NFL Playoffs have Central Mass. flavor - here are some facts about the four locals involved
The NFL is down to a final four and come Sunday night two teams will have been crowned conference champions and secured a berth in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
While no one will confuse Central Mass. with football factories like California, Florida and Texas, the region will be extraordinarily well represented when the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs vie for the AFC title (3 p.m.) and the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions meet for the NFC crown (6:30).
Here are five things to know ‒ some of which you may already be aware of, others perhaps not ‒ about the local foursome of Chiefs tight end Noah Gray (Gardner), Lions safety Iffy Melifonwu (Grafton), Ravens fullback Patrick Ricard (Spencer), and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo (Grafton).
More: Plenty of locals playing for a Super Bowl - here's who to root for in the NFL Playoffs
Noah Gray
1. Gray, 24, was born in Laconia, New Hampshire, and raised in Gardner before going on to attend Leominster High, from which he graduated in 2017. Gray was a two-time T&G Super Team selection in football, making the all-star squad as a quarterback as a junior and as a receiver as a senior.
2. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Gray, who was ranked as the No. 70 athlete on espn.com as a senior, attended Duke University, where he was moved to tight end. He appeared in 48 of a possible 49 games over four seasons, was a second-team All-American as a junior when he caught 51 passes and a team captain as a senior.
3. Gray was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes midway through his freshman year at Duke, from which he graduated with a degree in political science and a certificate in markets and management after twice being named an academic All-ACC selection. He has used his position as a professional athlete to raise awareness and increase understanding of diabetes
4. The Chiefs drafted Gray in the fifth round with 162nd overall pick in 2021. He was the 10th of 11 tight ends selected and the only one to have appeared in the playoffs in each of his first three seasons.
5. Gray has played in all 50 games since entering the NFL ‒ including a victory in Super Bowl LVII ‒ and been on the field for 52 percent of the offensive snaps the past two seasons. His 28 receptions for 305 yards, 2 touchdowns and 14 additional first downs this year are all career or career-high tying numbers.
Iffy Melifonwu
1. Melifonwu, whose full first name is Ifeatu, was a four-year letterman and three-year starter (running back/receiver/defensive back) at Grafton High. He was a T&G Super Team selection as a junior and the Hometeam Defensive Player of the Year as a senior, when he led the Indians to a 12-1 record and the 2016 Division 3 state final.
2. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Melifonwu, the No. 81 ranked athlete in the class of 2017 by espn.com., went on to attend Syracuse University. He was a two-year starter, three-year letterman and, as a redshirt junior, a third-team All-ACC selection at cornerback.
3. Melifonwu, 24, also excelled in the classroom. He was an All-ACC academic selection in 2019, a three-time ACC honor roll selection and a five-time Syracuse athletic director’s honor roll selection while earning a degree in economics.
4. The Lions selected Melifonwu in the third round (101st overall) in the 2021 NFL Draft. He was the second member of the Melifonwu family to be drafted in four years. Obi, one of Iffy’s three brothers, was taken in the second round (56th overall) by the Oakland Raiders in 2017 and joined the Patriots the following season.
5. Melifonwu, who was switched to safety last season, has been a playmaker since entering the starting lineup in mid-December. Over the past five games, he’s collected 26 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 additional quarterback hits, 2 interceptions ‒ one of which clinched the NFC North championship ‒ 5 additional passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
Pat Ricard
1. A fullback/linebacker, Ricard helped David Prouty go 31-6, advance to two Super Bowls and win one championship over this final three seasons before graduating in 2012. He was a T&G Division 5 honorable mention pick as a senior (must have been some Super Team) and had his No. 42 retired by high school alma mater last year.
More: Former David Prouty star Pat Ricard savors latest NFL playoff run with Baltimore Ravens
2. Ricard accepted a scholarship to the University of Maine, where he was moved to the defensive line. He redshirted as a freshman and appeared in six games the next two seasons before becoming a two-year starter. Ricard was named a third-team All-American as a senior.
3. After graduating with a degree in economics in December of 2016, Ricard went undrafted four months later before signing with the Ravens six days after that. The 29-year-old is in his seventh season in Baltimore and on his second contract, this one a three-year, $11.25-million deal that expires after this season.
4. The Ravens added fullback to the 6-foot-3, 305-pound Ricard’s duties as a rookie D-lineman. He was nicknamed “Project Pat” by his teammates and came up just short of becoming the 11th NFL player in the previous 10 years to play at least 50 snaps on offense and defense in a season.
5. Ricard has been exclusively a fullback since 2020, one who has been selected to four Pro Bowls, named an AP second-team All-Pro this season and tabbed with a new moniker, “Pancake Pat,” for his crushing blocks. He’s used the pancake angle as a fundraising means to benefit his hometown.
Steve Spagnuolo
1. Spagnuolo moved from Northbridge to Grafton when he was in middle school. He would go on to quarterback the then-Indians to the first Super Bowl berth in school history as a junior and finish with a two-year record of 18-2-1 record that included a still-memorable setback to Northbridge as a senior.
More: Despite NFL success, Kansas City Chiefs’ Steve Spagnuolo laments 1977 loss to Northbridge
2. After graduating in 1978, it off to Springfield College, where Spagnuolo transitioned from throwing passes to catching them as a two-year starting receiver while earning a degree in physical education. From there, he entered the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at UMass, where he earned a master’s in sport management in 1983.
3. Spagnuolo, who turned 64 in December, coached at five colleges and in Germany and Spain before joining the staff of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999. His coach then and now? That would be Andy Reid, who hired Spagnuolo as the Chiefs defensive coordinator in 2019.
4. Remember the previously perfect Patriots of 2007 losing to the New York Giants, 17-14, in Super Bowl XLII in Phoenix? Of course you do. The architect of the G-Men D that flummoxed, pressured, attacked, and most importantly, stifled what was then the highest-scoring team in NFL history was none other than Spagnuolo.
5. All told, Spagnuolo, who is affectionally known to pretty much everyone in football as “Spags,” has been a key coaching component on five teams that have reached the Super Bowl with three emerging victorious. He also helped the Chiefs hoist the Lombardi Trophy to cap the 2019 and ’22 campaigns.
—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @RichGarvenTG
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Local foursome have Super Bowl dreams - here are five things to know about each one
