EAST ORANGE, NJ (updated Monday Feb. 5, 8:37 p.m.) – For any football player, it’s a dream to play in the Super Bowl, let alone win it.
East Orange’s Rasul Douglas got to experience that incredible dream.
Douglas is a rookie cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the defending champion New England Patriots, 41-33, to win Super Bowl LII on Sunday, Feb. 4, in Minneapolis, Minn.
Douglas played on special teams in the game as the Eagles won their first Super Bowl title.
In a telephone interview with The Record-Transcript on Monday night, Feb. 5, Douglas said winning the Super Bowl “feels unreal, it feels good. We felt we were the better team, and last night showed that we were.”
The Eagles selected Douglas in the third round in last spring’s NFL Draft. Douglas spent two years at West Virginia University.
Douglas played for the East Orange Campus High School football team and graduated from EOCHS in 2012. He continued his career at Nassau Community College before transferring to West Virginia.
Douglas, wearing No. 32, had two interceptions in his rookie season for the Eagles.
Most pundits didn’t give the Eagles a chance to make it to the Super Bowl, even though they were the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a 13-3 record. After all, they lost their starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, the favorite to win the NFL regular-season MVP, to a season-ending injury against the Rams late in the year. But backup quarterback Nick Foles stepped in and the Eagles didn’t miss a beat as they proved those critics wrong. Foles was named the Super Bowl MVP after throwing for three touchdowns.
“We already knew what we were; we weren’t worried about what anybody thought of us,” said Douglas. “We knew we were a good group; we weren’t worried about what anybody else said.”
Douglas, who lives in Philadelphia, felt proud to represent East Orange, just like the other great players from his hometown. “That is where I’m from; that’s my hometown,” he said. “I’m not the only one representing East Orange, but it feels good.”
Douglas said Marion Bell, his head coach at EOCHS, “definitely influenced me to play football. He showed me how to play the game; how to prepare, everything.”
For Douglas, winning the Super Bowl, needless to say, is something he will always cherish.
“That is every kid’s dream,” he said.
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