Lyons Township Grad Elliott Savors Another Super Bowl Opportunity

LA GRANGE, IL — When the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs face off Sunday for Super Bowl LVII in State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, La Grange residents will recognize at least one familiar face. And it won’t be the first time.

Lyons Township High School graduate and Eagles kicker Jake Elliott is poised to make his second Super Bowl appearance on Sunday after playing a pivotal role for Philadelphia in the team’s Super Bowl LII title when Elliott was a rookie.

Elliott, a Western Springs native, connected on three field goals in that victory and cemented the Eagles’ 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots in 2018. Now, five years later, Elliott isn’t taking the return trip with an eye on another championship lightly in what is another business trip with a defined mission for himself and his teammates.

"It's definitely nice knowing what to expect a little bit," Elliott recently told theEagles’ team website. "There is a lot of uncertainty and distractions in the week leading up to the game, but I think knowing that there will be uncertainty and distractions involved offers some calm. Being through it, you just know what to expect that lets me breathe easy."

Elliott is one of two Illinois natives who will be competing for another Super Bowl title, joining Lincoln-Way East graduate and New Lenox native Nick Allegretti, an offensive lineman with the Chiefs who is also eyeing another championship.

Between them, the 2023 Super Bowl teams have 104 former college football players on their rosters. They played ball for 63 colleges, with the Oklahoma Sooners sending the most — six — to the Super Bowl.

Florida, Michigan, and Mississippi State are all sending four players each; Alabama, Cincinnati, Florida State, Louisiana Tech, Nebraska and Washington State are sending three players each; and Auburn, Memphis (Elliott's college alma mater), Middle Tennessee State, Old Dominion, Rutgers, SMU, Texas Tech, USC, and Wisconsin are each sending two players.

The Eagles enter Sunday’s game a slight 1 ½-point favorite over the Chiefs, meaning that the championship tilt in Phoenix could easily come down to another crunch-time kick from Elliott, who has converted on 20-of-23 field goal attempts this season and who would welcome the opportunity to kick the Eagles to another title on Sunday.

"Obviously, that's a dream situation, but I don't ever think about a game that way," Elliott told the Eagles’ team website. "I just let a game come to me, whatever kicks present themselves, present themselves. We'll just play it like every other week."