UPDATE: This story was updated at 4:03 p.m. Friday with some additional comments on The Streak.<\/p>\n
For the first time, the Super Bowl will kick off this weekend without an alum from Pennsylvania\u2019s high school football all-star game, the Big 33, on the field.<\/p>\n
But Big 33 leaders are saying \u201cLong Live The Streak\u201d<\/a> anyway.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because, their argument goes, if you look deep enough on the New England Patriots roster, you\u2019ll find one Yasir Durant<\/a> slotted among the players on the Pats\u2019 injured reserve list.<\/p>\n In 2016, Durant, then a senior at Philadelphia\u2019s Imhotep Charter High School, was selected to play for a Pennsylvania team that defeated Maryland\u2019s all-stars 26-14.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t know, injured reserve is a designation reserved for a player who can\u2019t play because of injury, but whom the team doesn\u2019t want to cut loose with an injury settlement.<\/p>\n Placement on injured reserve creates a roster slot for someone who actually can play on game day, while keeping the hurt player in the fold, for now.<\/p>\n But many times, in the National Football League, it means the players are barely there.<\/p>\n According to Patriots beat writers for PennLive\u2019s Massachusetts cousin, MassLive, Durant hasn\u2019t spent any appreciable time at the team\u2019s facilities since going on the list July 30.<\/p>\n The nature of Durant\u2019s injury was never disclosed.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear that he\u2019s with the team in California this week; the Patriots\u2019 press office did not respond to questions submitted for this story.<\/p>\n For the Big 33, it\u2019s clearly not the same as, say Beaver Falls\u2019 Joe Namath guaranteeing – and then delivering – victory in Super Bowl 3, or Joe Montana piloting the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl titles in the 1980s.<\/p>\n For Sunday\u2019s Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Seahawks, the over\/under<\/a> is set at 45 total points on Fanatics<\/a>. Our comprehensive Fanatics Sportsbook review<\/a> provides an in-depth guide on how to navigate through their site.<\/p>\n But you bet your pigskin they\u2019re counting it if gets the streak to 60 years, said Garry Cathell, executive director of the Pennsylvania High School Football Coaches Association, which now runs the game and associated activities.<\/p>\n \u201cIt meets our categories,\u201d Cathell said, without a hint of sheepishness this week. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to keep that thing going as long as we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n At this point, The Streak, believed to be the only one of its kind in the nation, has taken on a life of its own.<\/p>\n But Cathell said it\u2019s going to get harder and harder to keep the Big 33 streak alive as more Blue Chip high schoolers are encouraged to enroll early and practice with their college teams during what should be the spring of senior years.<\/p>\n That takes those players off the table for the Big 33, which is played the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially your skill kids and in particular your quarterbacks,\u201d Cathell said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, these really good Pennsylvania quarterbacks and Maryland quarterbacks, they\u2019re early enrollees automatically. They got to go in and learn the system and get a spring underneath their belt. So we lose them.\u201d<\/p>\n To compensate for that, the Big 33 has taken to naming four honorary players (Big 37, anyone?) from both Pennsylvania and Maryland who would have made the roster but were already gone to college.<\/p>\n Big 33 organizers have also taken to listing Super Bowl coaches (then-Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich), and general managers (Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach) on its alumni list.<\/p>\n Fortunately, the credibility of The Streak hasn\u2019t had to rely on that yet.<\/p>\n There have been years with a single Big 33 alum who never played a snap in the big game: See recent back-up quarterbacks Brian Hoyer (Super Bowl 52) or Matt Schaub (Super Bowl 51).<\/p>\n But they were suited up for game day.<\/p>\n Durant\u2019s situation does feel a little different to some.<\/p>\n Big 33er Kyle Brady, the Cedar Cliff High School tight end who played for the Patriots in Super Bowl 42, said it\u2019s amazing the Big 33\u2019s roll has lasted this long.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s a testament to the quality of football in Pennsylvania and the other states that we\u2019ve played,\u201d Brady said in a telephone interview Friday.<\/p>\n But in this case, he said, it feels to him like an asterisk situation.<\/p>\n PennLive, and probably only PennLive, reached out to Durant for comment this week, unsuccessfully.<\/p>\n Durant, who played his college ball at Missouri, was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2020.<\/p>\n He was traded to the Patriots in 2021, and then spent most of 2022 with the New Orleans Saints.<\/p>\n He was out of the league in 2023. after a short training camp invite from the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n But he clawed his way back this year after two successful seasons with the United Football League, a spring league that gives players on the margins one last chance to chase their dreams for pay.<\/p>\n On June 24, the Patriots signed Durant to what the football salary tracking site Overthecap.com has listed as a $1 million deal. <\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how much of that money was guaranteed, but Durant is clearly on the payroll.<\/p>\n Durant will be a free agent at the end of the season, meaning he\u2019ll most likely be on the market, looking for a football employer all over again.<\/p>\n But, for Super Bowl Sunday? The only thing that matters to the Big 33 streak?<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, you know, this young man is part of the New England Patriots,\u201d said Cathell.<\/p>\n Fun bonus fact: Durant, 27, has already contributed once to the Big 33 Super Bowl streak.<\/p>\n On Feb. 7, 2021, during Super Bowl 55, Durant, in his rookie season, played three special team snaps for the Kansas City Chiefs in a losing effort against the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/p>\n Even though he won\u2019t be wearing pads or helmet this year, he gets to shoulder The Streak all by himself.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPDATE: This story was updated at 4:03 p.m. Friday with some additional comments on The Streak. 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