FSU great Lamarcus Joyner is the lone former Seminole who’ll play in Super Bowl 53. He’ll have to beat arguably the greatest QB of all time to win it all.
I’m admittedly one of the biggest Lamarcus Joyner fans in the world and for some reason he never seems to get the love he deserves from Nole fans.
He’s arguably one of the most important recruits FSU has landed in the past decade and certainly was one of the most important in Jimbo Fisher’s inaugural 2010 recruiting class.
Joyner committed to the Noles on December 9, 2009, about a week after it was announced Jimbo Fisher would be taking over for Bobby Bowden as head coach.
He was the No. 12 ranked player and the No. 2 ranked athlete in the 2010 class. What’s crazy is he is the No. 239 highest ranked player of all time according to 247 Sports composite rankings.
A five-star recruit, Joyner’s commitment was the first of the Jimbo Fisher era and helped usher in the No. 8 recruiting class. Joyner went on to become a consensus first team All-American, All-ACC, Jim Thorpe Award Finalist, Bronko Nagurski Award Finalist and 2013 BCS National Champion.
Just as he helped FSU football get back to prominence, Joyner’s done the same with the now Los Angeles Rams after being selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
He’s coming off arguably his most productive season after being franchise tagged and paid 11.28 million dollars to play for the Rams in 2018. He had a career high with 78 combined tackles (58 solo also a career high) and one sack, one interception and three passes defended.
Joyner helped led the Rams to 13 wins in 2019, their best season since 2001 where they lost to Tom Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl 36 where they were huge betting favorites.
The Rams go into Super Bowl 53 allowing 236 passing yards per game and will have their hands full with Tom Brady. The Patriots have an array of wide receivers and formations that gives teams fits in the passing game.
However, Joyner has always had a knack for making a big play in big games and I’d love nothing more for that to happen against Tom Brady to give the FSU alum his first NFL title.