Super Bowl Rosters Include Handful Of Former Prep and College Standouts

By Todd Grasley for DyeStat

Super Bowl LIV kicks off Sunday night in Miami and this year's rendition is loaded with track and field standouts on both teams. The AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs and NFC champion San Francisco 49ers square off in a game that could come down to speed and the ability to create big plays.

It’s hard to find anyone faster on the field than Chiefs’ wide receiver Tyreek Hill. 

Hill won Georgia state titles in the 100, 200 and long jump his senior year at Coffee High and set personal bests of 10.19 and 20.14 at the Golden South Classic in Orlando, Fla. Those times are comparable to what Michael Norman and Noah Lyles ran as seniors in 2016.

Hill won the USATF Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships titles in the 100 and 200 in 2012 and was fourth in the 100-meter dash at the IAAF World Junior Championships and took bronze in the 200. He was a gold medalist in the 4x100 relay.

TYREEK HILL 2012 POST-RACE INTERVIEW

2012 USATF JUNIOR OUTDOOR 200 METERS FINAL 

In his first year at Oklahoma State, he finished second in the 60 meters at the Big 12 Indoor Championship and was fifth in the 200 at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. 

“Track helped me a lot in football,” Hill said at the Pro Bowl in 2018. “I got faster and I learned a lot from my track coach back in high school. He taught me how to love the sport of track and the sport of football.”

Just this week, Hill said he was interested in pursuing a spot on the 2020 U.S. Olympic team. 

Fellow Chiefs wide receivers Sammy Watkins and Mecole Hardman also have major track and field chops. Watkins won the Florida Class 2A state championship in the 200 meters and was second in the 100 as a senior at South Fort Myers High. He also helped his 4x400 relay to silver as well.

Hardman excelled in the 100, long jump and triple jump at Elbert County High in Georgia and was a standout at the nearby University of Georgia in both football and track and field.

Bulldogs coach Petros Kyprianou described Mecole as the "total package" for a student-athlete, both an outstanding student and very bright when it came to understanding the mechanics of sprinting.

“He knew that track and field was his foundation and used that to his advantage,” Kyprianou said. “It was a pleasure having him around and we all could see his greatness, positivity and talent. We knew he was destined for greatness and he is showing it right now. He ran the 4x100 relay for us and showed his great starting (lead-off leg) ability. I hope he returns to his roots during the offseason to continue the advantage he has on other NFL players.”

One NFL player who is well aware of Hardman’s speed is former Bulldog teammate and arguably the top running back prospect in the 2020 NFL Draft, D’Andre Swift.

“If you blink, you’ll miss him,” he said. “That man is fast, his speed is on another level.”

While the Chiefs have plenty of speedy weapons for quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the 49ers boast the only athlete in the game with an NCAA track and field conference title to his resume.

Raheem Mostert’s road to the Super Bowl definitely came with adversity. At New Smyrna Beach High in Florida, he was fourth in the 100-meter dash at the state meet his senior with a personal best of 10.68 in the prelims and third in the 300-meter hurdles with a personal best of 37.96. Mostert went onto compete at Purdue in both track and football and won both the 60-and 200-meter titles at the 2014 Big Ten Indoor Championships.

The Niners also have veteran cornerback Richard Sherman patrolling the secondary. Sherman was a California state champion in the triple jump (50-8) for Dominguez of Compton, and he was also fourth in the 110-meter high hurdles and sixth in the long jump back in 2006. 

Olympic long jumper and two-time NCAA champion Marquise Goodwin appeared in nine games for San Francisco, but a knee injury placed him on the injured reserve list at the beginning of December. Goodwin is the national high school record holder in the long jump, at 26-10, for Garland Rowett TX (2009).

All of these players can thank their days in track and field for helping set the foundation for their football careers.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again that track and field is the base for all sports and if done correctly even during professional career, later on, will give a tremendous advantage to the athlete/player,” Kyprianou said.

Best of the Rest

Chiefs Roster

Bashaud Breeland (CB) - Two-time South Carolina state champion in the 400-meter hurdles for Allendale-Fairfax High. He won the 110-meter hurdles as well in 2010.

Tyrann Mathieu (S) - The "Honey Badger" was seventh at the Louisiana state championships in the high jump and second in the long jump at St. Augustine High. Mathieu’s personal bests were 6-4 and 23-11, respectively, outdoors.

49ers Roster

Joe Staley (OT)- At Rockford High in Michigan he was sixth in the 200 meters and helped his team to a pair of fourth-place showings in the 4x100 and 4x200 relay, as well as a sixth-place finish in the 4x400.

Laken Tomlinson (G) - He qualified for the Illinois Class 3A state championships in both the shot put and discus at Lane Tech.

Tevin Coleman (RB) - He placed fourth in the 100-meter dash and was runner-up in the long jump at the 2011 Illinois state championships his junior year at Oak Forest.

Kwon Alexander (LB) - He was an Alabama state qualifier in 2011 in both the 100 and 200 for Oxford High.