From Western Illinois to Super Bowl

Tuesday, February 07, 2023 | By: WIU Athletic Communications

Leatherneck Saunders treasuring another title run

MACOMB -- Blessed, fortunate and lucky are a few words Western Illinois graduate and Kansas City Chief defensive linemen Khalen Saunders uses to describe his professional career, his time at Western Illinois and the most recent run to the Super Bowl as the Chiefs gear up to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in Super Bowl LVII in Arizona.

In his fourth year in the National Football League, the Chiefs are in the Super Bowl for the third time, not bad for a kid from St. Louis with one Division I football offer coming out of high school.

"It's always an accomplishment, something you're trying to get to, it's the ultimate goal of every team and I'm lucky enough to say I've done it this many times," Saunders said. "It's an understatement, I'm lucky, blessed, everything, it's an honor. Post-COVID too, so this one has the real feeling of the Super Bowl, that's what makes it so exciting to make it."

Saunders signed with Western Illinois, and instantly made an impact. He took his lone Division I offer and made the most of it, earning All-Conference and All-American honors by his senior season. For that, and his experience in Macomb, Saunders remains a proud Leatherneck.

"It's always fun, it always feels good to be that guy, be that representation of Western Illinois," Saunders said. "It's known I've always been a Western guy first, I didn't transfer in, I was here all 4.5, five years. I always give Western that credit of getting me to this level, offering me because they had faith in me and allowed me to chase my dreams of playing Division I football.

During the Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade in Saunders' rookie season, the WIU grad was sporting his Leatherneck letterwinner jacket, literally wearing his Western passion on his chest.

"Now, forever, I'll represent the purple and gold, I shout it out to everyone, I get a chance to wear it in the Super Bowl, they're part of what got me here in the first place. Being able to represent my school is a great feeling," he said.

Starting as little-known and under-recruited student-athlete and turning into a Super Bowl regular is something that fuels Saunders and a message he wants to pass down to current and future Leathernecks, no matter where they are in their development.

"My advice is to accept the opportunity, that's the biggest message of my life, NFL, college, high school, everything is an opportunity," he said. "If I am afforded an opportunity, take advantage because you can't compare yourself to anyone else, you can't say 'this guy got this at that other place,' that's where you fall into a trap.

"My thing was, I looked at our schedule in 2014, we were playing Illinois, Wisconsin, Northwestern, that's all I needed to see, we're playing high-level competition and obviously the Missouri Valley is head and shoulders the best conference at the FCS level, so we get the opportunity to play great competition, so you have to take advantage of the opportunity, that's my biggest advice. When you get out there, no matter who you play against, you get to put your resume on film, that's what they tell you, your film is your resume. That's what we wanted to stress to classmates and teammates, when knew what we were walking into in 2014, the team had not won a lot, but when we got here, if we focused on our individual selves getting better and playing better, the team would get better and we won a lot, those were four pretty good years for Western, and it's not just me, but our class. I love those guys, I still talk to them, Pete (Swenson), Sean (McGuire), Q Moon (Quintin Moon), Xavier Rowe, that group was a by-product of coming together to make something special. You never know, it could be the Class of 2023 or the Class of 2024, they might be the ones to lock arms and make this program get on its feet."

Print Friendly Version

Upcoming Events and Recent Results

Leatherneck Saunders treasuring another title run

Related Videos

Related Stories