Stinnie Making Most of Opportunity, Will Start in Super Bowl LV

Aaron Stinnie always made sure to stay ready when opportunity came knocking.

On Sunday, the third-year pro and former James Madison All-American will start at right guard for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.

It will mark JMU's first starter in a Super Bowl in a quarter century. Charles Haley, who won five Super Bowl titles, was the program's last to start in the big game, when the Dallas Cowboys won Super Bowl XXX.

For some players, opportunity comes quickly. For Stinnie, he's had to be patient and trust the process at every level.

"Know that your opportunity is going to come when you're ready for it," Stinnie said. "God's going to give you a blessing when you're ready to receive. Always believe in the bigger picture and know that your moment is going to come when it's ready."

After coming to JMU on a 5% scholarship, he switched from defensive line to offensive line, thus setting the trajectory for the rest of his career. After playing in two national titles and winning one with the Dukes, he went undrafted in 2018 and signed with the Tennessee Titans. Stinnie played in one game as a rookie, and in 2019, he appeared in three games before being waived midseason.

But one team didn't wait for him to clear waivers. Tampa came calling, and he'd finish the 2019 season playing twice over the final month.

"There's a certain mindset I keep, and that's not let anything hold me back or hold me down," Stinnie said. "I'd like to think that whenever something bad happens, I just have to keep trucking and keep pushing, because my opportunity is going to come up next. It helped me to grow and push forward."

Fast forward the 2020 season. After making the 53-man roster, Stinnie would be inactive on game days for much of the regular season. He appeared in four games in reserve, helping the Bucs to a berth in the postseason.

Stinnie didn't play in Tampa's wild-card win at Washington, but what happened next would thrust him into the starting role immediately. The Bucs announced that starter Alex Cappa was out for the rest of the year due to an ankle fracture.

Then it happened. Stinnie would go from undrafted, never having made a start, to being the team's starting right guard in the NFC Divisional Round at New Orleans.

He patiently waited for his opportunity. His time had arrived. He is now a starter in the NFL, competing in the playoffs and blocking for a guy named Tom Brady.

"It's been an amazing experience and amazing ride, and I'm just trying to come in and show my skills and ability and help out my team as much as I can," Stinnie said. "Once I got that opportunity, I wanted to be able to take it and run with it."

And run with it he has. For him, he didn't have to get ready because he stayed ready.

Tampa would avenge a pair of regular-season losses to their NFC South rivals, upending the second-seeded Saints, 30-20, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

"Yeah, it's a testament to Aaron being ready for that situation, being ready for that pressure," Tampa center Ryan Jensen said. "His first career start was in a divisional round playoff game against New Orleans. I mean - that's one of the best fronts in football - and he went in there and had a heck of a game for his first career start."

The following week, it was a trip to Lambeau to battle the top-seeded Green Bay Packers with a Super Bowl spot on the line. Tampa wouldn't be denied, winning their third straight road playoff game, 31-26.

"Going into the first one, being the first start, a lot of different things are going on in your mind," Stinnie said. "Being able to go into that one, have it go [well] and lead into the next one, I was definitely able to tie off a lot of those nerves and had me more settled for the next game."

Next stop: Tampa.

That's right. After winning three straight on the road, the Bucs earned their way to Super Bowl LV, which fortunately for them, takes place their home - Raymond James Stadium.

For this team, a lot is on the line. It's the pinnacle of the sport of football. There is no bigger game. However, Tampa has not changed anything in how they're preparing to take on the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.

"I learned to not put anything extra onto the game. At the end of the day, whatever it's for, it's still a game," Stinnie said. "As long as you don't put any added pressure or stress onto it, it allows you to be able to go in there with the correct type of mindset for you to be able to play and perform to your best ability."

He continued, "People ask all the time if it's dawned on me that I'm going to be playing a Super Bowl, and I tell them no it hasn't yet. I'm going to let that hit me after the fact. I'm excited to be playing in it but not going to put any added pressure. If you do that, you won't be able to play at your best."

JMU will be well represented in Sunday's Super Bowl, as the Dukes have three former All-American linemen on the Bucs' roster. In addition to Stinnie, Josh Wells (2009-13) and Earl Watford (2008-12) are also seeking their first Super Bowl title. Josh is a backup right tackle, and Watford was re-signed during the postseason and serves on the practice squad.

So, what would winning football's ultimate prize mean to these guys?

"I would really like it because you can't buy it," Wells said. "You can't pay for it, no matter how much money you have in this world, you can't say you're a Super Bowl champ. Just knowing the sacrifice it takes to get there individually and as a team, the sacrifices of my parents, it would mean a lot to me because it would mean a lot to them. You can't buy it and you have to earn it. It's the pinnacle what we do as professionals, and to be able to say you've done it would be huge."

"That would mean the world to me, there's nothing higher than that one," Stinnie said. "Whenever you're playing, you want to hit different milestones. When you're in college, you want to hit that national championship, because there's nothing higher you can hit there. Then your next goal is you want to make it to the next level. If you're able to get to the next level and get that Super Bowl title, that's forever etched to you in the history book."

Since his youth, Stinnie has always believed in himself, despite the naysayers. That put a chip on his shoulder that he has used as motivation throughout. Setbacks never held him down, he just brushes off the dirt and stands back up. He has waited patiently for this moment in his career. He has no doubt that he and his entire Buccaneer team will be ready for the challenge.

Sunday night, they'll leave it all on the field. They've worked hard to improve each and every week, so they'd be in a position to go after the big one. The goal of any team is to go 1-0 each week.

Should they go 1-0 on February 7, our three Tampa Dukes can call themselves world champions.

Calendar