Sherman’s Super Bowl run with Chiefs started at UConn
The way Desi Cullen remembers, it starts with Anthony Sherman refusing to remove his laundry out of the machine in the apartment they shared senior year at the University of Connecticut.
To teach the Husky’s fullback a lesson, Cullen, along with UConn teammates Brett “Moose” Manning and Scot Lutrus, decided to pull a prank.
When Sherman eventually went to take his laundry out, the guys quickly sprung into action and pushed a couch in front of their closet-like laundry room door, trapping Sherman inside. And in a small crack of the door, the guys dowsed Sherman in what Cullen remembers as “three to four bottles” of baby powder.
That was 11 years ago in Storrs, Connecticut.
“That makes me feel like a total loser,” said Cullen with a laugh recalling the memory on Wednesday just days ahead of Sherman playing in his secondstraight Super Bowl. “Now, I’m like, ‘Maybe, I should have asked him if I could have given him a drink of water? Maybe, I should have been doing his laundry the whole time.’”
A lot has changed within the past decade for Sherman after his standout career at UConn.
Not only does he still enjoy a good prank — despite his most recent backfiring and resulting in donating his truck — but he’s made a career for himself as arguably one of the best fullbacks in the NFL. Shermanenters his second Super Bowl Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida for Super Bowl LV.
“It’s kinda disbelief, almost like I’d use the word unreal,” said Cullen. “To see the level of progression he has made as an athlete is incredible, because back at UConn there was plenty of incredible athletes and obviously he was athletic for a fullback, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted the amount of success that he’s accrued over the course of his professional career.”
As is common with most fullbacks, the impact of the role is not measured by a stat line.
Sherman is responsible for the behind-the-scenes work that makes the of
fense or special teams successful. He doesn’t play every snap and when he does, he’s not there to make the flashy plays, but rather to help create space and time for those who do. He’s blocking, protecting and occasionally even given short routes to help advance the ball or score.
“It’s a thankless job, running out there blocking for people and running down on special teams and doing stuff that nobody really wants to do,” said Lutrus, a co-captain, along with Sherman, Cullen and Robert McClain of the 2009 UConn football team. “He’s done such a great job for so many years. He’s reliable, and he’s consistent.”
At UConn, from 20072010, Sherman, from North Attleboro, Massachusetts, earned the starting fullback role his sophomore year for the Huskies, before becoming a team captain for both his junior and senior seasons. While he may not have played every down, nor had the most accolades, he left an impact on the program with his drive and determination.
“Anthony wanted to be good, he wasn’t afraid of hard work,” said UConn head coach Randy Edsall. “It was important to him. He’s one of those guys that has a focus and had goals in mind, and he was going to make sure he’d attain those goals. … He was always one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker, that we had on the team.”
Outside of sneaking in extra lifts early Tuesday mornings, he’d be first player in line, the player with the biggest growth on max-out days, and the last person to leave the weight room. He had to be ready for anything.
He’d work on speed, for when his team needed him to run the ball. He worked on being agile and focused just in case he needed to catch. And if a running back needed protection, he needed to be strong and forceful to shake off defenders and keep them at bay. The more ways he could provide help for his team, the better.
“He couldn’t stand someone else running faster than him, lifting more than him, or working out harder,” said Cullen, a successful punter for the Huskies. “There’s a lot of competitiveness in him that went beyond just running the ball or being a fullback.”
It was this drive for improvement and love for the game, which helped Sherman lead the Huskies to their 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl game win over South Carolina and to the 2011 Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma. While his work on the field rarely ever made the highlight reel, it was his devotion to making those around him better that has since continued to define his career.
“The memories for me is just him doing the dirty work to allow other people to have success,” said Edsall, who coached Sherman during his time at UConn. “That’s the thing I’ll always remember about Anthony, that he is just unselfish and never was looking for the limelight, never was looking for the glory, just loved to play the game and help other people be successful and help his teammates to be successful.”
Sherman finished his UConn career with 17 carries for 61 yards, 48 receptions for 477 yards and one touchdown, along with 63 tackles.
Following his collegiate career, he was drafted in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals with the 136th overall pick. He was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs two years later and has spent the past eight seasons as the team’s go-to fullback.
In his 10th year in the NFL, Sherman has totaled 66 receptions for 552 yards and four touchdowns; 28 carries for 73 yards and one touchdown; and on top of that, 68 tackles and five forced fumbles. While his stats may never be crazy high, they show Sherman’s ability to help at just any position.
“There are certain situations where you need a fullback to go in there and lay someone out and get the team fired up or have a special teams guy,” said Sherman during Thursday’s Super Bowl media availability. “I don’t know if it’s the fullback position or for me that it’s just trying to be able to do multiple things for this team to help us win. My title is a fullback, but I kinda try to do as much as I can.”
In the 2019 Pro Bowl, he helped lead the AFC to a 26-7 win over the NFC. Sherman had three receptions for 92 yards, four carries for 11 yards and one touchdown.
A season later, Sherman and the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 31-20, in Super Bowl LIV for the franchise’s second Super Bowl victory.
“I was in disbelief that my roommate was holding up the Vince Lombardi Trophy,” Cullen said. “It went from being back in college and giving each other a hard time, to now be like bragging to my friends that I used to know that guy. It’s just funny how things change.”
Fast forward about a year later, and despite playing the 2020 season in a sports world unlike any other due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sherman and the Chiefs are within reach of winning their secondstraight Super Bowl.
“For me, it’s just a huge testament to the guys in the locker room that have stayed healthy, that have stayed out of trouble, that have done the things the right way for us to be in this position today,” said Sherman during Thursday’s Super Bowl media availability. “And being able to play in the Super Bowl after how crazy of a year with ups and downs and for us to just stay consistent and do what we do it’s just a great testament to the leaders in this locker room.”
There’s a select number of people who have won Super Bowls. And there’s even a smaller group who have won two, let alone back-to-back. If Kansas City pulls off the feat, they’ll be the ninth team in NFL history to do so. The win would also tie Sherman with Will Beatty (2004-2008 UConn/ 2012 New York Giants/ 2018 Philadelphia Eagles) for most Super Bowl wins for a UConn football alumni.
“It excites everyone in the UConn family,” said Lutrus, the former Brookfield High standout, who will be wearing his ‘SaUSAge’ shirt to watch Sunday’s game just as he did last year as a nod to Sherman’s nickname with Kansas City. “Our group chat is talking about it, ‘Root for Sherm.’ It’s exciting for a guy that played nine, 10, seasons whatever it’s been, and to have such a great career as a fullback, which is a dying position, it’s pretty special.”