South Carolina coach Shane Beamer interrupted Monday night’s Zoom session where Georgia tight end Brock Bowers was being announced as the Football Writer’s Association of America Freshman of the Year.
There was something he needed to say.
“My eight-year-old son just said, ‘Wait a minute … he’s just a freshman?”’ Beamer said. “I said, ‘Yeah, he’s just a freshman.’ He (Beamer’s son) said he thought he was a senior and gone; He just walked out of the room.”
Beamer jokingly asked the moderator if it was true that Bowers – who sat smiling on an adjacent screen – was indeed just a freshman.
“We’ve got two more years of competing against him,” said Beamer, before addressing Bowers directly.
“I seriously loved watching you play,” Beamer told Bowers. “You’re a hell of a football player.”
There’s not much argument there.
When Bowers passed over for the Mackey Award, given annually to the nation’s top tight end, many around college football collectively rolled their eyes.
Bowers eventually received the credit most thought he deserved.
A selection to the All-SEC team was followed by a spot on the Associated Press All-American team.
Monday night, Bowers arguably earned the biggest honor of all, taking home the FWAA Freshman Player of the Year Award.
“It’s really awesome to see my name up there with all these other dudes,” Bowers said. “The season – it still doesn’t feel real. It was all crazy. I came into the season not expecting much, but people here pushed me. I couldn’t be here without any of my teammates or coaches.”
Bulldog coaches thought they had something special in Bowers when he arrived last year as an early enrollee.
But likely not like this.
What Bowers accomplished was incredible. Bowers finished the season as Georgia’s leading receiver, with 56 catches for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Not only did those numbers blow away the numbers for a Bulldog tight end, but his 13 touchdown catches set a new school record for receivers, besting the old mark of 12 held formerly by Terrence Edwards.
Bowers laughed that no, he never saw this kind of production coming.
“The first couple of games in I was catching a few balls, just kind of doing my thing but as the season went on, I’m like shoot, I’m kind of doing pretty well,” Bowers said. “But it never really clicked with me until the end of the year. It still hasn’t clicked with me. I feel like I’m just out there just kind of playing. I wasn’t thinking about it really.”
Bowers’ performance is even more impressive in that it had been over a year since he last put on a football uniform. He missed out on his senior season when the state of California pushed back the start of the season due to Covid-19.
“Coming in early definitely helped. I had no clue what to expect because I hadn’t played football in over a year. Playing in spring ball, getting my butt beat a little by some of the dudes out there, it just kind of got me going again in a football mindset,” Bowers said. “That’s what helped me get back in a football mindset. It was kind of hard at first getting back in a football mindset, but once it got going, I felt comfortable again.”
Bulldog head coach Kirby Smart was asked about Bowers leading up to the Orange Bowl and CFP Championship.
Per Smart, he and his assistants knew rather quickly that Bowers had an opportunity to be special.
However, it was not until he started playing against other competition that it became apparent how good Bowers could be.
“You never really know what you have in a player until the pads come on,” Smart said. “Somebody’s got to go hit somebody, and you know they’re not shying away from it. Once he got into contact, he’s got really good toughness. He’s got great lower body strength. He’s got great pass-catching radius and good speed. These things combine to make for a good tight end,” Smart said. “The fact that he’s been so composed has surprised me the most. There’s not been a moment too big for him. It doesn’t matter to him whether he’s playing in the backyard or playing our defense against the scout team or he’s playing Clemson in the opening game, for him he wants to do it the right way. It’s important to him to do it the right way.”
Bowers saved some of his best efforts for Georgia’s biggest games.
Although the Bulldogs dropped the SEC Championship to Alabama, Bowers caught a title game record 10 catches in that contest. The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder also caught touchdown passes in Georgia’s Orange Bowl victory over Michigan and again in the CFP Championship against Alabama.
Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban called Bowers “one of the premier players in all of college football.”
That was not all.
“I know he’s just a freshman. But this guy’s got great size. He’s a good blocker. He’s physical. He’s tough,” Saban said. “He’s got wide receiver skills in every way, shape or form, which makes it difficult being a bigger guy for bigger guys to cover him and it makes it also difficult for smaller guys to cover him. This guy is just a phenomenal football player all the way around.”
Georgia football staffer Scott Cochran, who was also present on the Zoom, said Bowers is just as impressive a person off the field as he is on it.
“To have a freshmen with these numbers is impressive but what I’m fired up about is off the field. Being here only a short time and he’s already done a bunch of outreach stuff,” Cochran said. “He reads to schools and also goes and plays in the playground. But he’s making a huge impact. It’s awesome to have him and he’s a great representative for Georgia.”
However, it’s on the field where Bowers’ fame is expected to continue to grow.
So what's next?
“Shoot, I don’t know,” Bowers said. “It’s back to work from here until the season. Just get the team better, keep the winning going and try to run it back again.”
