SAN FRANCISCO — Jake Bobo’s road to Super Bowl 60 doesn’t look like the kind UCLA used to frame on the walls of the Rose Bowl press box.
It’s longer. Crooked. East Coast winters, transfer portals, undrafted status, and a whole lot of doubt stitched into every mile. And yet, on Sunday, the Bruins will see one of their own line up on football’s biggest stage again, this time for the Seahawks, with history tugging quietly at his jersey.
Bobo, the former UCLA wide receiver who arrived in Westwood as a one-year bridge and left as a cult favorite, will play in the Super Bowl against his hometown Patriots.
Concord, Massachusetts raised him. UCLA refined him. Seattle believed in him. That sequence matters. It’s the whole story.
Los Angeles understands this arc.
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UCLA has long been a proving ground for stars who carried a little edge with them — Troy Aikman, the Hall of Fame quarterback with three Super Bowl rings and an MVP. Jonathan Ogden, a left tackle who bent games to his will. Ken Norton Jr., who stacked titles like scars. Randy Cross. Matthew Slater. Bruins don’t just show up to the Super Bowl. They belong there. Bobo is the latest name, and maybe the most unlikely of them all.
He announced himself to the NFL in the NFC Championship Game with a third-quarter touchdown that knocked out the L.A. Rams. It was his first touchdown catch of the season and the fourth of his career.
When the game kicks off on Sunday, UCLA fans will remember their favorite target with the calm hands and routes run with intention. To this day, the Rose Bowl is still his favorite stadium.
“That’s a tough scene to beat,” Bobo said. “I mean, you go up there and see that, it kind of makes things a little easier.”
Undrafted in 2023, Bobo carved out a role the hard way. Forty-five NFL games. Three starts. Blocking, special teams, timing routes that don’t make highlight reels. In Seattle, it turned into a slogan. “More Bobo.” In Los Angeles, it turns into pride to witness one of their own in the Big Game.
He’s never pretended to be flashy. He even called In-N-Out overrated once, which is brave or reckless depending on your ZIP code. But on Sunday, none of that matters. What matters is that UCLA’s lineage continues, not through hype, but through resolve.
Jake Bobo is proof that Bruin bloodlines are strong in the Super Bowl.
