Super Bowl 50: Tar Heels in the House

Super Bowl 50 will see a Tar Heel in uniform for both squads.

Super Bowl 50 will not feature the North Carolina Tar Heels. However it will, as past Super Bowls have, feature some Tar Heel alumni in the big game. In fact North Carolina’s reputation for Super Bowl participants is not that bad. Although the Tar Heels did not place in the top 20 schools in terms of Super Bowl appearances, they did finish not far back at 22 and ahead of schools like Texas.

So where are these appearances coming from? Well any Panthers fan can point out that Julius Peppers has one. Lawrence Taylor has two. Tackle Harris Barton had at least three. Dre Bly was on the Greatest Show on Turf Rams. Willie Parker owns the Super Bowl touchdown run record, and Jeff Saturday was there for two attempts the Colts made at the big game. Carlton Bailey was on three of Bills teams that lost four straight. So there is a place to start.

This year both teams once again have Tar Heels to throw into the mix. Big 6’2” 313 lb nose tackle Sylvester Williams will play a big part of the Broncos front line. From what he will be able to do will shape much of what the rest of the defense can do. Twenty-five tackles and three sacks may not sound like a lot, but Williams is there to eat space.

More from Old North Banter

The Panthers will have their Tar Heel weapon as well. Safety Tre Boston started much of last season, but took a seat to veterans Roman Harper and Kurt Coleman. He still sees a good amount of time spelling one safety or the other. When Harper got hit in the eye, Boston came in played the rest of the Cardinals game and got an interception of his own. Boston is still easy to recognize because of his long hair under his helmet.

It is signing day, and new Tar Heels will be joining the team. Perhaps they too will become Super Bowl type players down the line.

Home/North Carolina Tar Heels