Here are the Texas ties to Super Bowl 2023
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Even without a Texas team in the Super Bowl, the state is well-represented in the big game on Sunday between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles with plenty of players hailing from the Lone Star State.
Driving the news: Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts, quarterbacks for the Chiefs and Eagles, respectively, have Texas ties.
- Mahomes was born in Tyler and played football at Texas Tech University.
- Hurts is from Houston and graduated from Channelview High School.
Zoom out: Nine more Super Bowl-bound players have Texas ties.
Chiefs
- Quarterback Shane Buechele is from Arlington. He played for the University of Texas at Austin for the first three years of his college career before transferring to Southern Methodist University.
- Linebacker Nick Bolton was born in Frisco, where he played for Lone Star High School.
- Running back Ronald Jones II played for McKinney North High School.
- Offensive lineman Lucas Niang played for Texas Christian University.
Eagles
- Tight end Grant Calcaterra finished up his football career at SMU after transferring from the University of Oklahoma.
- Cornerback Zech McPhearson played for Texas Tech.
- Offensive tackle Lane Johnson is from Groveton in East Texas, where he played high school football.
- Linebacker Kyron Johnson is from Arlington, where he played for Lamar High School.
- Defensive tackle Milton Williams played high school football in Crowley, south of Fort Worth.
Flashback: None of the players in this year's Super Bowl hails from the Alamo City, but Willie Mitchell, who played for the Chiefs in the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967, is from San Antonio.
- Back then, it was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game.
What they're saying: Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec told Axios in a statement that star quarterback Mahomes is an inspiration for the community.
- "His talent and competitive fire to be the best have brought him fame and success. But he has endeared himself to so many because of his class and humility and how he has stayed true to the lessons learned from his family, coaches, and his time as a student-athlete at Texas Tech," Schovanec said.