Before the throng of elated orange jerseys surrounded him, Jack Bech spun the football down to the turf with his right hand, took a knee and prayed. He prayed in a No. 7 jersey he wore to honor his best friend who he still routinely refers to as his other half. He prayed in the same color jersey his other half, his late brother Martin “Tiger” Bech, wore at Princeton as a wide receiver and All-Ivy League return specialist.
Exactly a month after Tiger Bech was one of 14 people killed in a terrorist attack in the early hours of New Year’s Day on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Jack Bech had six receptions for 68 yards and the deciding touchdown. He was named the game’s MVP. Bech, one of the best all-around receivers in college football last season, said the final play of the Senior Bowl had a dose of divine intervention from his older brother.
“Man, it’s simple: my brother had some wings on me. He gave it to me. And he let that all take place,” Bech said in his postgame interview with NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
One month ago today, Jack Bech lost his brother, Tiger, in the New Year’s terror attack on Bourbon Street.
Today, Jack wore his brother’s No. 7 in the @seniorbowl and caught the winning touchdown — on a play run with 7 seconds left on the clock. @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/hnY1uAMhLh
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 1, 2025
Jack Bech is no stranger to the end zone — he led the TCU Horned Frogs in touchdown receptions in 2024 with nine — but Saturday afternoon’s arrival was nothing like all his previous visits there. It was the first without Tiger cheering him on. His walk-off 2-yard touchdown reception in the 2025 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., capped off the annual week of the nation’s top senior players going toe-to-toe in practices and scrimmages as one of the final opportunities to showcase their talents to NFL franchises before the draft in April.
Bech was one of the stars of the week in Mobile, Ala., undoubtedly ascending his draft stock higher due to his standout week. Earlier this week, Bech spoke to reporters after a Senior Bowl practice with new tattoos on the left side of his chest. Forever inscribed on his left collarbone is “7 to Heaven.” Over his heart are Roman numeral letters of Tiger’s day of birth and the day he died at age 27.
“Everything I’m doing out here is just all for him and in memory of him,” Bech said earlier this week.
Jack Bech with a walk-off TD to seal the win in the @seniorbowl 🙏
(Via @nflnetwork)
pic.twitter.com/le8iSiwaFa— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) February 1, 2025
The Lafayette, La., native spent his first two years in college football playing for the team he grew up rooting for, the LSU Tigers. Bech transferred to TCU in 2023 but became one of the most dynamic receivers in the country in 2024. Bech said Tiger, who lived in New York as a stockbroker, had achieved all of the dreams he had in life but for one: playing in the NFL. Jack Bech is determined to live that reality for himself and his other half.
Bech’s NFL draft potential
After a terrific true freshman season during Ed Orgeron’s final year at LSU (he had 43 catches for 489 yards in 2021), Bech was unable to overcome both Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. in 2022 — eventually transferring to TCU ahead of his junior year. The 2024 season was a nice bookend to his college career, as his 62-catch, 1,034-yard, nine-touchdown campaign for the Horned Frogs was his best since that freshman season of 2021.
At the Senior Bowl this week, Bech showed great ball skills with his own blend of speed, power and body control that makes him a handful as an X-receiver who isn’t afraid to block. Bech was one of the most productive skill players during Senior Bowl practices this week, helping himself as much as anyone at the event.
A mostly off-radar prospect when the year began, Bech is firmly in the Day 2 conversation, possibly as a top-50 player. — Nick Baumgardner, NFL draft writer
Required reading
(Photo: Vasha Hunt / Imagn Images)
