Upcoming Super Bowl has Bulldog, state of Mississippi flavor
When Super Bowl LVII kicks off on February 12, Mississippi State and the state of Mississippi is going to be right smack in the middle of Glendale, Arizona.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will clash in a battle of the two best teams in the National Football League and neither team would be at this stage without the players from MSU and Mississippi that have starred for them all season long. The Bulldogs especially have as big a presence as nearly any other school in America in the game.
MSU is tied with Florida and Georgia with the most players on the roster with four. That's also second among any college. Not only are those players on the rosters, they're making a difference for the Chiefs and the Eagles this season and two of them will have Super Bowl rings in a couple of weeks.
Most notably, three of the four former Bulldogs played high school football in the state of Mississippi with another playing his junior college years in the state before coming to MSU.
In Kansas City, perhaps only Patrick Mahomes has been more valuable than Chris Jones. There's an argument to be made that Jones has been the NFL'S best defender this year as a defensive tackle and he had 10 quarterback pressures and two sacks on Sunday night to help the Chiefs book their third Super Bowl appearance since he's been a pro.
Those were the first two sacks of Jones' postseason career, but he's more than made his impact felt on quarterbacks this season and in the years prior. Jones has 65 career sacks in the regular season after notching his second year of 15 sacks or more when he tied a career high this year with 15.5. He is the first defensive tackle in franchise history to have even one season of 15 or more sacks and the only player to notch that number twice. That includes the great Derrick Burgess, who did it just once.
He's already fifth all-time on the Kansas City sack list and the only interior lineman of the top five.
Former Bulldog linebacker Willie Gay Jr. missed the first trip to the Super Bowl his rookie year in 2020 but hopes to be out on the field in two weeks to play his part. It's been his best season to date in his first three years as Gay had 88
tackles, nine tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, eight pass deflections and an interception that he ran back for a touchdown.
For Philadelphia, two veteran defensive stalwarts are looking to get a title. Like Jones' defensive tackle Fletcher Cox already has a ring on his finger after being one of the most consistently dominant defensive tackles in the league over his career.
Cox is a four-time All-pro and a sixtime Pro Bowler, who is in his 11th year with the Eagles, and he showed this year he still has something left in the tank. Cox had the most sacks he's had in four years this season with seven which was his third best total of his entire career.
His teammate, Darius Slay, was also strong this year. Slay made 55 tackles and had 14 pass deflections and three interceptions as one of the highest rated cornerbacks in the NFC. After playing his first seven years with the Detroit Lions, Slay is hoping to get his first ring in Philadelphia as he's playing in his 10th season.
While the MSU players are prominent, so are several other Mississippi greats. Ole Miss wide receiver AJ Brown joins Willie Gay as two players from the 2015 state championship Starkville High School team to play in the game as Brown will be playing for the Eagles.
The Eagles also have Horn Lake and Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean, Yazoo County and Memphis running back Kenneth Gainwell, Brandon and Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew and Southern Miss wide receiver Quez Watkins. The Chiefs also have Horn Lake and Middle Tennessee linebacker Darius Harris on the roster.