From left: Photos from STLToday, Mason High School, Mooresville High School, Wikipedia Commons
What makes Super Bowl XLIX so… super? Beyond millions of TV viewers, a halftime show featuring Katy Perry, and ongoing media scrutiny of what has become known as Deflategate, the 2015 NFL title game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots is especially big this year because it features at least three players who, in addition to playing football, were also state wrestling champs.
Josh Kline of the Patriots, and R.J. Sweezy and Justin Britt of the Seahawks each won a state wrestling title as heavyweights in their respective high schools – Kline in Ohio, Sweezy in North Carolina, and Britt in Missouri. Despite their prep on-the-mat accomplishments, when they went off to college, all three hung up their headgear but held onto their football helmets, choosing not to wrestle beyond high school.
Britt, Kline and Sweezy certainly aren’t the first former wrestlers to take to the field in the NFL… or, even at the Super Bowl. Two NCAA heavyweight champs – Curley Culp of Arizona State, and Cal State Bakersfield’s Stephen Neal – went on to enjoy long, successful NFL careers… earn Super Bowl rings in the process… and even find a place in major sports halls of fame.
College Wrestling Examiner thought it would be fun to learn more about these former mat champs who are now playing in the biggest non-wrestling sports event in the US… and see what skill sets they acquired as high school wrestlers now come into play in professional football.
Justin Britt, Seattle Seahawks
You couldn’t blame Justin Britt’s parents for expecting big things from their son. After all, when he arrived in the world at Fort Campbell, Ky. in May 1991, Justin weighed in at 11 pounds, 8 ounces. That “big baby” grew into a big young man, who excelled in three sports in high school in Lebanon, Mo., making his presence known on the football field and on the wrestling mat. After high school, Britt concentrated on football at University of Missouri… which paid dividends when he was drafted by the 2014 Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, starting all sixteen games of his rookie season.
Wrestling background: As a student at Lebanon High School in south-central Missouri, Justin Britt was a three-sport star, lettering in football (as an offensive left tackle), track, and wrestling. Britt won the Class 4 Missouri state heavyweight championship as a senior in 2009, compiling a perfect 45-0 during the season… with 30 of those victories by fall. In fact, his closest match was his title bout, which he won 6-2. The previous year, Britt placed sixth at state. He was two-time district champ, and three-time conference title winner.
Football background: In high school, Britt played on both sides of the line of scrimmage. He ranked as the No. 19 overall prospect (any position) in Missouri, according to Rivals.com, and was ranked by ESPN.com as the No. 86 offensive tackle prospect in the nation. Britt then headed to the University of Missouri, where he played football for the Mizzou Tigers from 2010 to 2013, after being redshirted for the 2009 season. He spent 2010 as a second string guard, before being promoted to starting left tackle for the 2011 season, starting all 13 games. He continued to be a starter in the offensive line for the remaining two seasons of his Missouri career, playing at both left and right tackle. Britt was the second of the Seattle’s two second-round picks at the 2014 NFL Draft. He just completed his rookie season with the Seahawks, having started in all 16 regular-season games.
NFL tale of the tape: 6’6”, 325 pounds, 23 years old
How a wrestling background helps with football: Tom Cable, assistant head coach and offensive line coach for the Seahawks, told the team’s official website in May 2014 how likes a wrestling background in his linemen, especially Britt. “Love it. Yeah, I love it. (Britt’s) competitive. Loves to grind. Loves to work. He’s got his priorities in line.”
Britt credits his mat background, telling Seahawks.com, “I think that’s where my competitive edge comes from. In football, O-line doesn’t get looked at a lot. But you know you’re one-on-one every play with somebody. So either you’re going to win or you’re going to let him win. It’s whoever works harder and prepares harder. Being a wrestler, you get pushed to limits you didn’t even know you could be pushed to. Everybody is looking at you, and you don’t want to be the guy that gives up in front of however many people are there. So the adrenaline kicks in. You get a second breath of fresh air and you start going again.”
