As Cornellians turn on the TV to watch Super Bowl 2025 on Sunday, they will be set to witness a matchup between two Big Red alumni — former teammates Hunter Nourzad ’22 and Jalyx Hunt ’23.
The 59th Super Bowl will see the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
While this historic matchup has implications for the Chiefs and Eagles, Cornell fans will also witness Big Red history, with the matchup marking the first time in Cornell history that two players are competing in the same Super Bowl game.
For the Chiefs, a Super Bowl win would make them the first-ever National Football League team to win three consecutive championships. In addition, it would be the first “three-peat” across the four major professional U.S. sports leagues — National Hockey League, NFL, Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association — since the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002.
The matchup of the two teams is a repeat of the 2022 Super Bowl where the Eagles lost to the Chiefs. If the Eagles win, they will secure their second Vince Lombardi trophy in 92-year franchise history.
Nourzad, a backup center for the Chiefs, and Hunt, an outside linebacker and member of special teams, will face off after playing two seasons together for the Red.
Whoever wins the big game will become the fourth Cornell football player to take home the Lombardi Trophy.
Derrick Harmon ’84, who played for the San Francisco 49ers, was the first Cornell alum to win an NFL Championship in Super Bowl XIX in 1985. Ed Marinaro ’72 played in the Super Bowl twice with the Minnesota Vikings in 1974 and 1975 without a win. Kevin Boothe ’05 collected two Super Bowl rings with the New York Giants in 2008 and 2012, followed by Bryan Walters ’10 with the Seattle Seahawks in 2014.
Nourzad graduated from Cornell with a degree in mechanical engineering. After a stellar performance at Cornell, he transferred to Penn State. As a member of the Red in 2020, he was ranked fifth nationally with 0.9 sacks allowed per game. He started in 41 of 44 career games between both schools. As a center at Penn State, he allowed zero sacks on 398 pass block snaps in 2023 and was one of ten Power Five centers to not allow a sack.
Since entering the NFL as the 159th pick, Nourzad has been a backup for starting Chiefs center Creed Humphrey who has been with Kansas City for four years.
On the other side of the field is Hunt, who began his collegiate journey at Cornell before transferring to Houston Christian University. While Nourzad has not yet started in a game, Hunt has played 16 NFL games and recorded 21 tackles for the Eagles, 12 being solo. With two forced fumbles and one-and-a-half sacks, Hunt has made an impression on the Eagles’ defense.
Both Nourzad and Hunt were drafted to the NFL in the same class, marking the first time in nearly thirty years that Cornell Football alums were able to achieve this.
No matter the result this Sunday, one thing is certain: a former player from Cornell's program will get a coveted Super Bowl ring.
Zeinab Faraj is the assistant sports editor on the 143rd editorial board and a member of the class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences.
