MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Life in the National Football League as a late-round draft pick can often lead to trips to practice squads, the waiver wire or frequent stints with new teams. For WVU alumnus Colton McKivitz, playing four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers has led to a trip to the Super Bowl.
The route to the biggest stage in American professional sports wasn’t without a notable detour for the Jacobsburg, Ohio native.
After a decorated career at WVU ended following Neal Brown’s first season in 2019, McKivitz was selected in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the 49ers. He played in 14 games during his rookie season and made three starts.
However, McKivitz was waived in the final round of roster cuts following the 2021 preseason. He was later assigned to the team’s practice squad and eventually was added to the active roster in November. But McKivitz played in just one game the rest of the season.
“You get a second opportunity in a job like the NFL and that doesn’t really come around for a lot of late-round guys,” McKivitz said on Citynet Statewide Sportsline.
“You get your rookie year and it is kind of a redshirt year to figure it out. In the second year, they expect a jump. And that didn’t happen. So I got cut. We had an injury at right tackle so I got bumped up halfway through the year to active [roster]. I just learned the urgency of being on a team like San Francisco. It is winning a Lombardi [trophy]. That’s the goal every year for them.”
McKivitz has been a mainstay on the 49ers offensive line ever since. He played in 16 games in 2022 and has been an every-game starter at right tackle this season for the NFC champions.
Differences from the college game and the professional game took time for McKivitz to adjust to.
“It was a lot of RPOs [run-pass options] and quick game in college and a fast pace. In the NFL, you get a limited amount of chances to run ahead and have the ball in a game,” McKivitz said.
“We move a lot more vertical in our game than in college.”
The 49ers are in the Super Bowl for the first time since 2019 but they have advanced to the NFC title game in three consecutive seasons.
“The pressure is there. It is no different than a regular season game when it comes to the plays. But it is that much bigger of a stage and it means a lot more. We talk about in the beginning of the year that your games mean so much. And then once you start getting into December and January and now the Super Bowl, obviously the stakes are a lot higher.”
In next Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII, McKivitz and the 49ers will face a Kansas City defense that held Baltimore to ten points in last week’s AFC Championship game.
“They’ve got Chris Jones over there and [George] Karlaftis and a couple other good guys there.
“They put it to the Ravens. They are a talented group. So it should be fun.”
With a two-week lead up to the Super Bowl, McKivitz has wisely delegated ticket requests onto family members.
“The amount of stuff we’ve got going on with tickets, how to get there and all that kind of stuff, hotel rooms, and obviously we’ll start game-planning and installing our stuff. When it is the Super Bowl, there is stuff going on all the time.
“I think my dad delegated enough people to get ahold of him. So his phone has been non-stop. I think he wants to toss it in a pond and watch it sink.”
McKivitz starts on the opposite side of a line that features 13-year veteran Trent Williams. The left tackle is widely regarded as one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL.
“He’s a great teammate. Anything you have to ask, football-wise or life-wise, he always offers any advice. He’ll just come up to you randomly and say, ‘Hey, here’s what I saw on film with [Aidan] Hutchinson last week and what he does and how he times things’.”
McKivitz blocks ahead of the NFL’s leading rusher, Christian McCaffery (1,459 yards, 14 TD).
“You give him an inch and he is taking a mile and he is gone. That’s one thing about Christian, he’ll run over a guy or he will stiff arm a guy, spin move or whatever and he’ll get 75 [yards].”
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is an NFL MVP candidate. However in 2018, Purdy’s Iowa State Cyclones rolled over McKivitz’s Mountaineers, 30-14 and handed WVU their first loss after a 5-0 start to the season.
“He beat us as a freshman when we were No. 6 in the country at Iowa State. So he’s a winner. And as a person, he is All-World. He’s very humble. You can’t speak more highly of the guy because of how he leads us and obviously how he plays.”