This Maryville native drove for Uber after college. Now he’s a Super Bowl starter
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Maryville native Jalen Sundell rose from undrafted status to Seahawks starting center.
- Sundell paid bills driving for Uber after college before earning an NFL roster spot.
- He anchors Seattle’s OL, earned PFF top-20 center grade and heads to Super Bowl LX.
The Seattle Seahawks’ starting center, Jalen Sundell, is about to get a lot more famous once Super Bowl week begins.
He’s not looking forward to it.
“No, I’m not excited for more media,” Sundell told The Star on Thursday.
Like most players headed for the biggest championship stage in football, Sundell, 26, is looking forward to the game, in which his Seahawks will face the New England Patriots in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX.
But the Super Bowl, and even playing professional football, is not a place where the Maryville native thought he would be when he was younger.
The 6-foot-5, 300-pound lineman grew up in a basketball family, playing hoops all the time. His father, Bob, is an MIAA Hall of Famer for basketball at Northwest Missouri State. He played in the late 1980s. Mother Korena, meanwhile, played at Missouri S&T, back when it was University of Missouri-Rolla in the early 1990s.
And Sundell’s sister, Serena, was a four-year starter at Kansas State who now plays professionally in Australia for the WNBL’s Adelaide Lightning.
“We’ve always joked he’s probably the worst athlete in the family,” Bob Sundell told The Star, “but he’s probably also the hardest worker.”
Members of the family were always ardent Kansas City Chiefs fans, missing only a few games in decades. They used to have 2-on-2 battles in the driveway, with Jalen teaming up with his mom to take on his 6-foot-7 father and sister.
“We were young — I think you could just stand over us,” Sundell said with a laugh. “But as we got older and I started getting bigger, I think the table started to flip.”
As Sundell grew up, and out, Maryville High football coach Matt Webb, a former college coach and defensive coordinator, took note of his potential and size. He told Sundell that college football could be in his future.
“I said, ‘Whatever level that is, is kind of up to you.’ And he really took it to heart and just started working,” Webb said. “He’s just an extremely hard worker, very dedicated young man, great personality, great teammate, just all those intangibles that you ask.”
Maryville High’s Spoofhounds won the Missouri Class 3 state championship in Sundell’s senior year, 2017. Sundell also played basketball and founded the school’s bass-fishing club team.
A two-star prospect at 6-5, 250 pounds, Sundell had just three offers when he was coming out of high school, according to his 247Sports recruiting profile: Western Illinois, Central Michigan and North Dakota State. Sundell chose to be a part of the Bison’s FCS dynasty, winning two national titles in three championship-game appearances in the second tier of Division I.
The program is also known for producing NFL talent, especially on the offensive line.
But Sundell didn’t know any of that, first learning of NDSU when the Spoofhounds visited Fargo for a camp. That’s where he first impressed NDSU’s coaches, in his sophomore year.
“It was cool just seeing who North Dakota State was,” Sundell said. “Walking in there and seeing all the championships on the wall, and seeing the green and gold, it was really cool. I went back there the season after my junior season for individual camp where they offered me, and I pretty much knew right away.”
A long, but quick journey to NFL starter
Sundell was a three-year starter in college, playing center and left tackle. In his senior season, he was an all-conference and All-America selection.
At the end of six seasons with NDSU, Sundell expected to be a late-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. But injuries were found during his medical evaluation at the NFL Combine, Bob Sundell said, and he went undrafted.
“We actually had a little had a draft party at our house,” Bob Sundell recalled. “And even though we were told that it’s probably not a great idea, we did it anyway. You know, at the end of the end of the third day, you’re sitting there like, ‘Oh, guys, the phone’s not ringing.’”
The phone did eventually ring: The Browns called offering Sundell a tryout. But when Cleveland discovered another injury, one of which even Sundell was unaware, they sent him back home.
While training and recovering from his injuries, Sundell earned money as an Uber driver. He was a newlywed, fresh out of college and living with in-laws in Minneapolis. He even had an interview scheduled for a medical-sales job before enjoying a string of NFL tryouts.
Those tryouts began with the Seahawks.
“We were grinding that summer until the tryout,” Sundell said. “You have a tryout in the NFL, that doesn’t usually mean that you have great chances.”
Chance was in Sundell’s favor, as he made Seattle’s initial 53-man roster and played in 12 games as a rookie. He beat out 2023 fifth-round pick Olu Oluwatimi for the starting job at center this season, and he has held it down ever since.
Sundell started all but four games during the 2025 campaign, missing those with a knee injury. He is one of several KC-area natives on Seattle’s roster, including backup right tackle and Blue Valley alum Mason Richman.
The basketball background is apparent in Sundell’s game on the interior of the offensive line. He’s a swift mover in the trenches and in space, combining his athleticism and strength to become a quality NFL starter and an anchor in the Seahawks’ explosive run game.
Pro Football Focus grades Sundell as the 19th-best center in the NFL.
“It’s just been little opportunities given more and more every day. So I’ve been just trying to take those one at a time and you just do what you can,” Sundell said.
This will be the fourth Super Bowl in the past six years featuring an NDSU alum. Rookie first-round left guard and Bison product Grey Zabel gives Sundell an extra connection on Seattle’s O-line.
Sundell credits NDSU and all the coaches in his life for helping him develop into the player he is, and his faith in God for helping him keep working in times of uncertainty.
“My faith comes first, and I have a lot more joy that comes around my faith and my trust in Christ and what he’s done for me than all the championships,” Sundell said. “But winning and championships are awesome, don’t get me wrong.”
As Sundell and the Seahawks prepare for a ferocious New England defense, he’ll stick to his training. And the city of Maryville, already dressed in green for the high school, is prepping to be Seahawks green and blue to cheer on the hometown hero.
“There’s a lot of room on the bandwagon,” Bob Sundell said.
The family plans to be attendance for the game in Santa Clara, California. After that, Jalen Sundell looks forward to road-tripping it home.
“When we’re back in Maryville,” his dad said, “if we go out to eat or go to the grocery store, it’s everybody. Everyone wants to know about Jalen. I understand it.”
As for the pro-football Sundell’s perspective approaching the biggest game of his life?
“It’s really the same game that I’ve been playing since I was in middle school,” he said. “So you’ve really just got to focus on the small things, things that you’ve been doing to get you there ... and not change anything up for ‘the big game.’”
