Craig Woodson, Jaylinn Hawkins Form a Super Bowl First for Cal

Former Cal safeties Craig Woodson and Jaylinn Hawkins will be the New England Patriots’ starting safety in Sunday’s Super Bowl and that makes them distinctive from the other 28 former Golden Bears who were starters in past Super Bowls.

Sunday’s Super Bowl will be the first time since the 2020 Super Bowl (following the 2019 season) that any former Cal players will be in the starting lineup in Sunday’s Super Bowl. And now the Bears have two.

But it’s not the first time two ex-Golden Bears were Super Bowl starters. Five previous Super Bowls featured two Golden Bears in the starting lineups. (We include only players who played their final college season at Cal, which eliminates players like Vince Ferragamo, Isaac Curtis and Herm Edwards, who began at Cal but finished at another college.)

Here are the five previous Super Bowls with two Cal starters:

Quarterback Joe Kapp and tight end John Beasley were starters on the Minnesota Vikings team that played in the 1970 Super Bowl.

Quarterback Craig Morton and outside linebacker Bob Swenson started the 1978 Super Bowl for the Denver Broncos.

Kicker Doug Brien and linebacker Gary Plummers were starters for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1995 Super Bowl.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and linebacker Desmond Bishop were Green Bay Packers starters in the 2011 Super Bowl.

Running back Marshawn Lynch and running back Shane Vereen were in the starting lineup in the 2015 Super Bowl for the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, respectively.

Only Kapp and Beasley would have been on the field at the same time, and Beasley caught two Kapp passes in the Vikings’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

So that puts Woodson and Hawkins in a group of just two pairings of former Cal players that will be on the field together in a Super Bowl.

However, what makes Woodson and Hawkins particularly distinctive is that they are the only two players who were teammates at Cal to start together in a Super Bowl. They both played for Cal for one season -- 2019.

In 2019, Hawkins was a starting safety for Cal in his final college season and recorded 56 tackles and three interceptions.

That same season, Woodson was a freshman at Cal and played in four games and recorded two tackles before redshirting the season.

You can see the relationship between Woodson and Hawkins following the postseason win over the Texans.

Rookie @_CraigWoodson got his first career INT today, and no one was happier for him than his former Cal teammate, Jaylinn Hawkins.

"I almost started crying...It's just so cool to see him now at the biggest stage and at the highest level doing what he's doing." pic.twitter.com/K1QTr3MKS3
— Nicole Menner (@NicoleMenner) January 19, 2026

Hawkins was a fourth-round NFL draft pick in 2020, and Woodson was a fourth-round pick in 2025.

Woodson will be the first position player from Cal to start a Super Bowl game as a rookie, although two kickers also did so as rookies – Doug Brien in 1995 and Ryan Longwell in 1998.

Here is a list of the previous 28 former Cal players who were starters in Super Bowls. (We include only players who played their final college season at Cal.):

Super Bowl Starters from Cal

Quarterback Joe Kapp, Minnesota Vikings, 1970 Super Bowl

Tight end John Beasley, Minnesota Vikings, 1970 Super Bowl

Quarterback Craig Morton (twice), Dallas Cowboys, 1971 Super Bowl, and Denver Broncos, 1978 Super Bowl.

Offensive guard Ed White (three times), Minnesota Vikings, 1974, 1975, 1977 Super Bowls

Outside linebacker Bob Swenson, Denver Broncos, 1978 Super Bowl

Linebacker Loren Toews, Pittsburgh Steelers, 1979 Super Bowl

Kicker Ray Wersching (twice), San Francisco 49ers, 1982 and 1985 Super Bowls

Kicker Jim Breech (twice), Cincinnati Bengals, 1982 and 1989 Super Bowls

Center Keith Kartz, Denver Broncos, 1990 Super Bowl

Offensive tackle Doug Riesenberg, New York Giants, 1991 Super Bowl

Linebacker Gary Plummer, San Francisco 49ers, 1995 Super Bowl

Kicker Doug Brien, San Francisco 49ers, 1995 Super Bowl

Defensive end Ferric Collons, New England Patriots, 1997 Super Bowl

Kicker Ryan Longwell, Green Bay Packers, 1998 Super Bowl

Defensive end Chidi Ahanotu, St. Louis Rams, 2002 Super Bowl

Defensive end Regan Upshaw, Oakland Raiders, 2003 Super Bowl

Offensive tackle Todd Steussie, Carolina Panthers, 2004 Super Bowl

Offensive tackle Tarik Glenn, Indianapolis Colts, 2007 Super Bowl

Outside linebacker Scott Fujita, New Orleans Saints, 2010 Super Bowl

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers, 2011 Super Bowl

Linebacker Desmond Bishop, Green Bay Packers, 2011 Super Bowl

Running back Marshawn Lynch (twice), Seattle Seahawks, 2014 and 2015 Super Bowls

Running back Shane Vereen, New England Patriots, 2015 Super Bowl

Running back CJ Anderson, Denver Broncos, 2016 Super Bowl

Center Alex Mack, Atlanta Falcons, 2017 Super Bowl

Outside linebacker Mychal Kendricks, Philadelphia Eagles, 2018 Super Bowl

Quarterback Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rames, 2019 Super Bowl

Offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz, Kansas City Chiefs, 2020 Super Bowl

*To be added on Sunday:

Safety Craig Woodson, New England Patriots, 2026 Super Bowl

Safety Jaylinn Hawkins, New England Patriots, 2026 Super Bowl

Woodson wears No. 31 and Hawkins is No. 21, but it’s easy to tell them apart. Hawkins is the overtly emotional one, always jumping around, while Woodson is more even keeled.

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