UConn alum Andrew Adams was 9 when Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl. Now the two are teammates as he faces off against fellow Husky Anthony Sherman on football’s highest stage

Andrew Adams was 9-years-old when Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl in 2002.

He had just finished his redshirt freshman season at UConn when he watched Brady and the New England Patriots fall to the New York Giants in Super Bowl 46 at his roommate’s grandparents’ house.

Adams, now a five-year NFL veteran and member of the Buccaneers, will suit up alongside Brady on Sunday in Super Bowl 55. And if you told the 9-year-old kid from College Park, Ga., that he’d someday call Brady a teammate he surely would not have believed you.

“Tom is a great guy, on the field and off the field,” Adams told The Courant. “I think he just brings that competitive edge to our team. ... His locker is not too far from mine. It’s just crazy being in the same locker room with him, going to the Super Bowl.”

Adams, Brady and the rest of the Buccaneers will face the Kansas City Chiefs, who feature their own former Husky — fullback Anthony Sherman. A Husky from 2007-10, Sherman blossomed into an All-Pro player with the Chiefs, won a ring in 2020, and developed into an integral part of Kansas City’s high-powered offense.

Sunday’s championship will mark the third consecutive year that a former UConn football player will win a Super Bowl (Obi Melifonwu with the Patriots in 2019, Sherman in 2020).

“I think it’s just neat anytime our guys are playing in the league and having the success they have, and then ultimately getting to the pinnacle of getting to play in the Super Bowl and get that ring,” UConn football coach Randy Edsall said. “Having coached in the NFL for five years, [I know] that’s what everyone strives for. Not just to get to the Super Bowl, but to win it so they can have that ring.”

Edsall coached Sherman in his first stint at UConn and recruited Adams, though he never coached him after leaving for Maryland in 2011. He described Adams as a “guy you want in your program.” Adams went on to start 33 games for UConn from 2011-16, totaling 266 tackles and nine interceptions.

Adams, who started his career with the Giants, bounced around the league a bit before settling with Tampa Bay in 2019. He played a reserve role this season, but stepped up when needed. Against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game, two starters in the Buccaneers’ defensive backfield went down with injuries, and Adams recorded three tackles as Tampa Bay held on for the win.

“This is my fifth year, so I wasn’t really new to the situation,” Adams said. “And I’ve played [Packers quarterback] Aaron Rodgers twice before, so I wasn’t unfamiliar to the situation. So I just wanted to go in, play and help my team win. I was just excited to be able to contribute more than I was already.”

Said Edsall, “You’re just happy for a guy like Andrew. Here’s a guy who’s a backup and plays special teams for them, but against Green Bay he played a lot of football and was on the field the whole time in the second half, and he played well. You’re happy for him, because he went in and did his job.”

Sherman experienced the roller coaster of the COVID-19-impacted NFL season after testing positive for the virus in October and missing three games. He finished his ninth season in the league with one touchdown in a win over the Baltimore Ravens.

“It was definitely different,” Sherman said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast. “It was definitely a lot more mentally tough for the year to just kind of easily go through, like we did last year. You just had to be conscious of everything you did. My body is feeling a lot better this year than it did last year, that’s for sure.”

Edsall said Sherman was a hard worker, and someone who did everything he was asked to do while at UConn.

“He never complained, he always did his job,” he said. “The fullback ... that’s a dirty-work position. He’s got a role with Kansas City and he does it very, very well. He’s made himself a valuable asset.”

Adams may have a slight advantage over Sherman this weekend. The Buccaneers are the first team in NFL history to play in the Super Bowl at their home stadium. The gift of sleeping in his own bed, Adams said, is something he won’t take for granted.

“It’s a luxury, being able to go home, go back to your apartment, sleep in your bed,” Adams said. “Just to stay in your routine. With that, and it also being a home game — the stadium is very familiar to us — guys are just extra locked in.”

Adams won’t be the first in his family to reach this level. His cousin, Sam Adams, won Super Bowl 35 with the Ravens, and was a three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle. Andrew Adams reached out to his cousin for some pointers, and was advised to get tickets and family business wrapped up the week following the conference championship game so he could spend the week leading into the game “focused on ball.” Adams’ parents, two sisters, brother-in-law and girlfriend will be in Tampa for the game.

For Edsall, two more alums playing on the highest stage is a sweet pitch for future potential program members.

“There’s not a lot of people with two guys in the Super Bowl, and one of them is going to get a ring,” he said. “It helps you from a recruiting standpoint. Hey, if you come here and do the right things, you’re going to have opportunities.”

Shawn McFarland can be reached at smcfarland@courant.com.