TAMPA, Fla. — Not many NFL players get the chance to play in the Super Bowl in their home states. Fewer get to do it in their hometowns. Even fewer get to play on football’s biggest stage in the same stadium where they spent so many Saturdays.
Tampa Bay’s Jason Pierre-Paul and Kansas City’s Austin Reiter are the latest two.
“A lot of Saturdays,” Reiter said Wednesday from Kansas City. “I’m still just taking it in.”
Moments after defeating the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game, Pierre-Paul, known and referred to by most by his initials, JPP, was very introspective in his postgame interview.
“Back in Tampa where it all started at. I won’t say where it all started at but I played college here,” he said. “To give you a story, the rundown, it would take forever, man. Maybe I have just got to write a book.”
It’s difficult to find out exactly how many players may have played their college games in the same stadium where they’ll play in the Super Bowl. Only Pitt, Miami, USF, San Diego State, and Temple currently play home games in NFL stadiums. Other universities like UCLA, USC, and Minnesota have played games in stadiums which have hosted NFL competition throughout the years.
Pinning down which players appeared in college games regularly on the same field as the Super Bowl is tricky to pin down.
Safe to say the number is small.
“It will start kicking in more when we get down there,” said Reiter, who said his favorite memory while a Bull was the electric environment when Florida State visited Raymond James in 2012.
USF has made many former players play in Super Bowls. Aside from 2018, at least one player has played in the season finale in every season since 2014. Overall, there has been a former Bull in eight of the last ten Super Bowls. JPP won a Super Bowl with the Giants in XLVI. Reiter won a championship with the Chiefs last year. The two will face off – literally – on February 7.
“I don’t know if it’s been done yet,” said Reiter. “I hope they can get (a photo).”
There will be plenty of familiar faces on the turf at Raymond James Stadium during Super Bowl LV.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster has five players who played college football in the Sunshine State. John Franklin, Greg Joseph, and Herb Miller are all former Florida Atlantic Owls. Garrison Sanborn went to Florida State. Pierre-Paul, the most notable local college player, left the University of South Florida after his junior season in 2009 and became the Bulls’ highest-drafted player as a First Round, 15th-overall selection by the New York Giants.
The Kansas City Chiefs have four former Florida college athletes. Derrick Nnadi played at Florida State, Tommy Townsend and Demarcus Robinson played at UF, and Reiter left USF after 2014.
The Miami Herald has reported that this year is the first time in 13 years, the Miami Hurricanes will go unrepresented in a Super Bowl.
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