Super Bowl LVIII: What you need about former OU football players on Chiefs, 49ers
NORMAN — No college will have more representation in Sunday’s Super Bowl than OU.
The Sooners have six, just ahead of Georgia with five. Michigan and Florida have four each.
It’s the second consecutive year for OU to have the most players in the Super Bowl.
Three of the four ex-Sooners on the Chiefs — Blake Bell, Creed Humphrey and James Winchester — were in last year’s game while Kansas City’s Wanya Morris and San Francisco’s Trent Williams and Brayden Willis are making their Super Bowl debuts. Morris and Willis are rookies.
Here’s a look at the six former Sooners, their biggest moments of their OU careers and a look at their NFL careers:
More: How many former OU players have won a Super Bowl? Here's the list.
Kansas City Chiefs
Blake Bell
Position: Tight end
2023 season: Bell has appeared in all but one game this season for the Chiefs in a variety of different roles on offense and special teams. Bell has five catches for 26 yards and a touchdown. He’s played 51 offensive snaps during the playoffs.
OU career: Bell had an unusual college career from 2010-14, first rising to prominence for the “Belldozer” package, coming on in short-yardage situations in replacement of starting quarterback Landry Jones. Bell made eight starts at quarterback in 2013 but moved to tight end in 2014 after Trevor Knight’s ascension. Bell’s biggest moment might be his 7-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Saunders with 19 seconds remaining to lift the Sooners to a Bedlam victory in 2013.
Creed Humphrey
Position: Center
2023 season: Humphrey continues to emerge as one of the top centers in the NFL, earning his second Pro Bowl spot this season. He played in every game for the Chiefs and posted an 80.4 Pro Football Focus grade, fourth-best among centers.
OU career: From 2017-20, Humphrey started 37 games for the Sooners. As a redshirt junior in 2020, Humphrey did not allow a sack on 401 pass plays according to PFF. Humphrey’s signature moment might’ve come after the Sooners’ 2019 Red River Rivalry victory, when Humphrey donned the Golden Hat — looking tiny on his head — and flashed “Horns Down” in the midst of the celebration. Perhaps no player in recent OU history used the hand gesture as much as Humphrey. He even flashed it a few weeks ago when he and some Chiefs teammates attended Kansas basketball’s win over Oklahoma State at Allen Fieldhouse.
Wanya Morris
Position: Offensive tackle
2023 season: After being drafted in the third round by the Chiefs, Morris started off as a backup but stepped in late in the season for injured veteran Donovan Smith. Morris suffered a concussion in the regular season finale. He returned to play special teams for three plays in the AFC Championship Game win over Baltimore.
OU career: After transferring from Tennessee, where he’d started at left tackle, Morris came to OU with high expectations in 2021 but played in just six games as a backup. Morris broke out in 2022, though, starting eight games at right tackle and giving up just two sacks on 303 pass-blocking plays according to PFF. Morris’ best game came in 2022 against Nebraska, when he came off the bench to play 51 plays and post an 84.7 PFF grade.
James Winchester
Position: Long snapper
2023 season: Winchester is the second-longest tenured Chief, behind only tight end Travis Kelce. Winchester completed his ninth season as the Chiefs’ long snapper and is appearing in his fourth Super Bowl
OU career: The son of former OU punter Mike Winchester, Winchester walked on at OU after playing wide receiver at Washington High. He never was a regular long snapper in high school but quickly found a role there with the Sooners. In his Sooners debut, in the 2008 opener, Winchester had a bad snap that led to a safety in OU’s 57-2 win over Chattanooga. But Winchester was excellent from there on, becoming the Sooners’ regular snapper. By his senior season, Winchester earned a scholarship.
San Francisco 49ers
Trent Williams
Position: Offensive tackle
2023 season: Williams earned All-Pro honors for the third-consecutive season and Pro Bowl honors for the 11th time in his career, the most among active players. Williams started and played 15 regular season games this season and had his highest PFF grade of the season, 90.2, in the 49ers’ NFC Championship Game victory over Detroit.
OU career: Williams played for the Sooners from 2006-09, moving into the starting lineup as a freshman in 2006. Williams was the centerpiece of a 2008 OU offensive line that helped the Sooners set a then-NCAA record with 716 points. In his final game as a Sooner — months before being picked fourth overall in the NFL Draft — Williams stepped in to play center and was dominant in OU’s Sun Bowl win over Stanford.
Brayden Willis
Position: Tight end
2023 season: Willis, a seventh-round draft pick by the 49ers, appeared in just two of San Francisco’s first 12 games. But Willis became both a special teams and blocking tight end regular over the last five games and has played in a combined 45 plays in the first two playoff games.
OU career: Willis had 75 catches for 998 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Sooners from 2018-22. The Sooners lost to Texas Tech last season but Willis did plenty to keep OU in the game. He had a pair of touchdown catches in the game — his third multi-touchdown game of the season — and finished with seven catches for 74 yards in his final regular season game with the Sooners.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Super Bowl LVIII: Former OU football players on Chiefs, 49ers
