Sometimes all a college football player needs is a break. Georgia’s Devin Bowman said that’s all that happened for him.
For most of the past three seasons, Bowman was buried on the Bulldogs’ depth chart. But the junior will make his second consecutive start at cornerback when Georgia faces off with South Carolina on Saturday.
So what changed? Nothing on his end, Bowman insists.
“I wouldn’t say anything has changed,” Bowman said after a recent practice. “I’ve just been working my butt off day in, day out. I mean, I’ve been doing that since I got here. The only thing I can say is I’ve just kept working and working and working, and now it’s paying off.”
Well, of course, the Bulldogs did have a rather notable change at defensive coordinator. Jeremy Pruitt came from Florida State to replace Todd Grantham, who left in January for Louisville. With that, came new life for Bowman, and several other UGA defenders.
“I had a clean slate because he was a new coach; everyone had a clean slate,” said Bowman, who is playing the cornerback opposite senior Damian Swann. “Let’s just say if Pruitt didn’t come in, I still feel like I would’ve had a chance to come in and start. … But I guess I just really bought into what Pruitt had going. … I just worked my butt off.”
Bowman is one of five defensive backs in Georgia’s two-deep who will see action in the secondary against the Gamecocks for the first time in their careers.
Freshman Dominick Sanders is slated to start at the “Star” position and will be backed by sophomore J.J. Green, a converted running back. Swann is backed by freshman Malkom Parrish, and Bowman’s relief will come in the form of junior college transfer Shattle Fenteng.
Awaiting them will be South Carolina quarterback Dylan Thompson and the Gamecocks’ band of big-play receivers, including Shaq Roland and Nick Jones. Thompson, a 6-foot-3, 218-pound senior and first-year starter, has passed for 632 yards and five touchdowns in two games (with two interceptions).
Adding to the challenge is South Carolina appeared to get its running game on track Saturday against East Carolina. Junior tailback Mike Davis bounced back from an early-season rib injury to rush for 118 yards on 18 carries, and the Gamecocks gained 175 yards rushing overall in the 33-23 victory.
“From what I’ve seen over the years they run the ball a lot,” Georgia linebacker Amarlo Herrera said. “So I expect them to run the ball.”
The good news for the Bulldogs is they won’t have to be as concerned about the quarterback running as they were when facing former Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw. Thompson has run seven times for a net of 10 yards but, in contrast to Shaw, is a pass-first quarterback.
“Dylan Thompson is definitely not Connor Shaw,” Bowman said. “He can throw the ball really well. I haven’t seen him run much. But he knows what’s going on. We’ll just have to wait and see Saturday.
Georgia didn’t do very well in either respect in the first half of the Clemson game. The Tigers rolled up 276 total yards by halftime, including 102 rushing and 174 passing. Clemson quarterbacks completed passes of 30, 35 and 38 yards in the opening half. Of course, the Bulldogs adjusted and shut them down, allowing only 15 yards in the second half.
Thompson already has touchdown passes of 69 and 46 yards to his credit.
“We played good enough just to beat Clemson, and I think we have a long way to go, a long way to go,” senior safety Corey Moore said.
“This bye week gave us time to improve on what we need to work on, which is a lot. A win was a win, but we’ve been focusing on ourselves and trying to improve our craft.”
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