3 Georgia playmakers who can help fill the void from Brock Bowers' injury

It has been nearly two weeks since Georgia star tight end Brock Bowers suffered what could conceivably be a UGA career-ending injury. Since Bowers is projected to be a top-12 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the all-world tight end may have played his last down for the Dawgs. Then again, he loves to compete and could be back from tightrope surgery before the end of the season. There is hope!

However, with tightrope surgery having somewhere around a four-to-six-week recovery timeline, Bowers will presumably miss at least the Dawgs' next three games coming out of their bye. Thus, he will almost certainly miss Florida down in Jacksonville, home vs. Missouri in two Saturdays and Georgia's home finale vs. Ole Miss in three. He could be back vs. Tennessee at the earliest, we think.

So with that in mind, Georgia will have to embrace the next-man-up mentality in the receiving game. This actually lines up well for Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck potentially crashing the early December Heisman Trophy party up in New York City. The Dawgs' hardest games are ahead of them. Obviously, so much will be put on his plate without having Bowers available for a month and change.

Here are three other playmakers who will need to step up to offset no longer having Bowers available.

3. Oscar Delp becomes the next man up in the tight end room for Georgia

With Bowers going down, that means more focus in the passing game will be placed on sophomore tight end Oscar Delp. The former blue-chipper in-state was on the team last year, learning behind Bowers and Darnell Washington. With Washington now in the NFL and Bowers sidelined, he has no choice but to become TE1 in the Georgia passing offense, at least for the next few weekends or so.

The good news for Delp is Beck seems to trust him already. He may be asked to do different things in the receiving game, but I expect for that to evolve a bit with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo shuffling the deck. Instead of being very 12 personnel heavy with two tight end sets, I envision the Dawgs will embrace more of an 11-personnel look with three wide receiver sets to help create some more space.

Look for Beck to target Delp a bit more on third downs and in the red zone. He may not be Beck's safety valve in those critical spots like Bowers has been all year, but you better believe this will be his role next year in the Dawgs' passing offense with Bowers almost certainly turning pro. It may be a tad clunky at times, but the talent is there. The question is if Delp can develop a great rapport with Beck.

Other players from Todd Hartley's tight end room will have to step up, but none more so than Delp.