Source: Stanford TE Yurosek to return in 2023

10:34 AM ET

Pete ThamelESPN

Star Stanford junior tight end Ben Yurosek, who earned second-team all-league honors in 2022, is returning to school, according to an ESPN source.

Yurosek intends to come back to Stanford in 2023, where he’ll be one of the focal points of the Stanford offense. The news is a boon to first-year coach Troy Taylor, who is taking over from coach David Shaw and will have back one of the program’s linchpin players.

Yurosek is a 6-foot-4, 242-pound tight end who caught 49 balls for 445 yards last year. He finished second on the team in catches in 2022 and was third on the Cardinal in receiving yards. In the past two years, he has 1,098 yards receiving and four touchdowns.

Yurosek projects to be one of the top tight ends in the 2024 NFL draft. By staying an extra season, which will be his fourth at the school, he avoids one of the best tight end classes in recent memory. With Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer leading the way, this deep tight end group looms as one of the top position groups in the 2023 draft.

Yurosek’s best games this year included 10 catches for 78 yards against Arizona State and eight catches for 90 yards against Washington State.