A history of Wolfpack football in the Super Bowl

On Sunday, former NC State lineman Ted Larsen became the 30th former Wolfpacker to be on a team that played in a Super Bowl. Larsen had been added to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad in December and was called up to the active roster for both of Tampa’s NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl victories.

A 31st NC State alum, Bill Cowher, did not play on the sport's biggest stage, but he was the head coach in a pair of Super Bowls for the Pittsburgh Steelers, winning in Super Bowl XL.

Here is a rundown of some of the highlights of past Super Bowls with a Wolfpack flavor:

The first former NC State player to appear in a Super Bowl was running back Charley Young, one of the famous Four Stallions at NC State in the 1970s. Young caught three passes for 31 yards with a long of 14 yards for the Cowboys in the losing effort.

In four years with the Cowboys, Young would run for 638 yards and four scores.

Former NC State offensive guard Dan Medlin became the first Wolfpack alum to win a Super Bowl. It came at the end of a three-year run with the Raiders after he was drafted by Oakland in the sixth round in 1972 before he spent the following two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Medlin would later reunite with the Raiders for one more year.

On the first play of the game, former NC State tight end Lin Dawson was targeted for a pass but the throw was incomplete, and worse Dawson hurt his knee and was lost for the rest of the game. Dawson was joined on that Patriots squad by nose tackle Dennis Owens, who is the only former NC State player to have a sack in a Super Bowl. In fact, Owens had two in the game among his four solo tackles.

Dawson played 10 years for New England and was named to its All-Decade Team in the 1980s after piling up 117 passes for 1,233 yards and eight touchdowns.

Former Wolfpack defensive back Perry Williams won the first of two Super Bowl rings for the New York Giants, starting at cornerback in Super Bowl XXI.

RELATED: Williams talks about his Super Bowl experiences on The Wolfpacker Podcast

Mike Cofer became the first of two kickers for NC State to play in the Super Bowl, and Cofer helped make a difference in this thriller. He was 2 for 2 on field goals, converting from 41 and 32 yards, and also made both of his extra points in the 49ers’ win.

In the most lopsided Super Bowl in history, Cofer can be excused for having a tired leg. Cofer made 7 of 8 extra points in the win.

For Cofer, it capped a season in which he was named All-Pro. He made 133 field goals in his eight-year NFL career.

This would be the first Super Bowl to have players on both teams in the game. For the Giants, Williams was once again starting at cornerback.

On the other sideline, offensive lineman Jim Ritcher, a member of both the NC State Athletics and College Football Halls of Fame, was the starting left guard. The offensive line only allowed one sack and averaged 6.6 yards per carry, but it came up short in an absolute heartbreaker.

For the second straight year, Ritcher started at left guard and came up short. This time, the Bills allowed five sacks and averaged just 2.4 yards a rush. Ritcher was a Pro Bowl selection this season.

This would be the last time Ritcher would start at left guard in the Super Bowl. Once again, the line struggled as quarterback Jim Kelly was sacked four times and the Bills ran for just 3.7 yards per carry. This year was the second straight Pro Bowl selection for Ritcher.

The last of four straight Super Bowl losses for Ritcher and the Bills, but Ritcher did not start in this game. This was his last season with Buffalo, where he is in the Bills’ Wall of Fame. He played two more seasons for the Atlanta Falcons before concluding a 16-year NFL career.

This is the second time both teams featured former Wolfpackers. Winning a ring was defensive end Mark Thomas, who was in the final year of a three-year stint with the 49ers, the first three years of a 10-year NFL career that would include stops with the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts.

On the other sideline was offensive lineman Joe Milinichik, who would be playing the final game of an eight-year NFL career.

Cowher came up short in his coaching debut in the Super Bowl, but on the other sideline, massive offensive tackle George Hegamin was picking up a Super Bowl ring. Hegamin was drafted by Dallas in the third round in 1994 after leaving NC State early.

He had spent the offseason prior to Super Bowl XXX playing in the World League of American Football, where he was named to the All-World team. He earned his first NFL start in 1997, but did not start the Super Bowl. He played the following year for the Philadelphia Eagles and then spent two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Former NC State defensive lineman Mike Jones made the first of his two appearances in the Super Bowl, and he remains the only Wolfpack player to play for multiple teams in the big game. Unfortunately for Jones, the Patriots were on the losing side.

Running back Gary Downs was in the third of his four years with the Falcons when they reached the Super Bowl. Downs, a former third-round pick of the New York Giants in 1994, would play seven seasons in the NFL, in which he played 69 games.

His son Joshua Downs was a freshman receiver at UNC this past fall, while another son Caleb is expected to be one of the nation’s premier recruits in 2023. Gary is now an assistant coach at East Tennessee State.

In a thrilling Super Bowl in which the Titans came up a yard short of potentially tying the game on the last play, two former Pack defensive line teammates were on opposite ends of the spectrum.

For the victorious Rams, Ray Agnew, the No. 10 overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft, started and had two solo tackles, including one for a loss, in what would be his next-to-last season of a 11-year NFL career. Meanwhile, Jones, after earlier playing for the Patriots in the Super Bowl, was playing in his final game in the league.

