Kirby Smart gives the latest on Brock Bowers

For the first time since 2020, Georgia is preparing for a game without Brock Bowers.

Georgia's star tight end suffered a high ankle sprain in Saturday's win over Vanderbilt. On Monday, Bowers underwent surgery to "stabilize the ankle and a full recovery is anticipated," according to a statement from Georgia. He is expected to miss multiple weeks.

On Tuesday night, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs addressed the loss of Bowers.

"Brock Bowers is great. Brock Bowers is rock solid," Smart said. "He wanted to get thing (surgery) done as soon as he found out it had to be done. We were able to expedite that process. He's great, he looked everybody in the eyes today and wished he could be out there. He's in great spirits, he's got a great family, he's got great heart. He's a warrior so he'll handle it the right way."

After a relatively slow start to his junior season, Bowers had been coming on strong. Heading into the Vanderbilt game he had racked up 24 receptions, 410 yards, and four touchdowns in his previous four games.

That's a load of production to replace for Georgia's offense. But Smart made sure to emphasize that the burden doesn't fall on just one player.

"If they think one guy is going to replace Brock Bowers, they're wrong," Smart said. "If anybody thinks they have to be Superman, they don't need to be on our team. Because they'll be disappointed. Superman is not real. He's dead. He's not alive. He's not real. You can't try to be that guy. There is no player that we're asking to step up and do more than you can. As a collective effort, every player is going to do more. That includes defense getting turnovers, special teams getting better field position. Other guys get the opportunity to touch the ball and make the most of it.”

One player squarely in the spotlight now is sophomore Oscar Delp. With Bowers out, Delp will receive the lion's share of reps at tight end.

But once again, Smart noted that Delp won't be asked to do more than he has before. Smart said Delp just has to do what he's been doing while letting the coaches figure out how best to run the offense without their best player.

"The plays that you design — guys, y'all think of them as 'Brock Plays.' There are a lot of positions that can be in those spots," Smart said. "Delp could be in those spots, Dom (Dominic Lovett) could be in those spots, Dillon Bell could be in those spots, Marcus Rosemy could be in those spots. Our offense is not built around, like, one person doing one thing. It's built around plug in and you can do it in 10 personnel, you can do it in 11 personnel, you can do it in 13 personnel. I think every offense that's a good offense is that way."

Another player who will likely receive more playing time is freshman Lawson Luckie. Luckie has been cleared to play the last three games after recovering from tightrope ankle surgery, ironically the same procedure Bowers underwent Monday.

"He’s definitely different," offensive lineman Dylan Fairchild said. "We do skull sessions and he talked about his brother. That kind of said a lot to me about him, just how he wants to live every day for his brother. I think he really does do that. I think he approaches every day with the right mentality. He does a great job of coming to work. He comes here every day and tries to get better. Today he hit somebody pretty hard and had a really good hit in practice. He’s doing good."

Smart didn't put any kind of timeline on Bowers' potential return. With Georgia staring down a difficult five-game stretch to close SEC play, his recovery will be a hot topic over the next month or more.

But for now, Bowers will undertake a journey similar to Luckie and offensive lineman Amarius Mims.

"Brock will take on that same rehab process, and his surgeon and Ron (Courson) will work together on that to get him back," Smart said. "It won't be done any different. The key is, we're trying to get him back healthy. There is no timeline for when he comes back to play. The timeline is when he's healthy, and I don't think you could put a timeline on it because historically there's been guys that came back really fast and guys that have come back really slow. Each one is different.”