Georgia Bulldog TEs Arik Gilbert and Brock Bowers Bring "Unique Talent"
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ATHENS - With Georgia Bulldog TEs coach Todd Hartley on board, it’s safe to call UGA “Tight End University” for the time being.
Former Bulldog David Pollack said this summer that Georgia has “one of the best tight end rooms in the history of college football.”
Everyone knows about Brock Bowers, who has +15000 odds to win the 2022 Heisman Trophy this season according to FanDuel.
College football fans have seen flashes of Darnell Washington, and they’ve heard all about Arik Gilbert as well.
On Thursday, Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken spoke about the tight end group and what makes them different from each other.
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"Well Arik, a lot like Brock, is a unique talent,” Monken said. “Their skillset - Arik is little bit different in that Arik has wide receiver background in route-running. He's good with the ball in his hands after the catch, whereas Brock's background is more get the ball in his hands, H-Back, full-back, run after the catch. That's probably the difference.”
When Brock Bowers has the ball, he’s looking to score. The California native had one of the best freshman seasons in Bulldog history last year, catching 56 passes for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns, showing breakaway speed at 6-foot-3 230-pounds.
Gilbert, an excellent pass-catcher and former 5-star out of Marietta (GA), runs like a deer at 6-foot-5 250-pounds. Like Monken said, he’s a tremendous route runner for his size with big, strong hands.
“So as Brock needs to continue to develop his running, he's one of those guys where you just have to get it in his hands”, Monken added. “He has better catch radius than I thought. Arik is more of a route-runner. He's been in that, in terms of what he's developed, it's almost like an air-raid lock. So that's been a part of that. Both have unique skillsets.”
Bowers’ hard-working mentality is a big reason why he played so much and why he succeeded last fall. Gilbert was a little heavy earlier in the year, but sources say he’s come a long way to get back into football shape in the last six months. He had one of the best receiving seasons in Georgia high school football history as a senior at Marietta, so the guy knows what he’s doing. He didn’t forget how to catch passes and score touchdowns.
If Darnell Washington can stay healthy, look for him to possibly see more passes come his way as well. A giant mis-match due to his length and overall size, Washington is an excellent run blocker and a giant weapon in the red-zone.
The talent is there, and while three and four tight end sets seem like a great option, Monken added that the receivers on the roster might not be too thrilled about that idea.
“Well, if you run it too often, you get every wideout in the portal (laughing)”, Monken said. “We do have great players at that position. You do have to utilize their skillset, but you also have to balance that because there is a cost to that. It is one thing to say we are going to utilize three-team personnel, four-team personnel, then it is like ‘ok, what are we going to do out of it to execute?”
Either way, we’re going to see a lot of tight ends play this fall, and you can expect them to be a MAJOR part of the Bulldog offense throughout the season.
The talent is there, the coaching is there, and the opportunity is there for the Bulldogs to light up the scoreboard in 2022.