Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers: Super Bowl LVIII players with ties to Illinois
Super Bowl 58 between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 11, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Yet for at least two of the hundred-plus players, and multiple others on the coaching staffs and front offices, the journey to the NFL's championship game included at least one pre-NFL stop in the state of Illinois.
We take a look at Chiefs and 49ers players with ties to the Land of Lincoln.
Super Bowl connection: Springfield, Illinois, native headed again to the NFL's big game
Kansas City Chiefs
Nick Allegretti: The 27-year-old 6-foot-4, 310-pound offensive lineman is a graduate of Lincoln-Way East and the University of Illinois. He played every game in his fifth season in the NFL and the Chiefs, starting one. The seventh-round draft pick played on KC's Super Bowl LV and LVIII championship teams.
Tyler Kirby: In his 14th season with the Chiefs and first as the club's Executive Vice President of Business Development. The Illinois State graduate (2007) spent time with the ISU athletic department and was marketing coordinator at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, Illinois.
Joe Cullen: The defensive line coach spent 2005 as a defensive assistant at the University of Illinois.
Brendan Daly: The linebackers coach is a Chicago native who attended Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin and spent 2004 as tight ends coach at Illinois State.
Matt Kenny: The Executive Vice President of Arrowhead Operations and Events worked for the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field and attended Northwestern.
Ryan Reynolds: The strength and conditioning assistant and sports science director is from Fulton, Illinois.
Mike Frazier: The statistical analysis coordinator is from Evanston.
Holt McKenney: The assistant equipment manager played football at Carthage Illini West before graduating in 2014.
Illinois ties to the Super Bowl: 2023: Chiefs vs. Eagles | 2022: Rams vs. Bengals | 2021: Chiefs vs. Bucs
San Francisco 49ers
Taybor Pepper: The longsnapper is the son of former University of Illinois lineman Cam Pepper. He was born in Urbana, Illinois.
Steve Wilks: The defensive coordinator was defensive backs coach at Illinois State in 2000.
Andrew Hayes-Stoker: The assistant defensive backs coach spent five seasons (2016-2020) as wide receivers coach at the University of Illinois.
Brano Perkovich: The Chief Investment Officer spent several years with the Boston Consulting Group in Chicago, working on corporate strategy and business development assignments for Fortune 500 companies.
Ryan Kessenich: The scout has a master's degree from Northwestern.
Ekene Olekanma: The coordinator of football R&D, who works on analytical projects for the coaching staff, is a native of Chicago.
Shravan Ramamurthy: The football R&D analyst previously worked with the MLB's Chicago Cubs as a player scout.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 2024 Super Bowl: Meet the players with an Illinois connection
