Super Bowl LX will be played in Santa Clara this Sunday, Feb. 8, meaning a supersized California homecoming for several UC alums playing in the big game. But that’s not all: former UC athletes will be in town to take part in the Super Bowl leadup, including the official celebrity flag football game held at the UC Berkeley campus on Feb. 5. There’s even a UC connection to the Bad Bunny halftime show.
UC football programs at Berkeley, Davis and UCLA (and in the past, Riverside!) have all sent players to the most popular sporting event in the United States — the Super Bowl. In fact, UCLA is among the top 5 colleges to feature alumni in the Super Bowl, with 118 players suiting up. And Cal alumni boast the sixth-most points scored in Super Bowl history (they would have had six more if Pete Carroll would have run the damn ball).
It’s a lot to take in, but here’s a place to start!
What to watch: Super Bowl LX players
New England Patriots
This Super Bowl LX edition of the New England Patriots has its defensive swagger back, thanks to their starting safety duo of Jaylinn Hawkins and Craig Woodson, both former Cal Bears. Hawkins was drafted in 2020, but this is his first year on the Patriots; Woodson, a rookie, was drafted last year. Both will be in their first Super Bowl, and the thrill of coming home struck them as they celebrated on-field in Denver under falling snow after winning the AFC Championship two weeks ago.
“‘We’re going back to the Bay!” Hawkins said to Woodson, the latter recounting the post-game frenzy to Write for California, which covers the Cal Bears. “That’s when it hit me,” Woodson said. “The Bay’s been like a second home to me, so it’s amazing.”
Hawkins was finishing his collegiate career and Woodson was just beginning his when they were both at Cal. They still formed a strong bond in their time together, learning the ins and outs of the position that would serve them in the NFL, with Hawkins playing an important mentorship role.
“Our room at Cal, it was really close. Craig was a part of that. Finding out he’s coming here, I’m going to make sure to do whatever it takes to make sure he’s comfortable,” Hawkins told Write for California, reflecting on getting his fellow Bear acclimated to the NFL.
“I never knew that we were going to be playing together again, man,” Woodson told the outlet. “It’s been a blessing. Just balling out with him, it makes the game that much more fun.”
Former UC Davis Aggie running back and school all-purpose yards record-holder Lan Larison will be cheering them on. Like Woodson, Larison is a Patriots rookie. But after a successful preseason debut earned him his first NFL touchdown, a foot injury put him on injured reserve for the season.
Seattle Seahawks
If the Patriots are relying on UC for defense, the Seattle Seahawks, the NFC champions, have been looking to UC’s football teams for offense. Wide receiver Jake Bobo, the former UCLA Bruin sensation, has a knack for getting open for the clutch postseason catch. His touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship was a key play in a game decided by just 4 points. Bobo is also known for doing the gritty work that teammates appreciate, whether it’s special teams or springing blocks for running backs and other receivers, and was named captain for two of the season’s most important games.
Fellow Bruin Zach Charbonnet, like Bobo, has also spent his entire NFL career with the Seahawks; the two joined the team together in 2023. Charbonnet led the team in touchdowns in the regular season this year with 12, but an ACL tear in the team’s first playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers will have him on the Super Bowl sidelines. After an exceptional season, he’ll be looking for the rest of the Seahawks to finish the grueling job of winning the NFL championship.
Other Super Bowl events
While the Super Bowl is still just four quarters of football on a Sunday afternoon, the lead-up has grown ever longer and more star-studded, with nearly a full week of events providing an estimated economic impact of $370 million to $630 million to the Bay Area. UC Berkeley will host one of the biggest events on Thursday, Feb. 5, when two celebrity flag football teams take the field at Memorial Stadium. Participants will include former Cal WR Keenan Allen (now on the Los Angeles Chargers) and Cal women’s basketball player Mia Mastrov.
Elsewhere in Berkeley, you may bump into folks like Pro Bowler and Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff, who stopped by the Cal Athletics department this week, along with fellow Bears Cameron Jordan (current New Orleans Saints defensive end) and Marshawn Lynch, the Cal and Seahawks running back legend, who will no doubt be on hand for commentary about this Seahawks-Patriots rematch throughout the week.
Of course, for millions around the world, the main event will be Bad Bunny on the halftime stage. Having just won the Album of the Year at the Grammys, the first Spanish-language record to do so, Bad Bunny will be poised to deliver a show worthy of the billing. UC San Diego professor Jade Power-Sotomayor, the head of performance studies and director of the Chicanx and Latinx Studies Program, has a unique perspective on what Bad Bunny might bring to the stage. Power-Sotomayor not only studies performance; she performed with Bad Bunny at the 2023 Grammys, dancing the traditional Puerto Rican “plena.” Bad Bunny’s place on the stage “feels like affirmation, respect and celebration. It feels both very personal and very consequential,” she told UC San Diego Today.
