Black and Gold at the Super Bowl

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt will have a few of its own as part of football’s biggest game when Super Bowl LV kicks off Sunday.

Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Shelton Quarles and Emmanuel Smith are all part of the two organizations vying for the Lombardi Trophy at 5:30 p.m. CT on CBS in Tampa, Florida. Vaughn and Quarles are both Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Smith plays for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Vanderbilt senior Sarah Fuller also participated this week in the Women in Sports & Events Tampa Bay panel discussion featuring Dr. Jan Welter, the NFL’s first female coach, and others. The discussion was moderated by ESPN’s Beth Mowins.

The 76th overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, Vaughn played 10 games this season during his rookie campaign with Tampa Bay. The 5-foot-10, 214-pound running back had 109 rushing yards on 26 carries and five receptions for 34 yards.

Vaughn scored his first NFL touchdown Oct. 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers on a 9-yard pass from quarterback Tom Brady.

In the Buccaneers’ postseason run, Vaughn has played in one game – an NFL divisional round win at Washington – in which he had five carries for 21 yards.

Smith is in his second season with Kansas City and appeared in one game this season, a 33-29 win at New Orleans in which the 6-foot-2, 240-pound linebacker played on 16 special teams snaps.

In 2018, Smith signed his first NFL contract with the Atlanta Falcons after playing in 22 games for the Commodores between 2014-17. He made 75 career tackles – 4.0 for a loss and 1.5 sacks.

Smith had also been signed by Tampa Bay and Atlanta again before landing with Kansas City. Smith is currently on the Chiefs’ practice squad/injured list.

In 1994, Quarles entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent from Vanderbilt by signing with the Miami Dolphins. He spent some time in the Canadian Football League before reemerging with Tampa Bay in 1997.

Quarles then spent 10 seasons with the Buccaneers as a linebacker and played in 148 games. In 2002, Quarles was selected to the Pro Bowl and in 2003 helped the Buccaneers win Super Bowl XXXVII.

Now the director of football operations for Tampa Bay, Quarles was a second-team All-SEC selection for the Commodores.

Sunday will mark the fourth consecutive Super Bowl in which Vanderbilt has been represented. Justin Skule (San Francisco) and Smith (Kansas City) were part of the 2020 event and Adam Butler (2019) was part of the 2019 and 2018 contests.