When Chris Stoll was spending two full seasons not seeing the field as a walk-on for the Penn State football team, who could have imagined he would be the only player from the program who would get onto the field to play in a future Super Bowl?
Stoll, the Seattle Seahawks’ long snapper, is the only representative of Penn State — or for that matter, Pitt, West Virginia or any district small college — expected to play in Sunday’s Super Bowl LX between the Seahawks and New England Patriots.
Stoll, from Westerville, Ohio, walked on to the Nittany Lions in 2017 but did not play during that or the following season. He served as Penn State’s long snapper for each of their 48 games over the ensuing four years, though, including Cotton and Rose bowl victories.
“I’m blessed to represent Penn State (and) represent a school that did everything for me,” Stoll told The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s student newspaper, during Super Bowl media day this past week.
Stoll has snapped for Seattle teams that have had winning records each of his three NFL seasons, including as a rookie when kicker Jason Myers was named to the Pro Bowl rosters.
“I got very lucky Seattle reached out after the (2023) draft, had a spot open and was able to do well enough to keep that spot,” Stoll told The Daily Collegian.
One of Stoll’s former Penn State teammates is on the active roster of the Patriots: offensive tackle Caedan Wallace. Wallace, though, has been inactive for each of the previous playoff games of this New England run. A 2024 third-round pick, Wallace has been in uniform for 10 games with two starts over his two NFL seasons.
Another player on the Patriots roster who did not play a snap in any of their three AFC playoff games who is familiar to Steelers fans is Josh Dobbs. A fourth-round pick of the Steelers in 2017, Dobbs is part of a ninth different organization. He’s played in games for six of them, including four relief appearances as the QB2 this season for New England.
As such, there’s always a chance he’s an injury away from having the opportunity for immortality in the form of, say, leading a game-winning drive. If Drake Maye does get hurt, Dobbs could join Robert Spillane as the lone ex-Steelers to play in Super Bowl LX.
WPIAL representation in the Super Bowl is limited. A pair of New England assistant coaches went to Pittsburgh-area high schools: North Allegheny’s Robert Kugler and Shady Side Academy’s Scott Booker.
Kugler, a 2012 NA alum, is in his fourth season on an NFL team’s staff. A four-year starting center at Purdue, he was hired by the Patriots in 2024 and retained when Mike Vrabel took over as head coach.
A 1999 graduate of Shady Side Academy, Booker has worked under Vrabel for six seasons — including 2019-23 with the Tennessee Titans.
Gateway alum Courtney Jackson is a rookie on the Seahawks’ practice squad. He has yet to appear in an NFL regular-season game after a 144-catch college career at Syracuse and Arkansas State.