Two newest Super Bowl Gamecocks crowned champs with Rams’ big win over Bengals
.jpg "Los Angeles Rams inside linebacker Ernest Jones (50) celebrates his sack against the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)")
Two former South Carolina Gamecocks are Super Bowl champions.
With the Los Angeles Rams’ 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56, former USC football players Ernest Jones and Kyle Markway became the Gamecocks’ latest victors in the NFL’s championship game.
Jones, a rookie linebacker for the Rams, was drafted with the No. 103 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. He eventually carved out a starting role in Los Angeles, playing in 16 games with eight starts in the Rams’ Super Bowl campaign.
In Sunday’s game, Jones had a team-high six tackles, including two for loss, while adding a sack and a pass broken up of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
Jones suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 16 and returned in time for the Rams’ NFC Championship win over the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 30. Heading into the Super Bowl, Jones had tallied 54 total tackles, including 29 solo tackles, as well as four pass deflections, two interceptions and one sack.
Jones played inside linebacker at South Carolina from 2018-20, recording 199 career tackles, 10.5 TFLs, two sacks and two interceptions in three seasons with USC. He signed a four-year rookie contract with the Rams last July.
Markway is a tight end signed to the Rams’ practice squad. He did not participate in Sunday’s game.
He played at South Carolina from 2015-19 and went undrafted in 2020. Aside from his current stop with the Rams, Markway has signed contracts with the New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns.
Markway has been elevated to a team’s active roster once, with the Cleveland Browns on Jan. 16, 2021, and reverted back to a practice squad after the Browns’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional playoff game the next day. He did not play in the game.
He was signed to his third stint with the Rams on Dec. 18, 2021.
Jones and Markway were the latest Gamecocks to win the Super Bowl. Last year, former USC kicker Ryan Succop and defensive lineman Kobe Smith won Super Bowl 55 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Super Bowl Gamecocks: Game winners
The former Gamecocks who played for a Super Bowl-winning team. (Does not include practice squad players)
- Robert Brooks, Green Bay (1997)
- Emanuel Cook, Baltimore (2013)
- Steve Courson, Pittsburgh (1979, 1980)
- Brad Edwards, Washington (1992)
- Rashad Fenton, Kansas City (2020)
- Stephon Gilmore, New England (2019)
- Alshon Jeffery, Philadelphia (2018)
- Ernest Jones, Los Angeles Rams (2021)
- Lemuel Jeanpierre, Seattle (2014)
- Jamar Nesbit, New Orleans (2010)
- Dan Reeves, Dallas (1972)
- Sidney Rice, Seattle (2014)
- George Rogers, Washington (1988)
- Max Runager, Philadelphia (1985)
- Jay Saldi, Dallas (1978)
- Duce Staley, Pittsburgh (2006)
- Darian Stewart, Denver (2016)
- Ryan Succop, Tampa Bay (2021)
- Anthony Wright, N.Y. Giants (2008)
This story was originally published February 13, 2022 at 10:01 PM.
