Why new Georgia tight end Ben Yurosek is the 'closest thing' to Brock Bowers

Ben Yurosek is a name college football fans will talk about soon. The Stanford tight end transfer landed at Georgia in February to finish his college career.

On3’s Andy Staples and Cody Bellaire did their “Ultimate College Football Draft,” and Staples wanted Yurosek on his squad. He’s a bit under the radar and is not necessarily the second coming of Brock Bowers.

But, he’s going to stand out with his ability to catch, run and block, similar to the former Georgia star.

“My last pick is another guy that I’m not sure is a household name,” Staples said Wednesday on his show. “But if he does what his new team thinks he’s going to do, we’ll know him very quickly, that is Benjamin Yurosek … And essentially they said, who in college football has been the closest thing to Brock Bowers, and that is this guy. So he’s six-four. 240, extremely fast.

“You’re happy to hand him the ball on an end around, but you also can move him around in the pass game. He was hurt a little bit last year. So you haven’t necessarily gotten to see him at full capacity. Also, he’s not been surrounded by the kind of talent he’ll be surrounded by at Georgia, but they’re very excited about what he can be.” 

Yurosek spent four seasons at Stanford, but played just one game in 2020. He was also limited to six games lsat season due to injury.

Yurosek set career highs in 11 games in 2021, reeling in 43 passes for 658 yards and three touchdowns. Granted, he had 49 catches for 445 yards the next year.

“Look, nobody’s going to replace Brock Bowers, he was special,” Staples said. “That person doesn’t come along very often. But in my offense where I know that tight end needs to be a mismatch nightmare, needs to be capable of moving around and this guy is a willing blocker as well. 

“So I’m happy with that, but I need to be able to move him around and confuse defenses. This is the ultimate in terms of who I can put in different places to really mess with a defensive coordinator.”

As a member of the Class of 2020, Yurosek was a three-star recruit out of Bakersfield (Calif.) Christian, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 40 overall prospect in the state, the No. 18 tight end in the class and the No. 447 overall prospect in the class.