“You live to hear your name called during the draft,” Yurosek said. “But at the end of the day, the seventh round is unfolding and there’s some benefit, some power to being able to go undrafted and pick where you want to play. I had a lot of other options. But the coaching staff, the culture, this opportunity, is what you want.”
He spent four years as primarily a receiving tight end at Stanford, averaging 15.3 yards per catch — third-highest among Power 5 conference tight ends — as a sophomore.
Then he spent last year as primarily a blocking tight end at Georgia, catching only 15 balls but living up to the Bulldogs’ reputation for having quality brute-force tight ends.
“That’s what really caught our eye,” said O’Connell, referring to Yurosek’s transformation, which illustrated against SEC competition the kid’s potential to be a complete tight end at the next level.