Jones was one year behind Agnew at NC State and was a second-round pick in the 1991 NFL Draft. He concluded his nine-year NFL career with 27.5 sacks. Agnew would tell The Wolfpacker that Jones is his best friend.

The most memorable NC State player in the game, however, was receiver Torry Holt. Then a rookie, Holt caught seven passes for 109 yards and a touchdown in one of the best individual performances ever by a former Pack player in the Super Bowl.

Two years after winning the Super Bowl, the favored Rams with Holt starring at receiver were surprised by a young quarterback named Tom Brady, who won his first of now seven Super Bowl rings.

Holt, who is in the NC State Athletics and College Football Halls of Fame and has been a finalist for the NFL Hall of Fame, caught five passes for 49 yards in the defeat.

The late defensive end Corey Smith picked up a Super Bowl ring with the Buccaneers. The undrafted free agent played three seasons for the Bucs as a reserve before playing two years with San Francisco and three with the Detroit Lions, piling up 8.5 sacks and six forced fumbles in that span. Smith died in a boating accident in 2009.

For the Raiders, former NC State track and football star Alvis Whitted, a receiver, made his mark on special teams by assisting on a tackle and recovering a fumble.

In his next-to-last season as a head coach, Bill Cowher, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020, won his Super Bowl ring. In 15 years as the Steelers' head coach, Cowher went 161-99-1.

His triumph came at the expense of former NC State lineman Sean Locklear, the starting right tackle for Seattle. The Seahawks allowed three sacks and ran for an average of 5.5 yards per carry in the loss.

Locklear spent his first seven years with Seattle, who had drafted him in the third round in 2004, and started 92 games overall in his nine-year career.

In a loss to the Steelers, Arizona starting safety Adrian Wilson had seven solo tackles. It is the most tackles by a former NC State player in the Super Bowl.

Wilson was a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro selection over 14 years with the Cards. He had 25.5 career sacks and 27 interceptions and scored four defensive touchdowns, and he has been inducted into the Arizona Cardinals Ring of Honor.

In the Saints' lone Super Bowl win, former NC State defensive lineman DeMario Pressley was a member of their defense. The Saints picked Pressley in the fifth round of the 2008 draft, and he had 20 tackles in five seasons in the NFL.

In the second of two Super Bowl wins for the Giants over Brady’s Patriots, former NC State running back Andre Brown was a practice squad member. Ironically, the Giants had drafted Brown in the fourth round in 2009, and then released him when he ruptured his Achilles. This was the start of Brown’s second tenure with the team.

He finished his six-year career with 876 rushing yards and 11 total touchdowns.

Four former NC State players played prominent roles in the game:

• Quarterback Russell Wilson completed 18 of 25 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns, and ran three times for 26 yards in the win.

• Starting right guard J.R. Sweezy helped Seattle not allow a sack and average 4.7 yards per carry.

• Seattle kicker Steven Hauschka made both field goal attempts and all his extra points.

• Denver linebacker Nate Irving had four tackles and broke up a pass.

In a bid to repeat, Wilson’s stunning interception at the goal line with 20 seconds left allowed the Patriots to escape with a win. Wilson completed 12 of 21 passes for 247 yards and two scores and had the one pick, and he also ran three times for 39 yards.

Sweezy once again started at right guard on a line that allowed three sacks and helped the offense average 5.6 yards a rush. Hauschka made his one field goal attempt and all three extra points.

Former NC State receiver Jerricho Cotchery had two catches for 17 yards in the loss. He was more remembered for an incomplete pass that to this day Cotchery, Panthers and even some Broncos have acknowledged was probably a catch. It loomed large when Denver scored on a defensive touchdown on the next play.

It was the final game in Cotchery’s 12-year NFL career that included 524 receptions for 6,623 yards and 34 touchdowns.

Former NC State All-American offensive lineman Joe Thuney made the first of his three Super Bowl starts at left guard for the Patriots, helping New England rally for a dramatic overtime win. New England allowed five sacks and rushed for 4.2 yards per carry that game.

Also getting a ring was quarterback Jacoby Brissett, one of Brady’s reserves.

The Patriots' bid to repeat was thwarted by the Eagles, whose lone sack was a crucial late turnover in the fourth quarter. New England did run for 5.1 yards per carry in the contest.

In a sluggish, defensive struggle, Thuney led an offensive line that allowed just one sack and helped run for 4.8 yards per carry.

This was the last of three Super Bowls in a row for Thuney, who has started all 80 games for the Patriots since New England drafted him in the third round in 2016 and was selected to the 2019 All-Pro team. Thuney is believed to be the first NFL player to start in three straight Super Bowls to start his career.

A pair of former NC State defensive reserves helped the 49ers reach the Super Bowl — defensive back Dontae Johnson and defensive lineman Kentavius Street.

This was Johnson’s second stint with the 49ers, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2014 and was his team for the first four years in the NFL.

Offensive lineman Ted Larsen, a native of Palm Harbor, Fla., which is near Tampa, ironically broke into the NFL with the Buccaneers after being claimed off waivers from the Patriots, who had drafted him in the 2010 sixth round.

Larsen has played 137 games and started 88 in his 11-year career, the first four of which were with Tampa before stops with the Cardinals, Bears, Dolphins, Bears again and finally returning to his hometown team.

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