Players with ties to the Carolinas make big impact in Super Bowl

Did you know the Kansas City Chiefs kicker who secured the team’s 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles with a last-second field goal was originally drafted by the Carolina Panthers? In this week’s Time Out for Sports segment, Charlotte Observer sportswriter Langston Wertz Jr. fills us in on all the Super Bowl playmakers with ties to the Carolinas.

“Back in 2017, the Panthers drafted [Harrison Butker] seventh-round out of Georgia Tech and he and Graham Gano, a name people should remember, battled all during training camp,” Wertz Jr said. “Both kickers impressed the Panthers so much they kept both on the 53-man roster.”

The Panthers eventually moved Butker to the practice squad. The Chiefs soon signed Butker and made him their kicker. Since then, Wertz Jr. says “he's become one of the best kickers in the league.”

On the Eagles’ side, there’s rookie lineman and Mallard Creek High grad Jordan Davis, guard and Hudson, North Carolina, Landon Dickerson and more.

You can listen to the full conversation above. Here’s a quick look at the other topics WFAE's Gwendolyn Glenn and Wertz Jr. covered this week.

• The Charlotte Hornets shook up their roster by trading Mason Plumlee and Jalen McDaniels to the LA Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers respectively, picking up a few second-round picks in return.
• South Carolina’s women’s basketball team remains unstoppable under the helm of head coach Dawn Staley. The team upset LSU 88-64 on Sunday in front of 18,000 fans in Columbia.
• There was controversy over Duke’s men’s basketball overtime loss to Virginia 69-62 on Saturday — a referee’s mistake probably cost Duke the game.