{"id":164041,"date":"2026-02-04T20:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/164041\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T20:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:27:13","slug":"patriots-cb-and-long-beach-poly-grad-alex-austin-carries-the-jackrabbits-legacy-to-santa-clara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/164041\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots CB and Long Beach Poly grad Alex Austin carries the Jackrabbits legacy to Santa Clara"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pipeline from Long Beach Poly to the NFL doesn\u2019t slow down. It just reloads. And on Super Bowl<\/a> Sunday, under the brightest lights the sport has to offer, Alex Austin becomes the next Jackrabbit to carry that legacy onto the field.<\/p>\n

Austin, the Patriots cornerback and Long Beach Poly alum, will play in Super Bowl 60<\/a> against the Seahawks, extending one of the most absurd, almost mythical high school-to-pro stats in NFL history. Fifteen of the 60 Super Bowls in history have featured a Poly alum. That\u2019s 25 percent of Super Bowl history tied to one public high school tucked into the heart of Long Beach.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, to have this opportunity is a blessing,\u201d Austin said. \u201cIt\u2019s so cool and a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New England Patriots cornerback Alex Austin stands on the sidelines during a game against the Miami Dolphins. AP<\/p>\n

Austin was the Moore League Player of the Year at Poly, then left Oregon State early to chase the NFL. He was drafted in the seventh round by Buffalo, released, claimed by Houston, buried on a practice squad, then finally found a football home in New England. Three seasons later, he\u2019s an integral part of the Patriots\u2019 defensive success under new head coach Mike Vrabel.<\/p>\n

Austin played in 12 games this year, started two, and recorded 25 tackles for the Patriots this season.<\/p>\n

Austin joins a long list of Poly\u2019s Super Bowl alumni that reads like a roll call of great NFL eras.<\/p>\n

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Willie McGinest. DeSean Jackson. Jack Jones. Marcedes Lewis. Jurrell Casey. JuJu Smith-Schuster. Names that span generations, positions, franchises \u2014 and championships.<\/p>\n

McGinest, a Patriots legend with four Super Bowl appearances and three rings, still checks in regularly. \u201cHe\u2019s a mentor for me. He\u2019s like my uncle.\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Austin playing for Long Beach Poly High School. X\/@kinnggalex<\/p>\n

Smith-Schuster, who played in the Super Bowl last year with the Chiefs, also reached out to Austin immediately, after the Patriots defeated the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me to bring back the trophy and win for the city,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Austin playing for Long Beach Poly High School. X\/@kinnggalex<\/p>\n

If the Patriots win Sunday, it would mark the ninth Super Bowl title won by a team featuring a Poly alum.<\/p>\n

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The math keeps favoring Long Beach because the culture does. Hunger. Edge. Survival. Austin put it plainly: \u201cLong Beach has a lot of kids that are hungry and have a lot of talent and just need the right place to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin also carries a deeper lineage.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Austin, second left, and his father Al Austin, left. Facebook\/Councilmember Al Austin II<\/p>\n

His father, Al Austin, served on the Long Beach City Council. His mother, Daysha, is a political leader and a fixture in youth football circles. This isn\u2019t just football bloodlines \u2014 it\u2019s community roots.<\/p>\n

So when Austin lines up in Santa Clara, he won\u2019t just be covering receivers. He\u2019ll be carrying Poly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pipeline from Long Beach Poly to the NFL doesn\u2019t slow down. It just reloads. And on Super…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[79346,79345,11594,65547,6666,24752,24751,131,133,132,23677,79347,6436,63538,17322,11599,11730],"class_list":["post-164041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-al-austin","tag-alex-austin","tag-broncos","tag-buffalo","tag-houston","tag-juju-smith-schuster","tag-jurrell-casey","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-long-beach-poly","tag-marcedes-lewis","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-new-england","tag-patriots","tag-seahawks","tag-super-bowl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}