Minnesota connections to Super Bowl LX
Minnesota DL Boye Mafe (34) during a college football game between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Illinois Fighting Illini on November 7, 2020 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill ((Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots meet Sunday night in Super Bowl LX, which crowns a champion for the 2025 season.
There are three Minnesota college connections to the Super Bowl, and they all played for P.J. Fleck.
Seattle Seahawks – Boye Mafe, Nick Kallerup
What we know:
Boye Mafe played in 42 career games with the Gophers under Fleck, and was a key defensive piece of the 2019 team that won 11 games, the program’s most in 115 years. He finished his college career with 87 tackles, 59 solo, and had 19.5 tackles for loss and 15 sacks.
In 65 career games and 34 starts with the Seahawks, Mafe has 164 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, 20 sacks, 36 quarterback hits and 14 passes defended.
Kallerup played in all 13 games with the Gophers during the 2024 season, and started seven at tight end. He had nine catches for 117 yards. Kallerup has played nine games as a rookie, and has two tackles on special teams.
New England Patriots – Jack Gibbens
By the numbers:
Jack Gibbens started at linebacker for the Gophers under Fleck for one season, after four years at Abilene Christian University. In one season at Minnesota, he started all 13 games and led the defense with 92 tackles. He also had 4.5 tackles for loss, and broke up three passes.
Gibbens spent his first three NFL seasons with the Tennessee Titans before signing with the Patriots this year. He has started eight games and has 81 tackles, one sack and eight tackles for loss.
The quarterback connection
Why you should care:
You can’t talk about the Seahawks and Patriots without the quarterback connection to the Vikings. Sam Darnold is playing for a Super Bowl after resurrecting his career in one season with the Vikings. They let him enter free agency, and he got paid in Seattle.
The Vikings could’ve moved up in the NFL Draft to get Drake Maye, but the price from the Patriots would’ve been high. Instead, they moved up to the No. 10 pick and took J.J. McCarthy with it.
The jury is still out on that decision, though it can’t be argued that the handling of the Vikings’ quarterback situation was part of the rationale for the dismissal of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah from the front office.