PROVO, Utah, Feb. 10, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Former BYU star Fred Warner is back in the Super Bowl and again finds another Cougars legend looming over his championship dreams.
San Francisco’s All-Pro linebacker is one of a handful of players and coaches with Utah ties linked to Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch between the 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Warner’s 49ers lost 31-20 in their Feb. 2, 2020, Super Bowl showdown with the Chiefs, coached by BYU alumnus Andy Reid.
“Coach Reid, you know, is a fellow BYU Cougar,” Warner said. “He’s been obviously really great in this league for a long time. [He] creates such unique plays with his players that he has on his team. So there’s going to be times in the game where we see looks that we haven’t seen before.”
Reid, a BYU graduate, is making his fifth Super Bowl appearance as head coach, including the fourth time in five years with Kansas City. He’s led the Chiefs to 10 playoff appearances, eight AFC West titles, four conference championships and two Super Bowl victories in his 11 seasons with the team.
Reid was an offensive lineman at BYU in 1978-80 and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Cougars in 1982.
Win or lose Sunday, he will become one of only three head coaches in NFL history to make five Super Bowls — Bill Belichick (nine), Don Shula (six) and Tom Landry (five).
The Chiefs also are only the third team to play in four Super Bowls over a five-year span. If Kansas City wins Sunday, it will join the Pittsburgh Steelers (1970s), Dallas Cowboys (1990s) and New England Patriots (2000s/2010s) to win three Super Bowls in five years.
Warner led the 49ers this season with 132 tackles (82 solo), while adding 2.5 sacks, four interceptions, four forced fumbles and 11 passes defended. Now in his sixth NFL season, he was named to the All-Pro First Team for the third time in his career.
Warner was selected by San Francisco in the third round (70th overall) in the 2017 NFL Draft. He played at BYU from 2014 to 2017, leading the Cougars in total tackles in his final two seasons.
Former University of Utah punter Mitch Wishnowsky is the only other player with Utah ties expected to see action in Sunday’s big game. The 49ers punter averaged a career-long 47.7 yards per punt in his fifth NFL season, landing 50% of his attempts inside the 20-yard line.
Former Olympus High School tight end Cameron Latu spent his rookie season with the 49ers on injured reserve and won’t play Sunday.
Matt Bushman, a former BYU tight end, is on Kanas City’s practice squad.
