Former EMCC All-American LeGarrette Blount bids for second Super Bowl ring with Patriots

SCOOBA – Former East Mississippi Community College All-American LeGarrette Blount is set to become the third former EMCC Lion to make a return trip to the Super Bowl, as the New England Patriots prepare to take on the Atlanta Falcons in Sunday's Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

Blount, who rushed for 2,292 career yards and 18 touchdowns during his two seasons (2006-07) on the Scooba campus, made his Super Bowl debut two years ago in Glendale, Arizona during the Pats' 28-24 Super Bowl XLIX victory over the Seattle Seahawks.  The nine-year NFL veteran and Perry, Florida native, who established a New England single-season record with a league-leading 18 rushing touchdowns in addition to running for a career-best 1,161 yards this past regular season, will join fellow EMCC Sports Hall of Fame members Antowain Smith and Virgil Seay as two-time Super Bowl participants.

Prior to Blount's upcoming second Super Bowl appearance in three years, East Mississippi was previously represented in four straight Super Bowls (2001-04) a little more than a decade ago.  All total, the former University of Oregon product is the sixth former EMCC football player and/or coach to earn the distinction of being a part of the Super Bowl experience. 

Smith, who starred as an EMCC Lion running back during the 1993 and 1994 seasons before transferring to the University of Houston, won two Super Bowl rings as a member of the Patriots at the twilight of his nine-year NFL career.  Teaming with quarterback Tom Brady, Smith and the Pats prevailed in Super Bowls XXXVI (in New Orleans) and XXXVIII (in Houston) over the St. Louis Rams (20-17 in 2002) and the Carolina Panthers (32-29 in 2004), respectively.

Seay, a former wide receiver/kick returner for the EMCC Lions (1976-77) and at Troy State, had the privilege of suiting up for back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1980s as a member of the Washington Redskins' famed "Fun Bunch" that was known for their choreographed touchdown celebrations in the end zone.  The Redskins knocked off the Miami Dolphins (27-17 in 1983) in Super Bowl XVII played in Pasadena, California, before dropping a 38-9 decision to the Los Angeles Raiders the following year in Tampa, Florida during Super Bowl XVIII.

Kicking off the previous four-year stretch of successful EMCC football products competing in the NFL's championship game, the late Orlando Bobo, of West Point, was a member of the Baltimore Ravens club that claimed a 34-7 win over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV played in Tampa in 2001.

In between Smith's successful Super Bowl stints with the Patriots, former EMCC linebacker Tim Johnson participated in Super Bowl XXXVII (2003) as a member of the Oakland Raiders.  While in the midst of his six-year NFL career, Johnson's Raiders fell, 48-21, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in San Diego, California.

From East Mississippi Community College's distinguished football coaching fraternity, the late Tom Goode, of West Point, will forever be remembered for being the snapper on Jim O'Brien's game-winning field goal in the Baltimore Colts' 16-13 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V played in Miami's Orange Bowl in 1971.  Goode's illustrious athletic career spanned nearly 50 years and included nine seasons in the NFL (1962-70), 20 years as an assistant coach at four different Southeastern Conference schools and a 12-year stint (1992-2003) as head football coach and athletic director at EMCC.