Once Seahawk and Husky, Westover Heads for Super Bowl

This Super Bowl seemingly is all about Seattle guys, those who wear those dark blue Seahawks uniforms, have a ton of momentum heading into the pro football championship game in two weeks in California and are favored to win it all.

Yet on the flip side, the New England Patriots will enter this title bout with player with a Puget Sound back history, someone who grew up with Mount Rainier rising up in the background, and, in his case, make that Mount Si, as well.

Jack Westover.

He's a 6-foot-2, 245-pound former tight end turned fullback for the Super Bowl-bound Patriots who spent his college days making things happen at the University of Washington after barely playing high school football at all.

And he actually was a Seahawk for four months.

In May 2024, Westover signed as a free agent for the local NFL franchise, only to get let go at the cutdown date in August.

Jack Westover hurdles an Arizona defender during the UW's 2022 game at Husky Stadium. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Two months later, the Patriots picked him up during the season, put him on their practice squad, activated him and he's been part of the New England rebuild and franchise resurgence ever since.

Westover has appeared in 20 New England games over two years now, including all 17 this season, and started two.

A physical player, he's known foremost for his blocking ability.

But lo and behold, Westover caught his first NFL pass three weeks ago, an 8-yarder against the Los Angeles Chargers in the playoffs.

He's noteworthy because he's one of the few guys to turn up in the Super Bowl without having hardly played any high school football at all.

The Patriots' Jack Westover (37) reaches for a pass against the New York Jets. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

As a senior at Snoqualmie's Mount Si High School, Westover was a basketball player who decided to give football a try.

He hadn't pulled on a helmet and pads since he was an eighth-grader.

He didn't last long either -- breaking his collarbone in his second Mount Si game and he was done. College football seemed improbable for him.

"I didn't really have any recruitment at all," Westover said. "There really wasn't a lot of opportunity."

Yet he attended a Husky football camp, got noticed, joined Chris Petersen's team as a walk-on player, earned a scholarship and became a focal part of the team.

Westover played in 52 UW games and started 16 times.

He caught 87 passes for 849 yards and 6 touchdowns.

He even rushed the ball 7 times for 26 yards and another score.

So now Westover is Super Bowl-bound, a guy who loves a good challenge, a Seattle guy on the other side of the battle.

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