The 2019 NFL season is about to conclude with Super Bowl LIV but the big names in the big game were all stars of some sort at the college level before they were primed to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
Just how good were some of the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers though? Let’s take a trip in the time machine and find out.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
Mahomes was a lightly regarded recruit out of West Texas when he arrived at Texas Tech. He was expected to be mostly a backup as a freshman for the Red Raiders behind Davis Webb. That changed when the starter got banged up early in Big 12 play against Oklahoma State though, prompting Kliff Kingsbury to burn Mahomes redshirt. He wound up with two completions for 20 yards in his first collegiate action. He did toss one touchdown but also had a bad throw that was an easy interception for the Cowboys.
Webb battled injuries the rest of 2014 and Mahomes eventually assumed the starting job in a late season start vs. Texas. He won just one game in charge as Tech slumped to 4-8 on the year but the youngster showed promise in throwing for 1,547 yards and 16 touchdowns against just four picks. Webb, seeing the writing on the wall, transferred to Cal.
Mahomes, who also spent time on the school’s baseball team his first two years, made a big jump behind center as a sophomore. He threw for nearly 4,700 yards and 36 touchdowns, performing plenty of the feats he does with the Chiefs like no-look passes and the like. He nearly helped upset then-No. 3 TCU and single-handily kept his team in most games given the Red Raiders porous defense. Mahomes played in his only bowl game against LSU at the end of the year but the team managed to go just 7-6.
The part-time relief pitcher wound up giving up baseball that same offseason and wound up turning in a masterclass that put him on the radar of every NFL team. He led college football with 5,052 yards passing in 2016 and threw for 41 TD’s (just 10 interceptions too). It just wasn’t enough to help the team record-wise (5-7) given how they played on the other side of the ball.
Nothing was more illustrative of that than the show Mahomes put on against Oklahoma that year. Against eventual Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, the two quarterbacks put on an unmatched aerial display. Numerous NCAA and Big 12 records fell that night in Lubbock, with Mahomes setting the FBS marks for total yards in a game (819) and passing yards (734).
In many ways that was the night that legend of Patrick Mahomes began. We’ll find out late Sunday night if it continues to grow with a Super Bowl performance to match.
Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu
Few players had the kind of rollercoaster career in college like the former LSU star did during his time in Baton Rouge.
As a true freshman, Mathieu turned into a key member of the team as a rangy defensive back. He only started one game but still finished 2010 with 59 tackles, three sacks, and two interceptions. He burst onto the national stage in the Tigers’ blowout of then Big 12 member Texas A&M during the Cotton Bowl. That coming out party, which came with the game’s defensive MVP honors, set the stage for a memorable sophomore campaign.
Thanks in part to his play, LSU eventually rose to become the No. 1 team in the country that season. They memorably upset Alabama in Tuscaloosa for what was billed as ‘The Game of the Century’ and won the SEC. He earned the nickname ‘The Honey Badger’ with his ability to create plays and wound up as a Heisman Trophy finalist and took home the Chuck Bednarik Award. The team played in the BCS title game that season but lost a rematch with the Crimson Tide.
It wasn’t all rosy for in Baton Rouge for Mathieu that year though as he was suspended one game for a failed drug test — a sign of things to come. Then head coach Les Miles also wound up dismissing Mathieu prior to the 2012 season, leading to a stint in rehab. He eventually re-enrolled in classes at LSU but was arrested in late October and later announced he was declaring for the draft.
Many wonder just how good a player Mathieu would have been had he not had substance issues during his time in college but the aptly nicknamed defensive back continued his development at the next level and will hope to make an impact on this year’s Super Bowl instead.
49ers corner Richard Sherman
Before Sherman was jawing with, well, just about everybody in the league, he was doing the same on the Farm from the opposite side of the ball.
Considered a multi-sport athlete coming out of Compton, he arrived at Stanford initially as a wideout. He actually wound up leading the team in receiving during his first season, earning first team Pac-10 All-Freshman honors with 581 yards and three touchdowns as one of the few bright spots for a 1-11 team. He led the team in yards and touchdowns again as a sophomore in 2007 playing for new coach Jim Harbaugh. He also played a pivotal role in the shocking 41-point upset of No. 2 USC that year, hauling in a key 4th-and-20 catch on what would become the game-winning drive.
While that play just down the road from his hometown helped bring national attention to Sherman, his 2008 campaign was hampered by injuries and forced a redshirt. He returned not on offense but on the other side of the ball as a cornerback, having switched in the spring prior to his senior year. The move obviously proved fruitful as a professional and he showcased some of his trademark ball skills as a DB with two picks and numerous big plays as a return man. Eventually was taken by old nemesis Pete Carroll in the fifth round and turned into the headliner of the ‘Legion of Boom’ as they won Super Bowl XLVIII.
Now he’ll have a chance to add to his trophy collection down in Miami if he can help shutdown another league MVP on the other side.
San Francisco QB Jimmy Garoppolo
While the above mentioned players were all regulars on national TV and garnering fame on the FBS level, that wasn’t the case for Jimmy G. He was overlooked by many schools coming out of high school and eventually accepted a scholarship at Eastern Illinois. The Panthers were most well known in football circles for producing Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo but the kid from outside of Chicago proceeded to re-write most of those records.
Garoppolo started eight games as a freshman at EIU and proceeded to get better with each season. His senior year was when Dino Babers took over and brought a modified version of the Baylor up-tempo spread offense that was doing damage in the Big 12 at the time. That pairing proved to be quite the combo too, as the signal-caller threw for 5,050 yards as a senior with 53 touchdowns and just nine picks. That led to him winning the Walter Payton Award, known to most as the FCS version of the Heisman.
Jimmy G. was so good in fact that Bill Belichick essentially drafted him in the second round to be Tom Brady’s successor. Though the group had a pair of Super Bowl victories together (XLIX and LI), the elder statesman never did relinquish control at QB and, as NFL fans know all too well, led to Garoppolo being traded to San Francisco.
Now Jimmy G. will have a chance to win a Lombardi of his own down in South Beach.
This is just a look at a select few players involved in this year’s big game but as you can see, the path to the sport’s biggest game is anything but linear. Feel free to browse the CFTalk archives for stories on other Chiefs and 49ers players’ time in college as they all set the stage for what should be one epic matchup in Super Bowl LIV.
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February 03, 2020 at 04:30AM
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Looking back at key Super Bowl LIV players’ college careers - NBCSports.com
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