Jim Nagy breaks down what Ben Yurosek brings to Georgia offense

Georgia just sent the top tight end in College Football of the last several seasons to the NFL, but the Bulldogs appear to be reloaded at the position. According to Jim Nagy, executive director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, folks in Athens should be excited about the addition of Stanford transfer Ben Yurosek – and the room as a whole.

“We started watching Ben last summer and he was a pretty easy study in the pass game,” Nagy told On3’s Andy Staples. “This guy is fun to watch.”

“I think Georgia fans are gonna be excited once they really get to see him because he didn’t participate in the spring. I was at the spring game, I got a chance to briefly meet Ben on the field there, but they (fans) haven’t seen him. He was trying to finish out and get that Stanford degree. I don’t blame him,” he continued. “Really a fun guy in the passing game. Almost like a big wide receiver. Not only do they detach him and play him in the slot like Stanford, but you can play this guy out wide and throw him the ball down the field. He can go and make plays down the field. When he is closer to the alignment, he’s totally a threat to stretch the seam.”

Yurosek spent four seasons at Stanford, including the 2020 COVID season – allowing him to use his final year of eligibility in 2024 at Georgia. The Bakersfield, Calif. native played in all six games for the Cardinal as a freshman but didn’t catch a pass. However, as a sophomore he grew into a bigger part of the offense – starting 11 games and hauling in a team-high 658 receiving yards on 43 receptions. He found the end zone three times, earning All-Pac 12 honors from Pro Football Focus (1st), Phil Steele (3rd) and the league’s coaches (Honorable Mention).

Yurosek continued his impact into his junior season at Stanford, upping his All-Pac 12 honors to a consensus second-team selection from both the AP and Coaches. Starting all 12 games for the Cardinal, Yurosek caught 49 passes for 445 yards and a touchdown, also adding 50 yards on the ground with a carry against USC. New Stanford head coach Troy Taylor decided to use Yurosek’s versatility more in 2023, allowing him to carry it 11 times in six games before getting hurt. On 16 receptions, he totaled 239 yards with a career-high 138 coming on nine grabs in Stanford’s season-opening win over Hawaii.

Yurosek entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer and chose Georgia in February. He’ll join a tight end room that has been on people’s radar for a few seasons now. Alongside Oscar Delp, who many regard as one of the top tight ends in next year’s draft, the Bulldogs appear as if they’ll have a strong 1-2 punch.

“With him and Oscar Delp — and I know they’ve got a couple of other young guys they like — that room Todd Hartley has at Georgia is pretty ridiculous, as it’s been for a couple of years now going back to when Darnell Washington and Brock Bowers and those guys were there too,” Nagy said. “… Georgia’s going to be able to create mismatches at that position. With Carson Beck and as quick as he can get the ball out of his hand – watching him throw it live, his trigger, his release is unbelievable, so to get those guys involved in the passing game, it’s going to be dangerous.”

“It seems like from a skillset perspective, it we’re talking about someone who looks somewhat similar to Brock Bowers,” Staples added. “I don’t want to throw that comparison on him because it’s a lot, but it does seem like Georgia is trying to keep a lot of the Brock Bowers stuff by adding him … It’s been stacked pretty much forever, but now at this point, if they feel like they’re missing something, they can just go into the portal and get it.”

Yurosek arrived in Athens this summer and has gotten to work with his new teammates. Fall camp will be big for him after missing spring practice, but the fifth-year transfer certainly is no stranger to the collegiate game. There will likely be some adjustment time, but it feels fair to expect him to pick things up pretty quickly.