University of Minnesota Athletics

Three Super Bowl

Gophers Send Three to Super Bowl

1/25/2021 10:02:00 AM | Football

Damien Wilson, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Tyler Johnson will compete in the Super Bowl on Feb. 7

There will be three former Gophers in the Super Bowl when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 7, 2021. 

Antoine Winfield Jr., and Tyler Johnson will suit up for the Buccaneers, while Damien Wilson will be looking for his second straight championship with the Chiefs. 

LSU leads college programs with the most alums competing in the Super Bowl with six. Three schools have four alumni competing and Minnesota is tied for fifth among college programs with three former players in the Super Bowl. 

A Chiefs – Buccaneers Super Bowl means that three former Gophers will play in the Super Bowl. The last time that happened was 1970 when six former Gophers played in Super Bowl IV. Bobby Bell, Aaron Brown and Bob Stein were victorious as the Kansas City Chiefs beats Kent Kramer, Milt Sunde, Carl Eller and the Minnesota Vikings, 23-7.

There were three former Gophers in the 2007 Super Bowl, but not all three were players. That year, former Gopher quarterback Tony Dungy coached Darrell Reid and Ben Utecht to a 29-17 win in Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears.

The upcoming Super Bowl will also be the first time since the 1990 Super Bowl that former Gophers will face one another in the final NFL game of the season. In 1990, former Gophers Jim Fahnhorst (San Francisco 49ers) and Karl Mecklenburg (Denver Broncos) met in Super Bowl XXIV with Fahnhorst and San Francisco winning 55-10. There were three former Gophers in the 2007 Super Bowl, but not all three were players. That year, former Gopher quarterback Tony Dungy coached Darrell Reid and Ben Utecht to a 29-17 win in Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears.

This will mark the second straight year that a Gopher will play in the Super Bowl, as Wilson won a title last year with the Chiefs. Prior to that, De'Vondre Campbell and Ra'Shede Hageman were the last Gophers to play in a Super Bowl when they did so in 2016 with the Atlanta Falcons. 
 
Gopher Football at the Barn
Wednesday, February 18
Speed is Strength | Winter Workouts
Tuesday, February 17
Winter Workouts Week Two
Monday, February 09
Winter Workouts Begin
Monday, February 02