Rutgers, which defeated UCF in the 2009 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl under currentTampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano, leads the way with nine former players currently in the NFL. The group is led by CB Devin McCourty of theNew England Patriots, who had seven tackles in a 34-13 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. McCourty also had a crucial pass deflection in the end zone that prevented a touchdown on the Titan’s opening drive.

A total of 19  NFL teams sport players who played in Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.  The teams with the most players on its rosters are the Patriots with four and Minnesota Vikings with three.  All three of the Vikings players, starting CB Mistral Raymond(USF), CB Josh Robinson (UCF) and LB Tyrone McKenzie (USF), were contributors in the season-opening overtime win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“We’ve been fortunate that our conference partnerships have put us in the position to be able to showcase 35 players that now play in the NFL,” said Brett Dulaney, Executive Director of the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg.  

The Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg is an ESPN Regional Television (ERT) owned bowl game featuring teams from the BIG EAST and Conference USA. The game will be played Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Players in the Pros – 35

(as of September 10, 2012)

2011 Game (3)

Marshall (2)

Vinny Curry             DE      Philadelphia Eagles

Omar Brown            DB      Baltimore Ravens *

FIU (1)

T.Y. Hilton               WR     Indianapolis Colts

2010 Game (6)

Louisville (4)

Bilal Powell              RB      New York Jets

Johnny Patrick        DB      New Orleans Saints

Greg Scruggs          DE     Seattle Seahawks

Byron Stingily          OT      Tennessee Titans

Southern Mississippi (2)

Austin Davis            QB     St. Louis Rams

Lamar Holmes         OG     Atlanta Falcons

2009 Game (15)

Rutgers (9)

Anthony Davis         OT      San Francisco 49ers

Justin Francis          DE      New England Patriots

Kevin Haslam          OL      San Diego Chargers *       

Gregg Johnson        DE      Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Joe Lefeged             DB      Indianapolis Colts

Devin McCourty      CB      New England Patriots

Mohamed Sanu       WR     Cincinnati Bengals

Alex Silvestro          LB       New England Patriots *

Desmond Wynn      OL      Tampa Bay Buccaneers

UCF (6)

Kamar Aiken           WR     Buffalo Bills *

Bruce Miller             FB      San Francisco 49ers

Jamar Newsome    WR     Kansas City Chiefs *

Jah Reid                  OT     Baltimore Ravens

Josh Robinson        CB      Minnesota Vikings

Torell Troup             DT      Buffalo Bills #

2008 Game (11)

USF (6)

Nate Allen                CB      Philadelphia Eagles

Tyrone McKenzie    LB      Minnesota Vikings

Jerome Murphy       CB      New Orleans Saints

Mistral Raymond     CB      Minnesota Vikings

George Selvie         DE      Jacksonville Jaguars

Jeremiah Warren    OT      New England Patriots *

Memphis (5)           

Charlie Bryant          DL      San Diego Chargers *

Kellen Heard            DT      St. Louis Rams

Ronald Leary           OL      Dallas Cowboys *

Clinton McDonald     DT      Seattle Seahawks

Frank Trotter            DE      Philadelphia Eagles *

# Injured Reserve

*Practice Squad