Super Bowl LI Stacked With Jersey Pride

The Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots will square off in Super Bowl LI Sunday, and both teams boast plenty of Jersey players--including 5 Rutgers alum.

Photo courtesy of Rutgers Athletics.

The Giants, Jets and Eagles might not have made it to Super Bowl LI, but there are still plenty of Jersey-related reasons to be invested in this year’s game—perhaps even more than when we hosted the Super Bowl back in 2014.

For starters, Rutgers has more Super Bowl players in this season’s game than any other college program. Five former Scarlet Knights are included on the rosters: Devin McCourty, Logan Ryan, Duron Harmon and Jonathan Freeny from the New England Patriots and Mohamed Sanu from the Atlanta Falcons. They may not have had a stellar 2016 season, but the Rutgers football team is still making us proud.

This Sunday, plenty of Jersey natives will be hitting the gridiron.

The Falcons:

Head coach Dan Quinn grew up in Morris Township and played football at Morristown High School. Assistant head coach Raheem Morris is from Irvington.

As for players, Mohamed Sanu (wide receiver) is about as Jersey as it gets. Originally from Sayreville, Sanu played football at South Brunswick High School before going on to play college football at Rutgers.

Besides those big names, there are plenty of Jersey natives on the Falcons’ roster. Devin Fuller (wide receiver) was born in Englewood and attended Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan. Matt Simms (quarterback) grew up in Franklin Lakes and played at Don Bosco Prep High School in Ramsey. Nick Williams (wide receiver) grew up in East Windsor and played high school football at Hun School in Princeton.

The Patriots:

Head coach Bill Belichick seems to have an affinity for Rutgers players. (At one point in 2013, there were eight Rutgers players on the Patriots roster.) His son, Steve Belichick, attended Rutgers, where he played lacrosse before walking onto the football team his senior year as a long snapper. Steve is now the Patriots’ safeties coach.

In this year’s Super Bowl, four former Scarlet Knights will suit up for the Patriots. Logan Ryan (cornerback) grew up in Berlin and played football at Rutgers, where he and Sanu were roommates. Devin McCourty (safety) attended Saint Joseph Regional High School in Montvale before joining the Scarlet Knights with his twin brother, Jason. Players Duron Harmon (safety) and Jonathan Freeny (linebacker) are also Rutgers alum.

Wyckoff native Chris Hogan (wide receiver) played three years of lacrosse at Penn State before joining the football team at Monmouth University for one season. And Dion Lewis (running back) attended Blair Academy in Blairstown, where he was on the football and track and field teams.

So even if your team won’t be on the field in Houston, you can still root for Jersey in the Super Bowl.

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