49ers QB Brock Purdy to make history for Arizona high schools with Super Bowl 58 start
There have been billboards around Phoenix supporting San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
There have been watch parties for his NFL Playoffs games. There has been talk on local sports radio stations, around the water cooler at offices and there have been several stories already written by this publication.
Why is the 49ers' quarterback such a big deal in Arizona and why is there so much support for a quarterback of a rival of the local team, the Cardinals?
Well, Brock Purdy is from Queen Creek. He played high school football at Gilbert Perry High. And he's going where no other Arizona high school football quarterback has ever gone before — starting a Super Bowl at quarterback.
Arizona has produced a lot of quarterback talent in high school over the years, but none of them have ever started a game in the Super Bowl, something Purdy is slated to do against the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas on Feb. 11.
Super Bowl 58: 49ers vs. Chiefs picks | The Arizona Republic's game prediction | Game odds | MVP odds | How to watch | Announcers | Win probabilities
Former Arizona State and Westwood High QB Danny White went 1-for 2 for five yards in relief of Roger Staubach in the Dallas Cowboys' 27-10 win over the Denver Broncos in the 1978 Super Bowl, the lone previous Arizona high school quarterback to see action at the position in the game. He led the Cowboys to three straight NFC Championship Game appearances from 1980-82, but couldn't get to the Super Bowl as a starter.
VOTE: Who is the best Arizona high school football QB ever, based on post-high school success? (Brock Purdy making history for #49ers: https://t.co/42MPO3rGgt) #FTTB
— Jeremy Cluff (@Jeremy_Cluff) February 1, 2024
Ryan Fitzpatrick, a former Gilbert Highland High standout, threw for 223 career regular season touchdowns and 34,990 yards in 165 games over 16 seasons, but he never played in the Super Bowl.
If you count former University of Arizona quarterbacks, Nick Foles went 28-for-43 for 373 yards and three touchdowns in the Philadelphia Eagles' 2018 Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots, but Foles did not attend an Arizona high school.
Former ASU QB Jake Plummer got to the AFC Championship Game with the Broncos in 2006, but he didn't play at an Arizona high school, either.
'Heck of a game manager': Brock Purdy quiets critics with San Francisco 49ers' comeback
Other former Arizona high school standouts, like Rodney Peete (Tucson Sahuaro) and Mike Pagel (Phoenix Washington High, ASU), never sniffed near as much postseason success as Purdy, who is in just his second year in the NFL after being the last player drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Purdy is 4-1 in the NFL postseason, having thrown for 1,088 yards and five touchdowns with one interception. His one loss came last year in the NFC Championship Game, when on the 49ers' first possession he suffered an elbow injury that would require surgery.
He is set to make history for Arizona high school quarterbacks in Super Bowl 58 just by starting, making this a very big deal for high school football in the state.
Will that history end up including a Super Bowl victory?
That would be an even bigger deal for Arizona high school football.
Who is Brock Purdy?: San Francisco 49ers QB rises from Arizona, Iowa State to Super Bowl 58
Brock Purdy isn’t just a GAME MANAGER. He’s always been special.
Program Changer at Perry High School in Arizona. Program Changer at Iowa State. He isn’t sneaky athletic, he is ATHLETIC. He has proven he can CHANGE THE GAME, is 21-5 as an NFL Starter and is now Super Bowl Bound. pic.twitter.com/dWuba7Mr3G— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) January 29, 2024
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Brock Purdy to make history for Arizona high schools in Super Bowl 58