Napa's Bowers Helps Georgia Clinch National Championship Win

NAPA, CA — Former Napa High School football standout Brock Bowers helped lead the University of Georgia Bulldogs to its first national title in 41 years.

Bowers, a first-year tight end for the Bulldogs, made a crucial fourth-quarter touchdown Monday night in the College Football Playoff championship game against the University of Alabama Crimson Tide at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

After quarterback Stetson Bennett connected with Adonai Mitchell on a 40-yard touchdown to give No. 3 Georgia a 19-18 lead with 8:09 left in the game, Bowers caught a pass and ran 15 yards into the end zone untouched — putting the Bulldogs up by eight points with 3:33 left.

The final blow came from Georgia's dominant defense. Kelee Ringo intercepted an underthrown deep ball down the sideline by Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young.

With just over a minute left, Ringo took off behind a convoy of blockers and went 79 yards, Smart chasing and yelling at him to go down so he wouldn't risk a fumble. The touchdown set off a wild celebration by the relieved Georgia fans who packed Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Bulldogs (14-1) hadn't won a national title since freshman Herschel Walker led them there in 1980. If simply snapping the drought wasn't good enough, doing it against No. 1 Alabama (13-2) made it even better.

As for Bowers, he entered Monday night's game with 846 receiving yards this season — no other Bulldog has more than 469 — on 52 catches. A dozen of those receptions were for touchdowns, a team record for a pass-catcher in a single season.

"When the Bulldogs met Alabama last month in the SEC title game, which Georgia lost, 41-24, [Bowers] caught 10 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown," The New York Times reported in a feature article on the Napa High School grad.

According to The Times article, Georgia aggressively pursued Bowers when he was a prospect in Napa, where he was a tight end, tailback, wide receiver, linebacker and kick returner.

"As a high school sophomore, when he was just an inch shy of the 6-foot-4 he is now, his 40-inch vertical leap and a 40-yard dash time of 4.55 seconds turned heads," The Times reported.

In addition to Georgia, Bowers fielded offers from Louisiana State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon and Texas A&M, among others.

In August 2020, Bowers announced he was committed to Georgia.

In its preseason media guide for the 2021 session, Georgia said Bowers “should contend for playing time as a freshman.” Then injuries made him a star of the entire offense.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.