Junior Ben Yurosek needs a new nickname. His Stanford teammates started calling him The Future a couple years ago, but that became passé in 2021 as Yurosek led the Cardinal in receiving yardage while catching 42 passes for 653 yards and three touchdowns.
It was an eye-opening debut for a player who hadn't caught a single pass the year before, but it was familiar at the same time. Yurosek is just the latest in a long line of legendary Stanford tight ends, many of whom earned all-conference and All-America honors. (One, Zach Ertz, even had the Mackey Award stolen from him, which for Stanford players is the same as winning it.) Ertz is on his way to the NFL Hall of Fame and still doing his thing on Sundays (74/763/5 for the Arizona Cardinals in 2021), and Dalton Schultz ranked third among NFL tight ends with 78 receptions for the Dallas Cowboys.
Yurosek will definitely be playing on Sundays in 2023 or '24, but he'll be destroying Pac-12 defenses on Saturdays this fall. Stanford lists him at 6'4", which is on the smaller side in comparison to past Stanford tight ends, but his wing span and unnaturally soft hands more than make up for that. Even though he and quarterback Tanner McKee were both in their first years as starters, they quickly developed a chemistry evident in the trust McKee showed when throwing to his favorite target. There were countless plays when Yurosek appeared to be covered, but McKee knew that he actually wasn't. He'd simply put the ball someplace where only the tight end could make a play, and Yurosek would oblige, either by bullying a smaller defender or simply reaching high into the air to pluck a pass out of the sky. For his efforts, Yurosek was named to Pro Football Focus's All-Pac-12 team -- and that was only the beginning.
As usual, there's a fair amount of talent behind Yurosek on the tight end depth chart. Senior Bradley Archer and junior Lukas Ungar made limited statistical contributions last year, with three and two receptions respectively, but I'm looking forward to seeing two new members of the group. Freshman Sam Roush comes to Stanford from Tennessee where he was a four-star prospect and ranked among the nation's best at his position. He turned down offers from USC, UCLA, and Cal in favor of Tight End U, and he could make an impact as early as this fall. Fellow freshman C.J. Hawkins was rated just a bit below Roush, but his offer list tells a different story. Most observers expected him to stay at home and accept his offer from Florida, but he turned down the Gators along with Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, and several other schools. Like Roush, Hawkins is 6'6", but at just 230 pounds he's the lightest tight end on the roster right now. His future is bright.
Finally, for those wondering how the uncertainty surrounding the Pac-12 might be impacting Stanford recruiting, there are several recent signs that we shouldn't worry. David Shaw's staff has already received verbal commitments from two of the top eleven tight ends in the Class of 2023, in Walker Lyons (four stars, #5 tight end in the nation) and Jaden Platt (four stars, #11). Both of those young men are more highly rated than Roush and Hawkins, so Stanford's tight end room will be among the deepest in the nation for years to come, just as it's been for the past decade. Even in the face of all this change, some things have remained the same. Tight End U is still Tight End U.
