There’s no Brock Bowers in the tight end room for Georgia but that’s not causing position coach Todd Hartley to change his approach.
"Whether Brock was there or Brock wasn't there. Pre-Brock, post-Brock, okay? You approach it the same way,” Hartley said. “It's my job to make sure my unit plays, practices, prepares to the best of their ability, and it's also my job to make sure I get every ounce out of them that I can.”
Don’t get Hartley wrong.
Bowers will be missed after his historic career with the Bulldogs concluded when the Las Vegas Raiders chose the All-American with the 10th overall pick in the NFL Draft.
“Personally, I'm going to miss Brock. I love Brock. Recruited Brock, and anytime you can recruit a kid, sign a kid, see it all the way through, and now see him in the NFL and kind of achieve that dream that you told them about during recruiting, that is a fulfilling process,” Hartley said. “I'm going to miss him, but that doesn't have any effect on our team this year. You know, these guys, we go out and we've got the same plays that we've always had in this offense. It's just a different person doing it.”
Georgia’s tight end room still appears to have plenty of depth, even with Pearce Spurlin III giving up the game due to injury.
Junior Oscar Delp is the unquestioned leader in the room, which added Stanford transfer Ben Yurosek, to join sophomore Lawson Luckie, along with freshmen Jaden Redell and Colton Heinrich.
“I'm going to coach Oscar Delp just like I coached Brock Bowers and Lawson Luckie and Ben Yurosek and those two freshmen as well,” Hartley said. “I'm not going to coach them any differently.”
That includes the four walk-ons who currently make up part of the group.
But perhaps not much longer.
With FBS rosters set to be limited to be limited to 105, ultimately some very valuable assets of football teams like the Bulldogs will be squeezed out.
“First off, this is a big deal in college football nowadays, the walk-on. We can't operate how we practice without these walk-ons,” Hartley said. “They serve such a pivotal role in the way we do things at Georgia from a practice standpoint, from a walk-through standpoint. We’re very thankful that they are here.”
All nine players embrace their roles equally, and Hartley treats them the same.
Just like he did when Bowers was around.
“Joe (Tereshinski) back in the day said, ‘Don't treat that guy any different. He might be the governor of the state one day.’ I've always remember that,” Hartley said. “I don't treat those walk-ons any different than I treat my starters or my scholarship kids. And I think those guys appreciate that. They get a high five and a chest bump when they make a play, and they get a foot up their butt when they don't, just like the starters do. I'm very thankful for the guys that I have in that room and the guys that we have on our team that help us out.”