Josh Kline, New England Patriots
Josh Kline grew up in an athletic household outside Cincinnati. His dad and elder brother wrestled, but, at the beginning of his sports career, Josh played basketball. However, by high school, Josh Kline had switched to football and wrestling… winning a heavyweight title at the Ohio state championships as a senior.
Born in Hoffman Estates, Ill. outside Chicago in December 1989, Josh Kline and his family first moved to Hartville, Ohio in the northeast part of the state… then headed to the opposite corner of Ohio, settling in Mason, about 25 miles outside Cincinnati. After graduation from high school, Kline returned to northeast Ohio, where he attended Kent State University.
Wrestling accomplishments: As a senior at William Mason High, Kline was the Ohio Division I (large-school) champion in the 285-pound weight class. His record for the year was 45-1, with 32 pins. At the 2008 Ohio state wrestling championships, Kline pinned his first two opponents. However, in the semifinals, the Comet big man was taken into overtime by a wrestler who had beaten him in the past. Kline avenged that loss with a 6-4 win. In the heavyweight finals, Kline pinned his opponent, Delonne Baker of Sandusky, in just less than three minutes to claim the state title.
Football accomplishments: Recruited by Mid-American Conference (MAC) schools, Kline chose to attend Kent State because of its close proximity to his grandparents. As a senior, Kline primarily played left guard, earning second-team all MAC honors as the Golden Flashes had their best season in 40 years, going 11-3 overall, winning the MAC East title and playing in the MAC Championship Game. The New England Patriots signed Kline as a rookie free agent in May 2013; the former Comet/Golden Flash joined the 53-man roster as an offensive lineman in November 2013, according to the Patriots.com.
NFL tale of the tape: 6’3”, 295 pounds, 25 years old
How a wrestling background helps with football: It was Kline's wrestling skills that caught the Patriots' eye when he came out of college. "Bill Belichick (Patriots coach) has always loved wrestlers as football players," Mason football coach Brian Castner told WCPO-TV, the ABC affiliate in Cincinnati. "Those skills marry well together." His high school wrestling coach, Craig Murnan, added, “It's hand-fighting and footwork. It's push-pull, one-on-one, and it's the same for linemen. What impressed the coaches was his great footwork. Plus, he has that mentality to thrive under pressure, like when you're wrestling in front of 17,000 people in the state finals. Those things and his work ethic, I think, helped him stand out as an undrafted free agent."
"He had the perfect recipe for success," Castner told WCPO. "The tenacity was there. The skills he developed at Mason helped get him a scholarship to Kent State, where he played for a great coach, Darrell Hazell (now at Purdue). When he didn't get drafted, he was lucky enough to land with the New England Patriots, one of the best franchises in the NFL. And now the Super Bowl. It's a great story."
Belichick said Kline has "come a long way," adding, “He was an undrafted player, spent time on the practice squad, spent time on the roster, hasn’t had a lot of playing time, but he’s a very tough, competitive guy. He’s smart. He learns well. He’s been a multi-position player for us.”
J.R. Sweezy, Seattle Seahawks
“When J.R. Sweezy arrived in Seattle as a newly fledged offensive guard, he wasn’t just learning an NFL blocking scheme, and developing the wherewithal to forestall NFL pass rushers, or uproot mammoth NFL defensive tackles on run plays,” wrote Dave Boling of the Renton (Wash.) News-Tribune prior to the start of this past season. “He first had to master the three-point stance, and learn how the snap-count worked. It was as if being thrust into doctoral-level classes without having taken Guard 101.”
When he was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the final round of the 2012 NFL Draft, Justin Ross (J.R.) Sweezy had to give up the position he had played in high school and college and convert into being a guard. As Seattle line coach Tom Cable told Boling in August 2014, “(Sweezy’s) matured as an offensive lineman. He never had his hand on the ground (in an offensive stance); he figured it out last year and now he’s playing like he’s been there forever. The instincts are kicking in for him now. He’s seeing things early, with quick recognition.”
