Here are the players and coaches in Super Bowl LVII with Illinois connections

Super Bowl LVII will kick off Sunday from Arizona. Participating in the festivities will be more than a dozen players and coaches with ties to Illinois.

Three Illinois natives will likely see the playing field Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles square off in the big game. Several more will roam the sidelines as coaches. There are also a few former Bears both playing and coaching.

Here’s a long list of players and coaches participating in the Super Bowl who either grew up in Illinois, played or coached football in Illinois, or previously played or coached for the Bears.

The players

Nick Allegretti, Chiefs, OG, No. 73

Allegretti, 26, will be playing in his third Super Bowl. A Frankfort native who attended Illinois, Allegretti serves as a backup lineman for the Chiefs and plays on the field goal unit. He’s listed as the backup at both guard positions and at center.

Allegretti played high school ball at Lincoln-Way East, helping the Griffins to an IHSA Class 7A state runner-up finish in 2012. He was a third-place medalist at the state wrestling finals in 2014. He then went to Illinois and was a team captain for the Illini.

The Chiefs drafted Allegretti in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. He has appeared in 57 regular season games, starting 12, and won Super Bowl LIV as a rookie.

T.J. Edwards, Eagles, LB, No. 57

Edwards was a high school quarterback at Lakes in suburban Lake Villa. He was a solid all-around athlete, piling up touchdowns as a passer and a ball carrier. He joined the Wisconsin football team in 2014 and converted to linebacker. As a redshirt senior in 2018, he piled up more than 100 total tackles for the Badgers.

Edwards signed with the Eagles after going undrafted in 2019. By his second NFL season in 2020, he had emerged as a full-time starter at the linebacker position. Edwards started all 17 games this season and led the Eagles with 159 total tackles.

Jake Elliott, Eagles, K, No. 4

Elliott was born in Western Springs and attended Lyons in La Grange. As a junior, he made a 52-yard game-winning field goal against Oak Park-River Forest. He had one FBS college offer coming out of high school from Memphis. He made 77.9% of his field goal tries and 100% of his extra points at Memphis.

The Cincinnati Bengals drafted Elliott with a fifth-round pick in 2017, but cut him after training camp. He signed with the Eagles’ practice squad days later and wound up taking over the kicker job in Philadelphia within weeks. He was a Pro Bowl kicker in 2021. In six seasons, he has already set the Eagles’ record for the most career field goals of 50 yards or more. He won Super Bowl LII with the Eagles five years ago.

Robert Quinn, Eagles, DE, No. 98

Robert Quinn will forever be remembered in Chicago for setting the Bears’ single-season sack record in 2021 with 18.5 sacks, besting Richard Dent’s 1984 record. Quinn played two full seasons in Chicago and part of a third. The Bears traded him to Philadelphia in late October, seven games into the 2022 season. Quinn dealt with a knee injury and did not play in December, but he returned in time for the playoffs. He has yet to record a sack in an Eagles uniform.

One of the best pass rushers of the last decade, Quinn has more than 100 career sacks, but had never registered a playoff victory until this year with Philadelphia.

The rest

Chiefs fullback Michael Burton played for the Bears from 2017-18. Safety Deon Bush played six seasons with the Bears from 2016-21. Defensive tackle Khalen Saunders grew up in in Missouri and played college ball at Western Illinois from 2014-18. Ihmir Smith-Marsette is on the Chiefs’ practice squad and has been since the Bears waived him in October. Smith-Marsette lost a key fumble in a Bears game at Minnesota this season. Eagles long snapper Rick Lovato signed with the Bears in 2015 but didn’t make it past training camp.

The coaches

Brendan Daly, Chiefs, linebackers coach/run game coordinator

Daly grew up in Springfield and went to Sacred Heart-Griffin before attending Drake University in Iowa. His coaching career began at a high school in Florida in 1997 before working his way up the rung. He had a brief stop at Illinois State as tight ends coach in 2004. He won three Super Bowls as a Patriots assistant and one with the Chiefs a few years ago. Including this year, he will have coached in six of the past seven Super Bowls.

Greg Lewis, Chiefs, running backs coach

Lewis played high school football at Rich South and walked on at Illinois before embarking on an eight-year NFL playing career as a wide receiver. He caught a touchdown pass for the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX against the Patriots. Lewis began coaching in 2012. He has been with the Chiefs since 2017. He was previously the Chiefs’ receivers coach before transitioning to running backs coach last year.

Matt Nagy, Chiefs, senior assistant /QB coach

Nagy rejoined Andy Reid’s staff fresh off four seasons as the head coach of the Bears. Nagy coached the Bears to a 34-31 regular season record in four seasons, with two playoff appearances. He was the AP Coach of the Year in 2018 after a 12-4 debut season, during which the Bears won the NFC North division. Prior to heading to Chicago, Nagy spent two seasons as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator in 2016-17. Before that, he was the quarterbacks coach from 2013-15. He also worked under Reid in Philadelphia for several years. Nagy serves as the QB coach for Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes. He took the job after former QB coach Mike Kafka, a former St. Rita and Northwestern quarterback, left to become the offensive coordinator of the New York Giants.

Aaron Moorehead, Eagles, wide receivers coach

Moorehead went to Deerfield High School and was a standout athlete in football and track. He played at Illinois from 1999-2002, including the Illini’s last Big Ten championship in 2001. He went undrafted in 2003, but signed with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent. He played for the Colts from 2003-07, winning Super Bowl XLI against the Bears. He then embarked on a coaching career that led him to Philadelphia in 2020. Moorehead’s father Emery Moorehead was a tight end on the 1985 Bears.

Dave Toub, Chiefs, special teams coordinator/assistant head coach

Born in New York, Toub served as the Bears’ special teams coordinator under Lovie Smith from 2004-12. Under his guidance, Robbie Gould became a Pro Bowl kicker and Devin Hester emerged as arguably the best return specialists ever. Toub has been in Kansas City since 2013.

The rest

Chiefs statistical analysis coordinator Mike Frazier was born in Evanston. Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck played for the Bears from 1994-98. Assistant strength and conditioning coach/director of sports science Ryan Reynolds grew up in Fulton, Illinois, near the Iowa border. Chiefs defensive assistant Rod Wilson played for the Bears from 2005-08.

Eagles defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator Dennard Wilson was a scout for the Bears from 2008-11. Philadelphia defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Jeremiah Washburn coached the Bears’ offensive line in 2017.