LOS ANGELES ā Ahead of Super Bowl LVI between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams, the big question is how many athletes playing in the big game are from Texas?
Editors note: The video above is from a previous story where KHOU 11 News talked to several Cincinnati Bengals players from Houston
Texas will be flexing its muscles on Sunday with a number of players from across the state playing on the NFL's biggest stage.
The Lone Star State is one of only three states with double-digit athletes representing them in the Super Bowl. California (13) and Florida (12) are the only other states that come close, according to Max Preps.
Rams players representing Texas
Los Angeles wins the head-to-head match up for number of athletes from Texas.
Nine Rams players come from our state with quarterback Matthew Stafford (Highland Park, though he was born in Tampa and spend a lot of his childhood in Georgia) and linebacker Von Miller (DeSoto) being the most notable.
Other Texas athletes for the Rams are Ogbonnia Okoronkwo (Alief Taylor), Bobby Evans (Allen), A'Shawn Robinson (Arlington Heights), Bobby Brown (Arlington Lamar), Travin Howard (Longview), Justin Hollins (Arlington Martin) and Joseph Noteboom (Plano).
Bengals players representing Texas
Cincinnati may have less players from Texas than Los Angeles, but the Bengals have heavy Houston representation on their roster.
Safety Michael Thomas (Nimitz) headlines their roster along with cornerback Tre Flowers (Converse Judson). Out of the eight Bengals, four hail from H-Town.
Damion Square (Yates), Hakeem Adeniji (Garland), Samaje Perine (Pflugerville), Trayveon Williams (King), Trey Hopkins (North Shore) and Clay Johnston (Abilene Wylie) round out Texas connection.
But wait, there's more!
KHOU 11 News has their very own connections to the Super Bowl as well!
Reporter Ugochi Iloka's brother, George, was a starting safety for the Bengals from 2012 to 2017.
Meanwhile, meteorologist Chita Craft's uncle, Bob Johnson, was drafted second overall by the Bengals in 1968.
Johnson's #54 was retied by the Bengals.