For more insight into the rise of the Super Bowl halftime show as a barometer of American culture, UCLA alumna Joanna Love is on hand to explain. In her forthcoming book (tentatively titled “Turf Wars: The Politics of Musical Co-branding at the Super Bowl”), Love situates the halftime show within a larger network of co-branded musical moments, from pregame ceremonies and commercials to national anthems and tributes. Together, they construct the Super Bowl halftime show and the NFL as a symbolic expressions of American identity — sometimes aligning seamlessly, other times exposing fault lines.
“The Super Bowl is still one of the last truly appointment-based programs,” Love said to UCLA Newsroom. “People stop what they’re doing to watch it together, in real time, even if they’re tuning in just for the commercials or the halftime show.”
Recent alums in the Bowl
Two UC alums got some hardware out of the 2023 Super Bowl — former UCLA Bruin and then-Kansas City defensive tackle Matt Dickerson won a Super Bowl ring with Kansas City and Cal Bear Nikko Remigio won a ring while on the Chiefs’ injured reserve. That game also featured UCLA three-time captain Jake Brendel on the San Francisco 49ers.
Score bleeping points* in trivia with your UC football history
He might not be in the booth calling the game, but Troy Aikman will always be part of Super Bowl history as a three-time Super Bowl champion and MVP of Super Bowl XXVII. UCLA’s first Davey O’Brien Award winner as the nation’s top quarterback, Aikman has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and famed former Cal Bear Aaron Rodgers may continue his quest to earn his second Super Bowl ring next season. Even the greats don’t always get a ring — Ken O’Brien of the famed 1983 draft class played for the UC Davis Aggies and while he never made it to the Super Bowl, he made it to the Pro Bowl twice.
Of course, football isn’t just about the passing game, even in this big play-dominated era. Cal Bear and Oakland native Marshawn Lynch has one ring from his time on the Seattle Seahawks, where he earned the nickname Beast Mode for his forceful running style. He could have had two, depending on how harshly you judge Pete Carroll’s play call near the end of Super Bowl 49 (called the “dumbest call in football history”).
And Lynch is not the only Super Bowl running back from the UC system: Cal Bears C.J. Anderson (Denver Broncos) and Shane Vereen (New England Patriots) both have rings.
The battle is in the trenches
Cal Bear and Super Bowl winner Mitchell Schwartz will likely be keenly watching. Schwartz was an All-Pro offensive tackle who enjoys explaining the nuances of the position (and the officiating of it) on Twitter. He and his brother, Geoff, also an offensive lineman, teamed up to write a book, “Eat My Schwartz: Our Story of NFL Football, Food, Family, and Faith,” about their journey to become the first Jewish brothers in the league since 1923.
Ok let's break down this #Chiefs vs. #Eagles Super Bowl matchup. Eagles opened as slight favorites and have remained there. It's about what I figured. Would have been a lot higher I think if not for Mahomes. Might as well dive right into the QB matchup.
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) February 11, 2023
UC Davis has produced its own brother combo along the offensive lines, Brad and Cory Lekkerkerker, as well.
Old school Niners fans (I’m talking Montana era) might remember UCLA alum Randy Cross, a three-time Super Bowl champion and center/guard on those legendary teams. Other UCLA linemen with rings include Jonathan Ogden, who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001. Like Ogden, UC Berkeley's Tarik Glenn was a first-round draft pick and lineman and won a Super Bowl ring in 2007, with the Indianapolis Colts. Rings for the team that left Baltimore and the team that replaced them — a good wrinkle for your trivia efforts.
Defense wins championships
While the UC system has churned out no shortage of flashy skill players (Tony Gonzalez, DeSean Jackson, anyone?), a dream team made up of UC defenders could lock them down. Cal linebacker Tully Banta-Cain won two rings with the New England Patriots, the team later defeated in 2017 by Cal linebacker Mychal Kendricks’ squad, the Philadelphia Eagles. (Mychal’s brother, Eric, a UCLA alum, now plays for the San Francisco 49ers). Perhaps because it’s the most cerebral position on defense, the UC system seems to be some sort of linebacker factory — Ken Norton was a Pro Bowl linebacker on the Dallas Cowboys’ Super Bowl-winning teams in the 90s.
