Three years ago today the Philadelphia Eagles captured the first Super Bowl victory in their franchise’s history with a 41-33 victory over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
The story of the game was backup quarterback Nick Foles outdueling Brady, the sport’s greatest player of all time. What led the Eagles to that point, though, was Wisconsin product Corey Clement’s explosion on the national stage.
Related: Full-season statistics for every former Wisconsin Badger in the NFL
Clement played four years in Madison, totaling 39 games, 576 rushes, 3092 yards, 36 touchdowns, 29 catches, 279 receiving yards and 2 receiving touchdowns. His most dominant season was by far his last, a year which saw the New Jersey native carry the ball a whopping 314 times and rush for 1375 yards and 15 touchdowns.
But he wasn’t selected in the 2017 NFL Draft, so if it wasn’t for the Eagles signing him as an undrafted free agent I would not be telling this story today.
It took this long in the piece for me to admit that I am from Philadelphia and am a huge Eagles fan. That said, though, even myself as a Badger fan did not foresee Clement cracking the running back rotation heading into the year.
Want it summed up perfectly? Eagles writer Shamus Clancy did exactly that.
few things better amplify how literally EVERYTHING needs to go right to win a Super Bowl than the Eagles’ third-string undrafted rookie running back who started training camp like 6th on the depth chart had 100 receiving yards in the big game.
— shamus (@shamus_clancy) February 4, 2021
Anyway, Clement entered the big game with less than 80 touches and wasn’t a huge part of their offensive game plan.
Against the Patriots that changed, and he instantly became a Philadelphia legend. He came up huge in pivotal moment after pivotal moment, though never did so carrying the football.
That’s right, he became WR Corey Clement—catching four passes for 100 yards that included an impossible 22-yard touchdown.
The three year anniversary of Wisconsin’s Corey Clement bringing Philadelphia its first Super Bowl
(This is not an Eagles-biased Tweet) pic.twitter.com/vC8gysD4zS
— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) February 4, 2021
He was the only Eagle with more than 100 scrimmage yards, broke open when the team desperately needed a play and helped the world understand what being a Wisconsin running back is truly about.
I said it earlier, but it was a game-changing play after game-changing play.
Three years ago today, undrafted rookie Corey Clement had this stat line in the Super Bowl:
4 REC 100 YDS 1 TD
3 CAR 8 YDSWho else had their biggest game on the biggest stage🤔?@CoreyClement_6 pic.twitter.com/33SbFQYiY1
— National Football Post (@FootballPost) February 4, 2021
I could go on and on about what he meant to the 2017 Eagles and their Super Bowl victory, but you get the idea.
Badger fans (including myself) celebrate their NFL stars including Russell Wilson, T.J. Watt, J.J. Watt, James White, Melvin Gordon, Jonathan Taylor, Joe Thomas and Ryan Ramczyk.
But on the three-year anniversary of the 2017 Super Bowl it’s necessary to look at one of the unsung Wisconsin products in the NFL that instantly became a hero on the world’s biggest stage.
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