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\n Football
\n 1\/27\/2026 1:00:00 PM
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NEW ORLEANS \u2013 After placing alumni on all 14 playoff rosters for the third year in a row following the 2025-26 National Football League (NFL) regular season, the Sun Belt Conference had seven alumni advance to Super Bowl LIX.
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\nThe Sun Belt will be represented on the game\u2019s biggest stage for the eighth-straight season when the New England Patriots meet the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, February 8 at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET \/ 3:30 p.m. PT, and the game will be televised on NBC.
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\nRepresenting the Patriots – who defeated the Denver Broncos, 10-7, on Sunday – will be Troy alumnus and safety Dell Pettus, who has played in every game this season. Additionally, former Arkansas State offensive lineman Mehki Butler and former South Alabama wide receiver Jeremiah Webb are members of the Patriots\u2019 practice squad.
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\nFour members of the Seahawks\u2019 practice squad are Sun Belt products, including former App State cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles, Arkansas State wide receiver Courtney Jackson and a pair of South Alabama products: linebacker Jamie Sheriff and defensive lineman Bubba Thomas.
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\nEighty-three Sun Belt football alumni held roster spots on 31-of-32 NFL rosters at the conclusion of the 2025-26 regular season with 38 advancing to the NFL playoffs. During the conference championships, 12 Sun Belt alums were rostered on the four competing franchises including five listed on active rosters.
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\nApp State
\nNick Hampton \u2013 LB, Los Angeles Rams (1 G, 1 Tackle)
\n* Shemar Jean-Charles, DB, Seattle Seahawks
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\nArkansas State
\n* Mehki Butler \u2013 OL, New England Patriots
\n* Courtney Jackson \u2013 WR, Seattle Seahawks
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\nGeorgia State
\nWil Lutz \u2013 K, Denver Broncos (1 G, 1 GS, 0-for-2 FG, 1-for-1 XP)
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\nJames Madison
\n* Ben DiNucci \u2013 QB, Denver Broncos
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\nLouisiana
\nKevin Dotson \u2013 OL, Los Angeles Rams (1 G, 1 GS, 1 Fumble Recovered)
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\nMarshall
\nElias Neal \u2013 LB, Los Angeles Rams (1 G)
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\nSouth Alabama
\n* Jamie Sheriff \u2013 LB, Seattle Seahawks
\n* Wy\u2019Kevious \u201cBubba\u201d Thomas \u2013 DL, Seattle Seahawks
\n* Jeremiah Webb \u2013 WR, New England Patriots
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\nTroy
\nDell Pettus \u2013 S, New England Patriots (1 G, 1 Tackle)
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\n*Practice Squad
\n^Injured & Other Reserve
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Football
1\/27\/2026 1:00:00 PM
…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-441488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}