Plenty was made about the three former Jayhawks in the Cincinnati Bengals locker room for Super Bowl LVI, but there was another one-time Jayhawk on the other side who walked away with a ring.
Former KU graduate assistant Kevin Carberry completed his first year with the Los Angeles Rams as a world champion.
The Rams beat the Bengals 23-20 in Los Angeles. Former Jayhawks Hakeem Adeniji, who started at right guard, and practice squad Pooka Williams Jr., were on the Bengals’ roster, with former KU punter Darrin Simmons coaching Cincinnati’s special teams.
Carberry coaches the Rams’ offensive line, which did just enough in Sunday’s Super Bowl to allow Matt Stafford and Cooper Kupp to hook up for the game-winning touchdown in the final two minutes of the Rams’ win.
A four-year letterman at Ohio during his playing days, Carberry earned All-MAC honors as senior team captain. The former defensive lineman graduated from Ohio in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. He earned his master’s in sports administration from KU in 2010 and coached at Kansas from 2009-11, under both Mark Mangino and Turner Gill.
After leaving KU following the 2011 season, Carberry coached defensive ends at Stephen F. Austin for two seasons (2012-13) before jumping to the NFL. He worked as an offensive assistant with the Dallas Cowboys in 2014 and 2015 and was the assistant offensive line coach with Washington in 2016 and 2017.
He jumped back into college coaching in 2018, serving as the run game coordinator/offensive line coach at Stanford for three seasons before joining the Rams to work for head coach Sean McVay.
McVay and Carberry worked together on the Washington staff in 2016 under Jay Gruden. McVay was the offensive coordinator and Carberry worked with the O-Line.
Not only does Carberry’s resume include a line for Kansas, but his wife, the former Emily Martin, is also former KU rower who was an assistant rowing coach with the Jayhawks after graduating. She also is a native Kansan, having grown up in Wellington.
Mangino, who congratulated Carberry on Twitter following Sunday’s Super Bowl win, took a minute to share with the Journal-World his memories of bringing Carberry to Kansas. The assist for the pairing went to former KU offensive coordinator Ed Warinner.
“I remember when Ed asked me to interview Kevin for a vacant GA position. After five minutes, I knew he was the guy,” Mangino told the Journa-World on Sunday night. “He always approached his responsibilities with great enthusiasm and detail. He’s also a likable and considerate person, which made him a good fit. We are very proud of him.”