SANTA CLARA, Calif. — When rookie safety Nick Emmanwori heard who wore his jersey Sunday, he had a good feeling the Seahawks were going to win.
Emmanwori recalled back a year ago when South Carolina women’s basketball coach and longtime Philadelphia fan Dawn Staley wore an Eagles sweatshirt while coaching on Super Bowl Sunday in a game against Texas. And, as memory recalls, the Eagles went on to roll past Kansas City handily in a 40-22 victory.
Fast-forward 12 months and on this Super Bowl Sunday, Staley wore the Seahawks jersey of Emmanwori earlier in the day when South Carolina beat Tennessee 93-50.
“A teammate told me that she wore my jersey, and I knew we (were) going to win because she wore the Philly jersey last year … and they won. So I knew we were going to win. It was good luck,” Emmanwori said.
While his memory was a little shaky about what exactly Staley wore a year ago, the general theme was correct. Staley made it two straight years rocking the gear of the winning team.
Emmanwori played at South Carolina so the bond is clear. But it goes beyond the school connection as Emmanwori’s girlfriend is Raven Johnson, a starter on Staley’s team. Johnson scored 13 points in South Carolina’s win over Tennessee earlier Sunday before sitting back to watch the Super Bowl.
“It’s legendary. She’s a hell of a coach, all-time coach, Hall of Fame coach. And the fact that she wore my jersey to let the world know that she’s riding with the Seahawks, even though she an Eagles fan, that meant a lot to me,” Emmanwori said.
When it came to the game, Emmanwori was not at 100% after suffering a low-ankle sprain in practice Wednesday. He took limited reps during pregame warmups, trying to save the ankle for when the game started.
Emmanwori ended up running out with the starters when the Seahawks defense took the field for the first series. He finished with five tackles and didn’t appear to be significantly limited by the ankle injury, which initially brought back nightmares of Kam Chancellor suffering a knee injury two days before the last Super Bowl the Seahawks played 11 years ago. But Emmanwori was cleared by Friday and did not carry an injury designation going into the game.
“The ankle was a little iffy, but, I mean, it’s the Super Bowl, so I didn’t think too much about it,” Emmanwori said. “Once my adrenaline was pumping, I was in there and I was good to go.”