Who Was the Best College Player That is Playing in the Super Bowl?

Unlike the other major pro sports you have to play some college ball in order to be able to play in the NFL. If you take a look at the Super Bowl Rosters of the New England Patriots and the New York Giants you find guys that had some great college careers. That said, you have to do some digging to figure out who really was the best college player. The criteria is difficult because of positions, so let’s just take a quick look at both rosters and find who were the most recognizable names when they were coming out of college:

New England Patriots

Ryan Mallet – Michigan/Arkansas

Brandon Spikes – Florida

Shaun Ellis – Tennessee

Gerrard Warren – Florida

Wes Welker – Texas Tech

Chad Ochocinco – Oregon State

Vince Wilfork – Miami

New York Giants

Eli Manning – Ole Miss

David Carr – Fresno State

Anrel Rolle – Miami

Aaron Ross – Texas

Mario Manningham – Michigan

Mathias Kiwanuka – Boston College

You see there is no Tom Brady on that list. He was splitting time with Drew Henson at Michigan. On New England, Ochocinco on Wilfork were probably the biggest stars in college. In the case of dominance, Wilfork was an absolute force for Miami. They had a lot of studs on that defense, but Wilfork may have been the difference, making running against the Canes impossible. The edge goes to Vince.

photo credit: espn1420.com

For the Giants, this is a tough one. Manning put up great numbers at Ole Miss as did Carr at Fresno. The Rebels were never able to win an SEC Championship, but were still pretty successful. Kiwanuka was the most dominant defensive player in his conference while at Boston College. So for the sake of argument let’s make it between Manning and Kiwanuka. The edge will go to Manning for name recognition. Also, we saw his mettle in Oxford which is now on full display for the Giants.

So between Manning and Wilfolk who would you take? I’m going with Wilfork. He may be the best down lineman in college since Warren Sapp. In fact, that is exactly who they compared him to while at Miami. The scary part is that Wilfork didn’t even start his first two years, and left Miami after his junior season. Vince Wilfork wins the BeyondUSports award for the best college player competing in the Super Bowl. Who is your choice?

Ari Russell
As a college sports fanatic, Ari Russell leverages 15 years of experience and irony to bring you an unrivaled experience. Ari provides unconventional insight with his in-depth college sports knowledge. He is the former Executive Producer of College Sports Programming on Sirius XM Radio.