A pinky and no promises. Nick Kallerup’s underdog story from Gophers walk-on to Super Bowl champion
A 6-foot-5, 266-pound tight end with a distinct ginger beard tried to sneak into the Gophers football team’s spring practice soon after it began on March 28. But Super Bowl champion Nick Kallerup didn’t remain anonymous for long. Once his former position coach, Eric Koehler, located him on the sideline, Koehler paused individual drills for him and the current crop of U tight ends to dap him up.
Pausing their work was an indication of the level of respect and the type of legacy Kallerup left at the U. The former walk-on from Wayzata High School developed into a valuable, do-the-dirty-work player at Minnesota over his final three seasons from 2022-24. He signed with the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent last spring, made the 53-man roster and played in 11 total games in 2025, including two playoff wins, before lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif.
“It was incredible,” Kallerup told the Pioneer Press. “It’s hard to believe that after the game we’re standing on a field as Super Bowl champions, getting to hold the trophy and celebrating with teammates in the locker room. Then the after party was great.
I had all the family there. Really couldn’t have thought of anything better. ” Kallerup’s underdog story isn’t surprising to those who watched him grow inside the U’s Larson Football Performance Center.
What they do remain astonished by is what Kallerup did to stay in a Big Ten game against fourth-ranked Penn State at Huntington Bank Stadium in November 2024. “The story has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger,” head coach P. J.
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