Three K-State alums are Super Bowl bound. They also beat Patrick Mahomes in college
Patrick Mahomes faked a handoff and threw a screen pass expecting his receiver to catch the ball and zoom past a blocker for a big gain.
D.J. Reed had other plans.
As soon as the ball was snapped, Reed darted across the line of scrimmage and intercepted Mahomes’ pass for an easy defensive touchdown. Elijah Lee ran into the end zone to celebrate with his teammate while Byron Pringle watched from the sideline.
That could be play-by-play from a NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. All four players mentioned above will be on the field together Feb. 2 at Super Bowl 54 in Miami, after all.
But this play happened a long way from the biggest stage in American sports. It happened during a college game four years ago that, at the time, felt like an unremarkable matchup between Kansas State and Texas Tech at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas.
It was the type of game you had to attend to remember. Who could have guessed it had four connections to a future Super Bowl?
Mahomes played through an ailing shoulder to throw for 504 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Red Raiders that day, but the Wildcats won 44-38 in large part because of the previously mentioned play. Reed blew up a bubble screen on the perimeter and gave his team an early 14-7 lead.
Pringle caught two passes for 16 yards and returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, Lee had eight tackles and a pass breakup and Reed had seven stops. His pick-six was the play of the game.
“We were all disguised in cover four, but we were really in cover two. So I just had nothing but the flats,” Reed said at the time. “I just told myself before the play happened, ‘If something goes to the flats I am going to break on it.’ One of their receivers tried to block me and I just gave him a juke. I didn’t think I was probably going to get a pick, but I got my hands on it and it was history from there.”
Kliff Kingsbury, who, in another unpredictable college-to-NFL twist, is now coaching the Arizona Cardinals, called the play from the Tech sideline after seeing K-State’s defensive formation. He thought it was going to work until Reed blew past a pair of receivers for the interception.
“We had a guy blocking and he missed his block,” Kingsbury said back then. “It was a designed play. We had what we wanted. Their corner made a good play.”
K-State went on to win nine games that season and beat Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl. Texas Tech lit up the scoreboard all year long but missed out on a bowl with a 5-7 record.
Mahomes turned pro after the season and was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs a few months later. Lee also left college after that season. Reed and Pringle joined them in the pros the following year. Pringle is now a receiver with the Chiefs. Reed plays defensive back for the 49ers and Lee lines up next to him at linebacker.
Lee, who played high school football at Blue Springs, played in eight games and made one start while registering five tackles for the 49ers this year.
Reed played in 16 games for San Francisco and made eight tackles as a defender. But his biggest contributions might have come on special teams. During a win over the Arizona Cardinals, he forced and recovered a fumble late in the game and took it in for a touchdown.
Pringle was also an important receiver for Mahomes this year. He caught 12 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown while filling in for various injured teammates.
The three of them could take a fun group picture before kickoff in Miami. The only two schools that have more active players at this year’s Super Bowl than K-State are Penn State and Iowa.
They all three played together on the same college team. Four years ago, they flashed their potential during a home victory over Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders had a future NFL MVP at quarterback that day, but the Wildcats beat him with three future Super Bowl players on their roster.
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Three K-State alums are Super Bowl bound. They also beat Patrick Mahomes in college."