ATHENS — Chauncey Bowens will line up in the same place in the Georgia backfield this weekend, but the junior tailback will be seeing things differently this season.

“When I’m on the field, it’s like reading things different,” said Bowens, who projects to factor heavily in the Bulldogs’ stable of running backs. “Things I wasn’t reading before, maybe as a sophomore or freshman.

“It’s just kind of being like, ‘OK, I can identify fronts, I can identify coverages and little stuff like that always gives me a better idea of where to go and where to run my routes in the passing game.”

Bowens, a 5-foot-11, 225-pound back who came to UGA from The Benjamin School in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, started in three of the 12 games he played last season in rushing for 526 yards and 6 touchdowns on 103 carries while also catching 14 passes for 82 yards.

Those numbers might to be as dynamic as some hoped for Bowens when UGA signed him out of the 2024 class as the No. 17 ranked running back in the nation.

Bowens, despite his 225-pound size, has run a sub-11-second time in the 100 meters and with improved vision might be ready to break out and show his potential.

Indeed, Bowens proved his upside with a 119-yard rushing effort in a regular-season loss to Alabama that included a 43-yard run and four catches for 22 yads.

Bowens’ role could increase this season as he competes for carries with projected starter Nate Frazier.

The Bulldogs lost transfer Dante Dowdell to an offseason injury when the former Kentucky and Louisville back was involved in an ATV accident.

“Losing Dante, that hurts,” Bowens said. “But I think all of us (backs) together, we’ve all been putting in the work,” Bowens said of the anticipated extra load he and others will carry.

Bowens, himself, had to battle nagging lower body injuries to his leg and calf last season.

The SEC grind is real, and Bowens said he has taken it upon himself to make his body more prepared for the rigors ahead.

“I think that’s another step I took this offseason,” Bowens said. “Every single day, always making sure I’m doing something to help improve and take good maintenance in my body.

“That’s something I kind of took pride in this offseason, and I’m still doing it now.”

Georgia fans will also note Bowens has changed his number from 33 to the No. 5 in honor of former UGA running back great Garrison Hearst.

“There’s a lot of legacy behind that number, obviously Garrison Hearst being a great to wear that,” Bowens said. “I lived with (former UGA player) Gannon Hearst, so I just asked him, ‘what do you think … what would your dad think?’ “

Bowens said Gannon asked his father, Garrison — who finished third in the 1992 Heisman Trophy balloting behind Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta and Marshall Faulk — and received the thumbs up.

Hearst averaged 6.8 yards per carry — and 140.6 yards per game — the season he was a Heisman Trophy finalist, so the bar is set high for a UGA running back wearing that number.