Former Kansas University cornerback Chris Harris is headed back to the Super Bowl. And this time he’ll be playing.
Harris, the fifth-year pro who joined the Denver Broncos after going undrafted following his four-year career at KU, joined fellow former Jayhawk Aqib Talib in playing a huge role in Denver’s 20-18, AFC Championship victory over New England on Sunday.
Dubbed by many as the top starting cornerback tandem in the NFL, Harris and Talib came up huge time and time again in the fourth quarter as Patriots QB Tom Brady tried to rally his team to a tying score.
Both players came up with crucial fourth-down stops inside the final five minutes and it was Talib’s deflection of Brady’s two-point conversion pass attempt that sealed the game for the Broncos, who are headed to their second Super Bowl in three seasons and eighth all-time.
Two years ago, following a record-setting season by the Denver offense, the Broncos advanced to the Super Bowl but were drubbed by Seattle in one of the most lopsided Super Bowls of all-time. Harris watched from the sideline during that one, unable to play because of an injury he suffered during the playoff run.
Talib, who is now in his second season with the Broncos, watched that one from home as he spent that season with New England and was part of a different Patriots team that lost the AFC title game in Denver.
Now, in two weeks, with Superman QB Cam Newton firing the passes, the former Jayhawks will try to do what they did in 2008 at Kansas — finish their season with a victory.
For Harris, the trip back to the big game represents an opportunity to experience the Super Bowl in an entirely new way. Two years ago, with the game played in New York, Harris was celebrated for his contributions with the team but did not participate in the same experiences as his teammates from everything to game planning and practicing for the big game to media day and even traveling with the team to the Big Apple.
For Talib, the former first-round pick who will be making his first trip to the Super Bowl, the opportunity provides him with the kind of stage he was born to be on. Not only will Talib be playing in the biggest game of the season against the league’s likely MVP, but he also will get two weeks to offer soundbites and entertainment that surely will not disappoint.
And for Kansas, a football program struggling through one of the roughest rebuilds in college football history, having two former Jayhawks start for the league’s best defense in the Super Bowl provides head coach David Beaty and company with a little extra juice on the recruiting trail, particularly because Harris and Talib, out of high school, were unheralded, lowly ranked prospects similar to the types of players KU is recruiting and hoping to rebuild with today.
Beaty was on the sideline in Denver on Sunday — the guess here is that having the son of Denver’s head coach on his staff helped him land the sideline pass — and he wisely made his presence known on various KU football social media sites by celebrating the performance of the two former Jayhawks.
That won’t win KU any games in the near future, but it sure won’t hurt to have two of the key starters at one of the most visible positions in this year’s Super Bowl announce “Kansas” as their school when they’re introduced both at the game and on television.
Here’s a link to a quick video of Talib’s reaction to finally reaching the big game:
http://www.nfl.com/videos/denver-broncos/0ap3000000627717/Talib-on-Super-Bowl-berth-Man-it-s-about-time
