Just a few short days ago, Kansas City Chiefs longtime linebacker and green dot of the defense, Nick Bolton, was selected as a member of the Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2026. It's certainly an honor well-deserved, and one that Bolton won't share alone. Former Mizzou quarterback and current Seattle Seahawk, Drew Lock, was also announced as one of the newest members.
Bolton, 26, played each of his three collegiate seasons at Mizzou from 2018-2020, before being drafted 58th overall by the Chiefs in the 2021 NFL Draft. He has been a constant big-time presence in the middle of KC's defense, something that he learned very well from his college days. Bolton has led the Chiefs in four of his five years and was a major part of the back-to-back championships achieved in 2022-23.
Chiefs fans will best know Drew Lock from his days as a Denver Bronco, where he played for the first three years of his career as a second-round pick, starting 20 games. Each one of those starts being games to forget for the most part, as his post-Denver-career has been fruitless, aside from being Sam Darnold's backup last season during the Seahawks Super Bowl run.
The pair of Mizzou football greats were selected as part of the HoF class of 2026
Bolton's time at Mizzou was short but successful. He played very sparingly in his freshman year, but was then an entrenched two-year starter, on a Tigers team that won just 11 games over those two years. Bolton accumulated a combined 202 tackles, 15.5 TFLs, three sacks, and two interceptions. He was named second-team All-American in 2020 and first-team All-SEC in both 2019 and 2020.
Lock's tenure in Mizzou ended just as Bolton's began as he played all four years from 2015-18. His final three were spent as the main starter, where the Tigers won seven and eight games in his final two years. Lock's junior campaign was easily his best, throwing for nearly 4,000 yards and a single-season school record 44 touchdowns on 13 picks. His senior season numbers weren't as gaudy, but Lock became smarter and managed the game better, improving his completion percentage by nearly 63% and cutting down to just eight interceptions thrown.
While Drew Lock and Nick Bolton are certainly very different players with very opposite career trajectories in the NFL, they do have two things in common. Both are Super Bowl champions as well as entrenched Hall of Fame college talents at their Alma Mater.
Add us as a preferred source on Google