A number of other UC defensive players have been Super Bowl champions, too, including Carnell Lake (defensive back on the Pittsburgh Steelers) and Brandon Mebane, the Cal Bear who went on to anchor the defensive line on the famed “Legion of Boom” defense of Marshawn Lynch’s Super Bowl-winning team. And former UCLA defensive tackle Mike Lodish is second only to Tom Brady for Super Bowl appearances, winning two rings during his tenure with the Denver Broncos.
Special teams gives an edge
Special teams helps give you an edge as a player fighting for playing time; it also can make a huge difference in the outcome of games. Naturally, UC has produced some remarkable special team players. UC Berkeley longsnapper David Binn played on the San Diego Chargers Super Bowl team in 1995; he was defeated in that game by Niners placekicker and former Cal Bear Doug Brien. Most famous of all (though technically not a Super Bowl player) is UC Davis kicker and zoology major Rolf Benirschke, who went on to become the NFL Man of the Year in 1983 and have a successful public speaking career; he overcame surgeries for ulcerative colitis to become a successful pro player.
Have the right gameplan
Of course in football, coaches play an outsized role, particularly coordinators. Former Tennessee Titans coach Brian Callahan was the offensive coordinator for the Bengals from 2019 to 2023, helping to get the Bengals to their first Super Bowl in decades. UC Davis’ Ejiro Evero made it to the Super Bowl as the safeties coach for the Los Angeles Rams (on the 2018 Jared Goff-led team); he is now defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers. And “Riverboat Ron” Rivera, part of the Cal linebacker factory, is one of the most well-respected coaches in the game, having won a Super Bowl on the legendary Ditka-coached 1985 Bears team and led the Carolina Panthers to the Bowl in 2015. He has since come home to Cal as a general manager for their football program.
Learn from the legends
UC’s football history dates back well before the modern NFL — we’re talking leather helmets here. The first “Big Game” between the Cal Bears and Stanford, played in 1892, predates the NFL’s big game, the Super Bowl, by more than 70 years. And it truly was big — organizers, including Stanford’s Herbert Hoover, expected 10,000 fans to show up, and had to scramble to collect admissions fees for the 20,000 that actually arrived.
Fast forward to those early Super Bowls, and it’s no surprise a veteran of the original Big Game was a star. Joe Kapp, Cal QB, led his team to the Rose Bowl in 1958 and went on to be drafted late by the Minnesota Vikings the following year. What followed was a decade in the Canadian Football League, where his play would earn a spot in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. The Vikings managed to roster Kapp in 1967 and he led them to a Super Bowl appearance during the 1969 season and tied a record for the most touchdown passes in a single game along the way. In 1970, he made the cover of Sports Illustrated, dubbed “The Toughest Chicano” by the magazine, an achievement in visibility for Latino players in its own right. Kapp, who returned to UC Berkeley to coach in the 80s, passed away last year of Alzheimer’s. Proceeds from his memoir go to support scholarships for first-generation Latino/a students at UC Berkeley.
UC Riverside may no longer have a football program, but its alumni have still made Super Bowl history. Michael McColly "Butch" Johnson played a pivotal role in the 12th Super Bowl as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. At the end of a bomb from none other than Hall of Famer Roger Staubach, Johnson laid out for a diving 45-yard touchdown, helping the Cowboys seal the game against the Denver Broncos. The following year, Johnson also nabbed a touchdown from Staubach in the Super Bowl. Although the Cowboys lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers that year, it made Johnson only the second player to score back-to-back touchdowns in the NFL’s biggest game.
There’s no doubt players we missed that would make it on your UC fantasy football team — but there were only so many names we could draft in one piece. Let us know your favorites and your NFL history deepcuts (Craig Morton?) and enjoy the game!
Bonus: Are you watching for the ads? If so, show off your psychology acumen by brushing up on this UC Davis study about what Super Bowl commercials work, and why. Curious how an event as massive as the Super Bowl comes together? Check out this interview with UC Davis alum and Allegiant Airlines CEO Maurice Gallagher ‘71. He served as chair of the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee, and Super Bowl LVIII was played in his company’s (very, very swanky) backyard — Allegiant Stadium.
And don’t forget snacks — UC Riverside experts have you covered on the recipe for the best possible guacamole, as supported by science.
*Former UCLA coach Chip Kelly, paraphrased
Special thanks to Sara Bock of UC San Diego and Jessica Wolf of UCLA for their contributions to this story.
Joe Kapp, the “Toughest Chicano.”
