Super Bowl 53 is all about the Patriots, the Rams — and the Raiders.
The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders, that is.
Three members of George Smith’s loaded 2009 squad — James White, Phillip Dorsett and Lamarcus Joyner — will be on the field Sunday, which is both an incredible feat and a testament to just how good that team was.
No, they did not win the national or even the state championship that year. Bradenton Manatee stunned St. Thomas in the Class 5A semifinals. But a ridiculous 11 members of that team went on to make the NFL, making it perhaps the most talented collection of high school players ever assembled.