The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 25-22, in overtime to win Super Bowl LVIII.
With the Chiefs victory, former Florida State defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi becomes a three-time Super Bowl champion. Nnadi was placed on injured reserve back in late January due to a triceps injury suffered at the start of the playoffs. Prior to the injury, he had not missed a game since the 2020 regular season for the Chiefs. During the season that just concluded last evening, he had 29 tackles, a sack, and a pass defended.
This season marked the fourth time in his first six years in the NFL that he was part of a team that made the Super Bowl. Being on the Super Bowl champions for a third time in that span puts him on a short list with regards to fellow former Seminoles. He previously helped the Chiefs win Super Bowls LIV and LVII and advance to Super Bowl LV.
He joins JT Thomas as the only Florida State alumni to advance to four Super Bowls. With the Kansas City victory, he became the second former FSU player to earn three Super Bowl rings, trailing only Thomas’ four Super Bowl victories.
His inclusion in the Super Bowl marked the 12th straight Super Bowl with Florida State representation and 42 of 58 Super Bowls all-time. Florida State alumni have collectively made 95 Super Bowl appearances and earned 50 Super Bowl rings. This year marked the eighth straight year at least one Seminole was on the winning team and 32nd all-time.
Florida State is one eight college programs with multiple Super Bowl MVPs. Pro Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff, who was part of the ceremonies at this year’s Super Bowl, was named MVP of Super Bowl XI after making four catches for 79 yards in Oakland’s 32-14 win over Minnesota. Dexter Jackson was the Super Bowl XXXVII MVP after grabbing two interceptions in Tampa Bay’s 48-21 win over Oakland.
Nnadi lettered for the Seminoles from 2014-17 and earned All-ACC accolades each of his final three seasons.
The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers face off in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas (6:30 p.m. ET Sunday, CBS). With more than 100 former college football players between the two active rosters, a large number of programs are represented in the championship showdown for the 2023-24 NFL season. Still, some college teams are more prominently featured than others.
There are 24 college football programs with at least two players on the active roster for either Kansas City or San Francisco with another 46 fielding one player. No surprise that the SEC leads all college football conferences with 23 players, followed by the Big Ten (19), Big 12 (17), Pac-12 (12) and ACC (9).
There are a combined 17 players representing Group of Five conferences or Independent teams, and nine players from FCS or lower programs.
Kansas City Chiefs: Army (Cole Christiansen); Ball State (Nic Jones); Cincinnati (Travis Kelce); Duke (Noah Gray); Fayetteville State (Joshua Williams); Illinois (Nick Allegretti); Kentucky (Mike Edwards); Louisiana Tech (L’Jarius Sneed); Missouri S&T (Tershawn Wharton); NC State (Joe Thuney); Penn (Justin Watson); SMU (Rashee Rice); South Florida (Marquez Valdes-Scantling); South Dakota (Jack Cochrane); Stephen F. Austin (BJ Thompson); Texas (Charles Omenihu); Texas Tech (Patrick Mahomes); Virginia Tech (Chamarri Conner); Washington (Trent McDuffie); Washington State (Jaylen Watson); Wisconsin (Leo Chenal)
San Francisco 49ers: Arizona (Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles); Arizona State (Brandon Aiyuk); BYU (Fred Warner); Central Arkansas (George Odum); Colorado (Isaiah Oliver); Harvard (Kyle Juszczyk); Iowa (George Kittle); Iowa State (Brock Purdy); Louisiana (Elijah Mitchell); Michigan State (Taybor Pepper); Nebraska (Randy Gregory); St. John’s – Minnesota (Ben Bartch); South Alabama (Darrell Luter Jr.); South Carolina State (Javon Hargrave); Toledo (Samuel Womack III); UCLA (Jake Brendel); USC (Sam Darnold); UTSA (Spencer Burford); Vanderbilt (Oren Burks); West Virginia (Colton McKivitz); Wyoming (Tashaun Gipson Sr.)
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