Two-time UK Captain Mike Edwards Prepares for Super Bowl LV
Former University of Kentucky safety and two-time team captain Mike Edwards is set for Super Bowl LV when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers play host to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. EST in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The game will be televised on CBS and live streamed on the CBS All Access app.
Edwards, a native of Cincinnati, was a four-year stalwart for the Wildcats, playing in all 51 games, starting the last 44. His career totals featured:
- 10 interceptions, fourth in school history
- Two interception returns for touchdowns
- 318 tackles, second in school history among defensive backs
- 20.5 tackles for loss
- 23 pass breakups
He earned All-Southeastern Conference honors his last three seasons – second-team All-SEC by Associated Press and Phil Steele as a senior; first-team All-SEC by Phil Steele as a junior; and second-team All-SEC by AP as a sophomore.
Edwards helped lead the Wildcats to 29 wins during his four seasons (2014-18), the second-most for any UK senior class since freshmen became eligible in the early 1970s. UK played in three straight bowl games, 2016 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, 2017 Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl and the VRBO Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2019. It was only the third time in school history that UK played in three consecutive postseason games. In his senior season, UK’s 10-3 record and Citrus Bowl championship was UK’s best season in 41 years, since the 1977 squad went 10-1.
Edwards, who earned a degree in family sciences at Kentucky in 2018, was the 35th pick of the third round in the 2019 NFL Draft, the 99th pick overall.
In two seasons as a safety with the Bucs, he has played in 31 games with seven starts. In 15 games in 2020, he had 11 tackles, five pass breakups and two interceptions, including a huge pick of Drew Brees in Tampa Bay’s upset win over the Saints in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Kentucky now has 32 players who have played for teams that advanced to the Super Bowl a total of 43 times. Carwell Gardner leads the list with four Super Bowl appearances with Buffalo, while Larry Seiple played in three Super Bowls with Miami and Jacob Tamme had three appearances with Denver, Indianapolis and Atlanta. Edwards is the first Wildcat to play in a Super Bowl since Tamme in 2017 with Atlanta.
