Once a Wolverine, always a Wolverine

Earning a team spot on a Michigan Athletics roster might be the pinnacle of a young competitor’s career. But for the elite athletes, the ones who perform on the world stage, it’s just training camp.

On Feb. 14, Philadelphia Eagles and former Wolverines Brandon Graham (2006-09) and Trevor Keegan (2019-23), pictured above, paraded through downtown Philly to celebrate their Super Bowl LIX victory over fellow Wolverine Mike Danna (2019) and his Kansas City Chiefs. A fourth Wolverine, the Chiefs’ Joshua Uche (2016-19), was inactive for the game.

Wolverine Mike Danna wears Michigan-branded sweatpants with his Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LIX jersey. (Image: Ruth Baum Bigus.)

Graham, a 15-year NFL veteran, and a first-round draft pick, wears jersey No. 55 for Philadelphia, the same number he wore at Michigan. He was the Eagles’ nominee for the league’s Walter Payton Award in recognition of his Team Graham foundation, which supports community youth organizations, including a summer football camp.

Super Bowl LIX marked Graham’s second trip to the NFL’s ultimate championship game. The Michigan years prepared him to compete at the highest level, he says.

“Like they say: ‘Those who stay will be champions.’ You have to have that tough, gritty attitude about yourself because anything that’s with it is going to be hard and tough,” Graham says. “You’ve got to have that mindset to get through it.”

How about when you face a fellow Wolverine, like Danna, on the opposing team?

“It’s cool because you support each other as alumni,” Graham says. “From another Michigan man to a Michigan man, you’re part of that fraternity.”

Danna, a pass rusher who just finished his fifth season with the Chiefs, agrees. He transferred to the Wolverines in 2019 from Central Michigan before Kanas City selected him as a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. And though he started his college football career in Mt. Pleasant, Danna bleeds the maize and blue. He’s even wearing Michigan-branded sweatpants as he works the Super Bowl press corps.

“I think it’s a beautiful thing,” says Danna who marked his third trip to the Super Bowl with the 2025 game. “It’s always great when you see another Michigan man in here … .We almost always have one Michigan guy in the Super Bowl so we have to keep that streak alive.”

The Eagles’ Keegan, who just completed his rookie year with Philadelphia, was a newbie to the Super Bowl experience, but he’s no stranger to the champions’ circle. He won three consecutive Big Ten Conference titles as a Wolverine and took the team to the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship to claim the first College Football Playoff title. The Eagles selected Keegan in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

“The type of people and players they recruit at Michigan are all goal-oriented and striving to make it to the NFL. When you are around them it makes you want to work harder,” Keegan says. “Being on the big stage in college, when you get to this moment your nerves settle, and you go out to play.”

How did competing in the college national championship game compare to the Super Bowl?

“This is like the national championship times 10,” he says.