WVU doesn't have a former player participating in the upcoming Super Bowl.
Marshall doesn't have one either.
Yet the state of West Virginia has a fine representative.
Have you missed it?
Just Google the active roster of the Atlanta Falcons. You'll see he's right there. No. 29. Cornerback C.J. Goodwin.
"Born and raised right here in East Wheeling," said B.J. Depew, Goodwin's high school coach, proudly, "and a six-year Linsly student."
Ah, you might be thinking, THAT'S how you missed Goodwin. Linsly is a private school that's not a member of the SSAC and isn't largely covered by the state's media.
But that's not the only reason Goodwin has been difficult to spot. You see, he's taken an amazingly circuitous route to the Falcons. Also, at age 26, this is the 6-foot-3, 190-pound defensive back's first active season in the NFL.
"He has a very unique story," said Depew.
Unique and interesting. Let's start back at Linsly.
"He played football here in junior high and then decided basketball was going to be his game," said the school's football coach and athletic director. "He worked very hard and stuck to that - and kind of avoided us [in football] his freshman, sophomore and junior years."
Then, as a senior, through convincing of the football coaches and Goodwin's peers, specifically Duquesne-bound Chidozie Oparanozie, the athlete decided to give football another try.
"He had a really good senior year, even though he had to learn a lot very quickly," Depew said. "He was always a tremendous athlete and very coachable. You could teach him to play a role. He played defensive back and was sort of our mobile quarterback. He wasn't our steady quarterback, but we would put him in to run the ball and do some different stuff."
Hoops, though, apparently was Goodwin's first love and off he went to Bethany College on an academic scholarship where he also played basketball. It didn't work out.
"He bounced around quite a bit trying to find his way," Depew said.
Goodwin transferred to Fairmont State and quit basketball, but not intramurals. That's where former Falcons football coach Mike Lopez spotted him. He convinced Goodwin to play receiver for his team. Later, when Lopez moved to California, Pennsylvania, as a defensive coordinator, Goodwin followed.
You're probably guessing that's where the athlete flourished.
But you'd be guessing wrong. Goodwin caught 24 passes for Fairmont in 2012 and just 11 for California. Yet...
"He started to get some interest from some professional scouts based on his athletic ability," said Depew. "A connection he had was Mel Blount, who is a former Linsly parent. He got someone in the Pittsburgh Steelers organization to take a serious look at him. When they did, they liked what they saw. Everything took off from there."
The Steelers signed Goodwin to their practice squad in 2014, but he was released the following year after injuring a shoulder.
That could have been the end of the story, yet it wasn't. Goodwin rehabilitated his shoulder and was signed to Atlanta's "reserve/future contracts" roster as a wide receiver on Jan. 6, 2016.
Yes, as a wide receiver. Yes, he's playing cornerback now. Goodwin made the transition in the offseason (remarkable in itself) and played 14 games this season for the Falcons and recorded 17 tackles, 14 solo, playing as a backup to cornerback Robert Alford. In the final game of the regular season, Goodwin had four tackles against New Orleans. He had one stop in the NFC championship against Green Bay.
"It's been great," Depew said. "It's been exciting for all of us. It makes it a little easier to take that Pittsburgh got knocked out [of the NFL playoffs] because we still have C.J. and the Falcons in there."
Goodwin's story isn't known statewide, but it is around Linsly.
"And it's not just here, it's in all of Wheeling," Depew said. "It's in all of the Ohio Valley.
"My wife and I have children that go to Wheeling Country Day, a little local elementary school. They had a casual [clothes] day. Well, my wife dropped off our kids and said she saw several C.J. Goodwin jerseys on kids getting dropped off. It's exciting."
And, now, for the entire state.