A Clemson pro is guaranteed to win first Super Bowl ring

K'Von Wallace (42) is set to be the lone Tiger on the field, but he's not the only one who could come away with a ring. (Photo: Bill Streicher / USATODAY)

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Thu Feb 02 11:09:18 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - With a total of three former Tigers going to the Super Bowl, two for the Kansas City Chiefs and one on the active roster for the Philadelphia Eagles, it is certain that a Clemson football player is going to get a Super Bowl (6:30 p.m./FOX/Feb. 12) ring this season.

Coming into the NFL playoffs, Clemson had a total of 21 players among the 14 NFL teams. Impressively, the Tigers had a player on the active roster of every NFL team with the exception of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Some of the more prominent players in the playoffs were Jaguars’ quarterback Trevor Lawrence, along with the Jaguars’ running back Travis Etienne. The NFL playoffs also featured wide receiver Tee Higgins, and cornerback Jayron Kearse, who intercepted Buccaneers’ quarterback Tom Brady in the first round of the playoffs.

After the first round of the playoffs, 16 of the Tigers’ players were still in the playoffs, which was the second-most out of any college. Further, Clemson has been dominant among ACC teams in NFL players making it to the playoffs; this trend continued beyond the divisional round for the NFL. Lawrence and Etienne were among the players to make it to this stage in the playoffs before falling to the Kansas City Chiefs 27-20. However, the Cincinnati Bengals had three Clemson players on their roster and they were able to beat the Buffalo Bills and make it to the AFC Championship game against the Chiefs. In the NFC, the 49ers had one Clemson player, returner Ray-Ray McCloud, while the New York Giants had Dexter Lawrence on their team.

Going into the AFC and NFC Championships, Clemson was one of six colleges that had at least one player on every team. In addition, the Tigers represented 25% of all players making it to this stage in the playoffs that were from the ACC. Both the Bengals and the 49ers lost their respective games. Still, Clemson product Tee Higgins had quite the impressive outing, leading the Bengals in receptions (tied with Ja’Marr Chase with six), receiving yards (83), and the only receiving touchdown for the Bengals during the game. While this sets up a matchup in the Super Bowl with a few Clemson players, they probably will not see a lot of action.

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— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) January 30, 2023

For the Kansas City Chiefs, their two Clemson players will not be available for this game. Wide receivers Cornell Powell and Justyn Ross are both on injured reserve, which hurts the Chiefs who suffered some injuries at wide receiver in their conference championship game against the Bengals. If Powell or Ross were available, they would probably see more playing time.

On the side of the Eagles, they have one Clemson player on the active roster, safety K’Von Wallace. Wallace is one of the backup safeties for the Eagles, who have a rather deep roster. Wallace only played 7% of the snaps for the Eagles in their conference championship game against the 49ers. However, he was on the field for a little over half of the Eagles special teams snaps. So, Wallace can be seen there. The Eagles technically have another Clemson player on their roster, cornerback Mario Goodrich. However, Goodrich is on the practice squad for Philadelphia and is not actually on the active roster. Therefore, unless he is elevated to the active roster, he will not be in the Super Bowl. This seems unlikely right now. For starters, there are not any injuries that currently would require the Eagles to elevate Goodrich to the active roster. He has also been on the practice squad since November 15.

While this Super Bowl matchup is the one with the least amount of action from Clemson players, the Tigers still have some representation in the NFL’s biggest game of the year, and someone from Clemson will finish that game with a Super Bowl ring.