Tom Brady grabbed most of the headlines on Sunday night as he quarterbacked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a dominant win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV, but the Bucs have another high-profile player under contract known for his quarterback play. John Franklin III, of “Last Chance U” fame, has been with Tampa Bay for two seasons now and will get a Super Bowl ring.
Franklin did not appear in the Super Bowl and went on Injured Reserve in August. But he was actually on the Bucs’ active roster last season as a wide receiver after previously spending time as a defensive back for the Chicago Bears.
“Last Chance U” has turned out a number of players who have gone on to have solid college careers — Franklin played at East Mississippi Community College, which was the focus of multiple early seasons of the show. Franklin, however, earned an interesting honor on Sunday.
According to Fox College Football, Franklin is the first player from “Last Chance U” to win a Super Bowl. Former Texas Tech linebacker Dakota Allen is another former star from the show who is now in the NFL, but it will likely be a while before he makes a playoff run since he’s under contract with the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars.
Franklin also won a national championship in college as a freshman at Florida State in 2013, but he quickly left for EMCC. He then transferred to Auburn as a quarterback, then to FAU as he prepared for an inevitable position change. The Bears signed him in 2018 after he went undrafted. Franklin has one career carry in the NFL for 11 yards, which came in 2019 for the Buccaneers.
As a high school prospect, Franklin was a 3-star recruit in the 2013 class out of Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) South Plantation and chose Florida State over offers from Tennessee, Navy, Temple and others. He was then a 3-star recruit once again in the 2016 class as a junior college prospect out of EMCC — he was the No. 1-ranked juco athlete in the class and the No. 23 juco prospect overall.
Franklin could have a chance to win a second ring next season, as Tom Brady said after the game that he will return for another year rather than retire.
“How ‘bout that,” Brady said. “I'm so proud of these guys out here. Everything we've dealt with all year. We had a rough november. But, (Bruce Arians) believed in us, the team had a lot of confidence, we came together at the right time. I think we knew this was going to happen didn't we? We ended up playing our best game of the year.
“I'm not making any comparisons. Being down here and experiencing it with these groups of guys...every year is amazing. This team is world champions forever and you can't take it away from us. Thank you guys….Yeah we’re coming back. You already know that.”