Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. You cannot replace a player like Brock Bowers. The Napa Nightmare was not only Georgia’s best offensive weapon regardless of position in 2023, he was arguably the most effective football player Georgia has fielded in the Kirby Smart era.
Mike Bobo and Todd Hartley are tasked with patching together something that in the aggregate will approximate a Bowers-ish product. That’s a tall task. Fortunately for them, they have some great material to work with.
The heaviest lifting is likely to fall to a pair of veterans, junior Oscar Delp and graduate transfer Ben Yurasek. It’s not as if Delp (6’5, 245 pounds) is an unknown quantity. Bowers’ injuries in 2023 gave him a chance to preview what he can do, and he responded, hauling in 24 passes for 284 yards and 3 touchdowns. Delp may actually be a better inline blocker than Bowers was at this point.
If there’s a concern it’s that he’s certainly not the same cheat code Bowers was in the passing game. Delp is a difficult matchup for linebackers and safeties. Bowers was simply overwhelming for those same players. But Delp has served time as the backup to both Darnell Washington and Brock Bowers during his time in the Classic City. He’a taken a lot of practice and game reps. I’d be surprised if he’s not a first or second day NFL Draft pick come April 2025.
Yurosek arrives in Athens a fr er a standout career at Stanford that saw him snag 107 passes for 1337 yards and 5 touchdowns over three seasons in Palo Alto. Yurosek (6’4, 247 pounds) led the Cardinal in receiving in 2021 with 653 yards on 42 catches. However he saw action in just 6 games in 2023, catching 16 passes for 239 yards due to a shoulder injury that is not expected to impact him in 2024. *
Yurosek is another big-bodied tight end who still moves well. He even had 11 carries for 53 yards in 2023 and ripped off a 50 yard run in 2022. How Brock Bowers is that?
Past Delp and Yurosek there’s a lot of talent in need of seasoning. Lawson Luckie returns following a freshman campaign that saw him catch 2 passes for 9 yards and a touchdown against FSU. The 6’3, 240 pound Norcross product played in seven games in 2023, seeing his snaps increase with Bowers out and Delp moving to TE1. He’ll likely see increased snaps in 2024, but perhaps most significantly having a third veteran tight end may allow Bobo to do more of the versatile 13 (one running back, three tight ends) looks he dialed up last season.
The Bulldogs also recruited a pair of talented true freshmen who each turned heads this spring, and will be looking to make an impact in 2024. Missouri native Jaden Reddell was rated the #3 tight end and #53 player in the country by 247Sports in the 2024 class. At 6’4, 235 pounds he’s got prototype size for a “flex back” type player, who could split out wide or play attached to the offensive line. Reddell was used in high school mostly as a big wide receiver, and actually led all Bulldog tight ends in the G Day spring game with 5 catches for 23 yards.
Reddell’s fellow freshman Colton Heinrich may need some time to develop physically. At 6’3, 230 pounds he’s got the build to add a solid 20 pounds to his frame. But he’s already a solid, tenacious blocker and had 31 receptions for 399 yards and 3 touchdowns as a senior for elite Florida program Cardinal Gibbon (Ft. Lauderdale). Heinrich may yet find his way onto the field in 2024.
I’m not sure we should expect Georgia to use the 2024 tight ends in precisely the same way they were in 2023. In the aggregate this group may actually be better blockers, which will help a Bulldog backfield replacing warhorses Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards. But for an offense that appears likely to be without at least three (Bowers, McConkey, and Rosemy-Jacksaint) and potentially four (Rara Thomas) of its top five receivers from 2023, there’s a need for this unit to produce. Georgia may actually need the tight ends more this season than they did in 2023. There are going to be opportunities for this group to potentially catch more passes than Bowers and Delp last season, cementing Georgia’s title as Tight End U. Until later…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
*Fun fact: the “Daniels” from whom Yurosek caught several of those highlight passes was junior quarterback Ashton Daniels, the son of former Bulldog receiver Juan Daniels and former UGA volleyball player Hadli Anstine Daniels. It’s a small world after all.