There's a chance Georgia could be without their best player when they face Tennessee in November
There's still a month to go until the Georgia Bulldogs visit Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Vols, but there's a chance that UGA could be without their best player when the two SEC East programs meet on November 18. Georgia tight end Brock Bowers, the best all-around player in college football, suffered an ankle […]
There's still a month to go until the Georgia Bulldogs visit Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Vols, but there's a chance that UGA could be without their best player when the two SEC East programs meet on November 18.
Georgia tight end Brock Bowers, the best all-around player in college football, suffered an ankle injury in the Bulldogs' win against Vanderbilt this past weekend.
On Monday, The Athletic's Seth Emerson reported that multiple sources inside Georgia's program aren't optimistic that Bowers will play against Florida on October 28 (UGA is off this coming weekend).
Emerson noted that several Georgia players have had the "tightrope surgery" that helps speed up the recovery process for high ankle sprains. There's no indication that Bowers will or won't have the surgery. But it seems like it could be a possibility if Georgia is already fairly certain that Bowers won't play in two weeks.
Tennessee fans should be familiar with that surgery as it's the same one that wide receiver Cedric Tillman had last season after suffering an ankle injury in the Vols' win against Akron.
Tillman, who entered the 2022 season as the SEC's leading returning wide receiver, suffered the injury on September 17. He returned on October 29 for the Vols' win against Kentucky. Tillman played the following week at Georgia, but he sat out Tennessee's win against Missouri (Tillman never seemed to be 100 percent last season after suffering the injury, but he fought his way back to the field).
Bowers suffered his injury on October 14. The Bulldogs play Tennessee on November 18, so it's just under the same amount of time that Tillman missed.
Obviously every athlete is different. And we don't know if Bowers will need the surgery or not (and considering how secretive college teams are with injuries, we might not have a clear answer for a while on the severity of Bowers' injury). But either way, it's clear that Bowers' injury is somewhat significant. And if he's not on the field for the game against Tennessee, it makes the game much more winnable for the Vols.
Georgia will find a way to survive without Bowers. And they'll still be an elite team. But Bowers is a special player that's impossible to completely replace.
This is certainly a situation worth monitoring over the next few weeks.
Update:
Georgia announced that Bowers will undergo surgery on his injured ankle. This will likely be a week by week situation as he recovers and prepares for his return to action.
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