Brock Bowers’ injury will tell us if Georgia is a real championship contender

ATHENS — There’s no sugarcoating Brock Bowers’ injury. The star tight end underwent tightrope surgery on Monday after picking up a dreaded high ankle sprain in Georgia’s win over Vanderbilt.

Bowers is expected to miss the next four to six weeks. The optimistic end would have him back for Ole Miss. There’s also a world where Bowers doesn’t return until the College Football Playoff, should Georgia make it there.

Georgia players and Kirby Smart will have “next man up” on repeat over the next couple of weeks when it comes to replacing Bowers. In reality, there’s no replacing a player as special as Bowers. If someone else could do what the start tight end could do, they would. But there’s only one Bowers.

Bowers’ replacement, Oscar Delp, knew that back in August.

“I love playing with Brock and everything. I mean, I’m just trying to be the next Oscar Delp,” Delp said. “I mean, obviously everyone wants to be like Brock Bowers and make the plays that he makes and they’re crazy. It’s great to have a guy like that in the room that can kind of mentor me and also just be one of my buddies that I just hang out with. I mean, I’m just trying to focus on my game and just be the next Oscar Delp.”

Delp isn’t the only player that will have to step up in Bowers’ absence. Georgia is going to have to replace his impact in the aggregate. It will look for players such as Ladd McConkey, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and Daijun Edwards to be the best versions of themself, much as Bowers is on a down-by-down basis.

Bowers is the type of player who could be the difference not just between a national championship but even winning the SEC championship. We know he’ll miss the next couple of weeks, just as Georgia enters its toughest stretch of games.

Those games should tell us a lot about the championship ability of the rest of the Georgia team.

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