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George Kittle Caught Eyes With Dawn Staley Jersey Before 49ers Game

San Francisco 49ers icon George Kittle showed love to South Carolina coach Dawn Staley on Sunday.
Grant Young|
Dec 8, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) is introduced before the start of the game against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
Dec 8, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) is introduced before the start of the game against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

The South Carolina Gamecocks and TCU Horned Frogs are facing off in an intriguing clash between two women's basketball superpowers on Sunday.

Of course, any Sunday game in December means that the NCAA will be competing with the NFL, which is never an ideal scenario for viewership. However, that didn't stop San Francisco 49ers superstar tight end George Kittle from showing support for legendary Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley.

Prior to the 49ers' home game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Kittle was seen rocking a Dawn Staley Team USA jersey while entering the stadium.

The Sporting News' X account posted a video of Kittle wearing the jersey with the caption, "George Kittle with the @dawnstaley jersey ahead of today's game 🔥".

It's interesting to see Kittle supporting Staley, if only because he attended the University of Iowa, whose team lost to Staley's South Carolina squad in the 2024 NCAA Championship Game earlier this year.

Then again, Kittle is wearing a Team USA jersey (seemingly from the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where Team USA won gold medals after earning bronze medals in shocking fashion the Olympics prior).

Staley is a three-time Olympic gold medalist as a player and also earned a gold medal as a head coach for Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.

While Iowa fans might not like to see Kittle wearing this jersey, they can take solace in the fact that he has been seen supporting Iowa women's basketball multiple times in the past.

In fact, Kittle’s wife Claire even played on the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball squad from 2012-2016.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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