Wrestling background: Described in media reports as an undersized big man at Mooresville High School just north of Charlotte, N.C., J.R. Sweezy reportedly gave away nearly 50 pounds to nearly every foe he faced. Yet that didn’t stop Sweezy from having a near-perfect senior season, with a 40-2 record. He capped off his prep mat career by winning the North Carolina Class 3A heavyweight wrestling championship in 2007.
Football background: In his senior year as linebacker at Mooresville High, Sweezy recorded 195 tackles in 12 games, including six sacks, and recovered four fumbles. Sweezy then headed to North Carolina State, where he played 35 games with 20 starts along the defensive line, posting 86 tackles (65 solo), 22 tackles for loss, 11.0 sacks, 33 quarterback pressures, three passes defensed, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries for the Wolfpack. Voted team captain his senior season and was selected honorable mention All-ACC his junior year. Selected by Seattle in the seventh round of the 2012 NFL Draft, then had to make the transition from college defensive tackle to offensive guard in the pros. It all has paid off, as Sweezy is a member of the 2014 NFL Champion team, and owns a Super Bowl ring.
How a wrestling background helps with football: In an Oct. 2014 post to its Facebook page, Hazen Highlander wrestling program in Renton, Wash. – where the Seahawks’ training facility is located – described an interview Sweezy had given to KIRO radio, saying, “He attributes his body awareness, positioning, and relentlessness to the sport of wrestling. He stated that every high school student should wrestle. He also said that he can beat teammate and fellow state champion Justin Britt!”
NFL tale of the tape: 6’5”, 298 pounds, 25 years old
Curley Culp (retired)
There are two sides to Curley Culp. There’s the imposing physical specimen with broad shoulders and massive chest who made crowds go “ooh” when he stripped off his robe to wrestle, described by his high school wrestling coach as having “muscles on top of muscles on top of muscles ..." employing a strategy one of his rivals at the 1967 NCAAs said was "to get his hands on his opponent and destroy him with his strength." Culp pinned his NCAA finals opponent in less than a minute. Yet, Culp was an A student, member of his high school’s National Honor Society and president of the school’s Future Farmers of America… his Arizona State classmates voted him Homecoming King and “Boy with the Best Smile”… and his opponents in wrestling and football uniformly described Culp as a gentleman, according to a 2013 InterMat profile.
Born in Yuma, Ariz. in 1946, Culp was a two-sport star in both high school and at Arizona State, excelling on the mat, on the gridiron, and in the classroom. He later went on to an enduring NFL career that included a Super Bowl title, and culminated with induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August 2013.
Wrestling accomplishments: Curley Culp was a two-time state champ in Arizona, winning back-to-back heavyweight titles for Yuma High School in 1963 and 1964. After being heavily recruited by a number of colleges, Culp chose Arizona State because they encouraged him to continue in both wrestling and football. As a Sun Devil matman, Culp was a three-time WAC (Western Athletic Conference) champ and two-time NCAA qualifier, winning the title at the 1967 NCAAs at Kent State by pinning Dominic “Nick” Carollo of Colorado’s Adams State in just 51 seconds in the finals.
