years, in life and on the field. I think that’s kind of how we talked, me and all of our coaches speak. We’ll be like, Brock’s a man amongst boys. We have a little text; when he does something, we’re like, ‘A man amongst boys.’”

Kenion sees unlimited potential in Bowers. He views him as a mix between Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, although he feels Bowers is a better pure receiver. Kenion feels Bowers is also better than former Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, whom the Atlanta Falcons drafted fourth overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.

“If and when he ends up in the Heisman race, it won’t surprise me,” Kenion said. “I don’t think anyone at Georgia’s going to be surprised now, either. That’s kind of who we knew and thought he was.”

If Bowers does indeed continue to ascend, he’ll help put the Bulldogs in great position to add another national championship during his time in Athens.

***

Soon after returning from the 2022 title game in Indianapolis, DeAnna Bowers spoke with the family’s financial advisor. He advised them that if they had plans to make similar trips at the end of the 2022 season, they needed to buy tickets and book hotel rooms now. They’d save plenty of money by doing it early.

So they did. As Bowers looks to build on a historic freshman season, his parents already have plans made for their son to come home.

This season’s national championship game will be held in California, at SoFi Stadium just outside Los Angeles.

“If they make it back, that’ll be fantastic,” DeAnna Bowers said.