Steelers Now
MOBILE, Ala. — For the collection prospects gathered for the Senior Bowl every year, the five days of practices and meetings amount to a three-day job interview, with NFL scouts, general managers and head coaches watching their every move on and off the practice field. Players are judged harshly, without favoritism or much consideration. Perform poorly, either on the practice field or in the meeting room, and your draft stock can drop like a rock. But if there was anyone that could have been excused from being at his absolute best this week in Mobile, it was TCU wide receiver Jack Bech.
Bech, a 22-year-old senior from Lafayette, Louisiana, had been preparing for the Senior Bowl and the rest of the NFL Draft process ever since TCU’s season ended. He suffered a knee sprain on Nov. 30 at Cincinnati that kept him out of the team’s New Mexico Bowl win over Louisiana on Dec. 28, but Bech was working hard and determined to hit the ground running in the pre-draft process.
Then, on New Year’s Day, his life was turned upside down. Bech’s older brother Tiger, a former all-Ivy League player at Princeton, was among the 15 people killing during a domestic terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, hours after crowds of people rang in the new year.
Tiger Bech, who had been working as a stockbroker since his playing career, was in New Orleans on vacation.
“He lived all his dreams, almost,” Jack Bech said on Saturday. “The one had had at the top of this was to see me make it to the NFL. That drives me almost every day.”
Jack Bech had already had a great week of practice at the Senior Bowl Tuesday through Thursday. In a week marred by questionable quarterback play all around, he was one of the few wide receivers to still find a way to stand out. He also impressed in interviews, tackling questions about his brother’s passing and emphasizing his faith in God and desire to live up to his brother’s legacy.
If the first three days in Mobile are a high-intensity job interview, the Senior Bowl itself is by comparison, just a frivolity. Most of the NFL executives have flown home. It’s the last college football game any of those involved will play, and they usually have a bit of fun with. Both teams on Saturday called trick plays in the first half.
But then Bech turned his good week in Mobile into an unforgettable one. He was the best receiver in the game, as he had been all week, making five catches for 66 yards, including a 39-yard flea-flicker from Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart in the first half.
“JACK BECH, WHO GOES UP AND MAKES HIS SIGNATURE CONTESTED CATCH!”
📺 #SeniorBowl on @NFLNetwork#GoFrogs | #BleedPurple pic.twitter.com/CTxuLqsaQS
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) February 1, 2025
Late in the fourth quarter, Bech’s American Team was trailing, 19-16 and driving. Kicking a field goal for...