Football accomplishments: As a linebacker for Arizona State, Culp was named a football All-American by both The Sporting News and Time, one of the few college athletes to earn All-American honors in both football and wrestling. Legend has it that he was so strong, he broke the helmets of three of his teammates in practice. In the 1968 NFL Draft, Culp was a second-round pick of the Denver Broncos, which planned to switch him to offense… but, instead, during training camp, traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs where he was starting left defensive tackle. In his second season, he helped the Chiefs upset the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 at Super Bowl IV in January 1970. In 1974, he was traded to the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans)… then, in 1980, to the Detroit Lions, where he concluded his career in 1981. In fourteen seasons, he was first- or second-team All-AFC five times, a six-time Pro Bowl selection… and owner of a Super Bowl ring. In August 2013, Curley Culp was welcomed into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
NFL tale of the tape: 6’2”, 265 pounds
Stephen Neal (retired)
Here’s how wrestling writer Denny Diehl opened his profile of Stephen Neal in Jay Hammond’s 2005 book “History of Collegiate Wrestling”: “Stephen Neal was a five-sport athlete at San Diego High School in California who competed in wrestling, football, swimming, tennis, and track and field. When he finished fourth at the high school state championships his senior year with a 45-2 record at 189 pounds, it was a safe bet that few would have picked him to become a two-time NCAA heavyweight champion, World freestyle champion, and finally a 6’4”, 305-pound starting offensive guard for the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.”
Born in 1976 in San Diego, Stephen Matthew Neal could be described as something of a “late bloomer” in a couple ways beyond bulking up after high school. For starters, he wasn’t heavily recruited by colleges, yet became one of the great heavyweights of his generation… not just in the US, but in the world. And, despite not having played football at all in college, Neal earned a place on an NFL team and earned three Super Bowl rings.
Wrestling accomplishments: Unlike the other wrestlers featured in this photo album, Neal wasn’t a high school state champ… and, in fact, didn’t wrestle heavyweight. He started his career at Cal State Bakersfield weighing in at about 230 pounds… only to bulk up to 270 pounds of agile muscle by the end of his career with the Roadrunners. Neal was a four-time Pac-10 champ (only the second in conference history), three-time All-Star Classic winner, three-time Midlands Classic champ, and three-time NCAA finalist, winning back-to-back heavyweight titles at the 1998 and 1999 NCAAs, the second title earned by beating future WWE and UFC star Brock Lesnar (then a junior at University of Minnesota) in the finals. For these accomplishments, in 1999 Neal was awarded the Hodge Trophy, often referred to as “the Heisman of wrestling,” presented each year to the nation’s best college wrestler. In the year immediately after his graduation, Neal made a splash in freestyle by winning titles at the 1999 Pan-American Games, US World Team Trials, and World championships, then being named FILA (now United World Wrestling) Outstanding Wrestler that year.
Football accomplishments: After retiring from amateur wrestling in 2001, Neal sought a new sports career path. Guided by US freestyle wrestler Matt Ghaffari and sports agent Neil Cornrich, Neal got a tryout with the New England Patriots, signing as a free agent in 2001. He made his on-the-field debut in October 2002, and, as an offensive lineman, was a member of the Pats when they won Super Bowl XXXVI, XXXVIII, and XXXIX. Neal hung up the pads in March 2011… and one year later, was welcomed as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla.
NFL tale of the tape: 6’4”, 305 pounds
How wrestling helped with football: In a 2013 interview, Neal told the San Diego Union-Tribune that wrestling had made him more fit than NFL players, saying, “The coaches saw that, this guy may not know too much about football, but he’s a hard worker and he’s willing to learn,” he said. “And so, I think they kept me around for those attributes that I got from wrestling.”
Buck Rasmussen, a defensive lineman on the Patriots' practice squad and a former state high school wrestling champ in Nebraska, told USA Today in 2005, “(Neal) uses leverage to his advantage a lot, body position and stuff like that. ... Wrestling really helps."
The Patriots weren’t always so impressed with the former mat champ. "When I tell you he didn't know where the field was, he didn't know where the field was," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was quoted in a 2005 New York Times profile of Neal. "He didn't know how to put his pads on. He didn't know where to line up. He didn't even know where to go in the huddle. When I say starting from scratch, we're starting from below scratch."
After Neal’s retirement, Belichick had changed his tune, saying, "They don't come any better than Steve Neal. In terms of improvement and development as a player, Steve may have accomplished more than any player I have ever been around. His toughness, intelligence and competitiveness were at rare levels and all contributed to him going from being a champion in an individual sport to being an integral part of championship teams.”