Skip to main content

Texas Football: Four Former Longhorns Have a Shot at a Super Bowl Ring Tomorrow

There has been a Longhorn on 12 of the last 15 Super Bowl-winning teams

No matter which team wins tomorrow, a Texas Longhorn will earn a Super Bowl ring. 

The Longhorns have four former lettermen between the two teams coaching staff and rosters. 

The obvious one is San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who has a chance to become only the second Longhorn alumni ever to coach a team to a Super Bowl title. 

It's an even more elite club considering the first one was Cowboys legend Tom Landry. 

Shanahan transferred to Texas to learn under Mack Brown and ended up earning playing time as a walk-on. 

Richard Hightower was one of Shanahan's Texas teammates. He now serves on his  49ers staff as the team's special teams coordinator. Hightower came to Texas on an academic scholarship and eventually earned one in football. He was a special teams star for the Longhorns and continued his passion for the game's third phase into his coaching career, which has now spanned 17 years. 

There are two former Longhorns who have opportunities to get Super Bowl rings as players as well, though both are on the injured reserve. 

Two-sport star and former Olympian Marquise Goodwin was a four-year letterman and two-year starter for the Longhorns during his time on the Forty Acres. He was drafted by Buffalo, where he played for four years before joining the 49ers. During his playing career Goodwin has 12 touchdown catches. Goodwin was placed on injured reserve with chronic foot and knee issues. 

On the other side, Alex Okafor is the lone Texas representative on the Cheifs roster. An Austin-area native, Okafor played his high school ball at nearby Pflugerville before his time with the Longhorns. He was the 2012 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and has played with three NFL teams including Arizona, New Orleans and now Kansas City. He tore his pectoral muscle in December and was placed in injured reserve. 

Super Bowl success is nothing new to former Longhorns. 12 of the last 15 teams to win the Super Bowl have included at least one Texas alumnus on its roster.