Jan. 25, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. -- When the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts face off February 7 in Super Bowl XLIV, a former Wildcat is guaranteed to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the fifth-straight year.
The Saints boast 2005 graduate and offensive lineman Zach Strief while the Colts feature 2008 graduate and defensive lineman John Gill. The winner will join Trai Essex (Pittsburgh, 2006), Matt Ulrich (Indianapolis, 2007), Barry Cofield (New York Giants, 2008) and Essex again in 2009 as Northwestern alumni with Super Bowl rings.
Thirteen Northwestern alums have participated in 14 previous Super Bowls. Strief and Gill both are making their first appearances in the big game. Strief -- a first-team FWAA All-American in 2005 -- was drafted by the Saints in the seventh round (210th overall) in 2006 while Gill was signed as an undrafted free agent first by the Detroit Lions and then by Indy following the 2009 draft. Gill moved from the Colts' practice squad to their main roster prior to the end of the regular season.
In addition, New Orleans' assistant coaches Bret Ingalls and Aaron Kromer both served as assistants at NU. Saints' head coach Sean Payton was the offensive coordinator at Miami (Ohio) in 1994-95 during former Northwestern head coach Randy Walker's tenure there. Indianapolis Colts' head coach Jim Caldwell also spent a year as an assistant coach at Northwestern in 1981.
The Big Ten Conference will be well-represented with 20 former student-athletes and 13 coaches with previous conference connections on the rosters of the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints. The Big Ten leads all conferences with 20 players on the two Super Bowl squads, followed by the SEC (19 players), Big 12 (18), ACC (15) and Pac-10 (13).