Pair of Former Penn State Players, Current 49ers Going to Super Bowl

Originally posted on Nittany Sports Now | By Joe Smeltzer | Last updated 1/29/24

Penn State will have three former players competing in this years Super Bowl.

OL Donovan Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs will be making his second trip to the big game, with Kansas City beating the Ravens in Baltimore Sunday afternoon.

Hours later, former PSU defender Ji’Ayir Brown and Kevin Givens did the same for the 49ers.

Brown will be making a trip to the Super Bowl in his rookie season. He started at safety in San Fran’s 34-31 NFC Championship Game win over the Detroit Lions. Brown had no DI offers out of high school, but played well enough at Lackawanna Community College to earn a scholarship to Penn State. By the time he left Penn State, he was one of the team’s leaders and best players, and his play was good enough for the 49ers to draft him in the third round.

Ji’Ayir Brown had no D1 offers coming out high school.

He worked his way through junior college, signed with Penn State and became one of its best players.

Today, he started for San Fran in the NFC Championship Game.

He’s going to the Super Bowl.

@DHPhoto11 pic.twitter.com/OJZIqYmEfs

— Joe Smeltzer (@joesmeltzer775) January 29, 2024

Givens has been with San Fran since he began his NFL career in 2019. That season, the 49ers also won NFC and played the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. San Fran ended up losing 31-20, and will obviously be hoping for a much better result this time around.

Brown, usually a reserve, started the NFC Title Game as a rookie.

We’ll see if he starts the Super Bowl, but Brown certainly has a great story regardless of what lies ahead.

Penn State would have been represented by the NFC champions regardless of who won in Santa Clara.

The Lions have former PSU LB Jason Cabinda. Cabinda and Givens were teammates in college and each helped Penn State win the 2016 Big Ten Championship.

This article first appeared on Nittany Sports Now and was syndicated with permission.

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