Terps in the NFL: Jake Funk and Antoine Brooks Jr. win Super Bowl LVI

Here’s how former Terps performed in Super Bowl LVI.

Former Maryland football stars Jake Funk and Antoine Brooks Jr. were crowned Super Bowl champions on Sunday night after the Los Angeles Rams knocked off the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI.

Funk, a former two-star running back recruit out of Damascus High School, reached the pinnacle of football in his rookie season with the Rams. Brooks, a former two-star recruit out of DuVal High School, had a different path to eventually winning the Super Bowl after he was drafted by Pittsburgh in 2020, and signed with the Rams practice squad in 2021. Brooks was waived from the active roster prior to the NFC Championship game but re-signed to the practice squad before Super Bowl LVI.

Funk was ruled inactive prior to the Super Bowl, but he and Brooks are now Super Bowl champions. The two were teammates at Maryland for four seasons from 2016-19.

The rookie running back finished his first season in the NFL with 13 games played, four carries for 10 yards, and four kick returns for an average of 22 yards per return. He missed seven weeks with a hamstring injury and was originally ruled out for the season before he came back in Week 15.

Brooks played in eight games this season and totaled three tackles. He spent most of the season on the Rams’ practice squad.

Now, the two homegrown Maryland stars are etched in history forever as champions of Super Bowl LVI.

Other performers

• Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keandre Jones did not appear in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday after appearing in the first three postseason games. The second-year linebacker spent the first 13 weeks of the 2021 season on the Bengals’ practice squad before being elevated to the active roster. He played in every game from Week 14 to the NFC Championship game and he totaled three tackles. Jones was teammates with Funk and Brooks during his lone season at Maryland in 2019.