Former UTSA standout Spencer Burford will be the first Roadrunner football player to appear in the Super Bowl. Photo by Terrell Lloyd/San Francisco 49ers
FEBRUARY 9, 2024 — Spencer Burford is set to make history on Sunday when he becomes the first former member of the UTSA football program to appear in a Super Bowl, as the San Francisco 49ers take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII at 5:30 p.m. in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Burford is in line to be the second UTSA alum to appear in a Super Bowl. Former track & field All-American Teddy Williams played in Super Bowl 50 as a member of the Carolina Panthers during the 2015 season.
Burford has appeared in 12 games with 11 starts on the offensive line this season to help the 49ers to a 14-5 record and a spot in the Super Bowl. The San Antonio Wagner High School product is in his second year after being picked by the 49ers with the 29th selection in the fourth round (No. 134 overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft. He went on to start 16 games as a rookie in 2022.
Left: Burford blocks for running back Christian McCaffrey in the 49ers' regular season win over the Dallas Cowboys on October 8, 2023. Photo by Terrell Lloyd/San Francisco 49ers | Right: Burford prepares to block a Seattle Seahawks defender. Photo by NFL/Associated Press
An honorable mention All-American by Phil Steele and a first-team All-Conference USA pick in 2021, Burford started 12 games on the line to help lead UTSA to a 12-2 record, the program’s first Conference USA title, a national ranking as high as No. 15 and an appearance in the Frisco Bowl. The Dave Campbell’s Texas Football All-Texas College First Team selection helped pave the way for an offense that racked up 6,146 total yards — including 3,577 through the air and 2,569 on the ground — and 516 points. Burford allowed only two sacks and one hit on the quarterback in 420 pass-blocking snaps that fall according to Pro Football Focus.
Burford played in 45 career games and drew 43 starts in his four-year career with the Roadrunners. He earned second-team all-league accolades as a junior and was an honorable mention all-conference selection in 2019. He was a key member of an offensive line that helped open holes for UTSA career rushing leader Sincere McCormick, who registered back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and finished with 3,929 rushing yards, 34 rushing touchdowns and 18 100-yard games.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Día en la Sombrilla, formerly Fiesta UTSA, is a festival hosted each spring as a part of Fiesta® San Antonio events. Sponsored by Roadrunner Productions, the event features music, food, confetti, games, event t-shirts, and more.
Sombrilla Plaza, Main CampusCovidence is a systematic & scoping review tool used to streamline the process of screening and reviewing articles. Using this software, research teams can easily import studies, perform automatic deduplication, and extract data using templates. This workshop will show attendees how to start a review in Covidence, add collaborators, and get started on screening.
Virtual (Zoom)In this workshop, attendees will be introduced to Pandas, a Python tool for working with data easily. It makes it simple to organize and analyze information when data is organized and categorized, like spreadsheets or tables.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryEach fall and spring semester, students convene at the Main Campus at UTSA with booths, ideas and prototypes. A crowd of judges, local organizations, students, faculty and sponsors walk around and talk to the students about their projects and ask questions. Students get the real-life experience of "pitching" their project with hopes of getting funding or support to move to the next level.
UTSA Convocation Center, Main CampusJoin the doctoral candidates for the Doctoral Conferreal Ceremony and celebrate their accomplishments.
Arts Building Recital Hall, Main CampusCelebrate the graduates from the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College.
AlamodomeCelebrate the graduates from the College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.
AlamodomeThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
