Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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SEATTLE — Flashback to November 2011. The place? Logan, Utah, where Bobby Wagner was about to wrap up his career as one of the best linebackers to wear the Aggie blue.
Asked what he expected when he reached the NFL, Wagner said he planned on competing for a starting spot in his first year.
While most think that thought process was no more than just a great attitude to have, those same people couldn't have been more wrong.
Now at the age of 23 and just two short seasons into the league, Wagner is a two year starter on the Seattle Seahawks, a Super Bowl champion team.
Even Wagner himself is amazed by how quickly his success has come.
"It's been so surreal to go in and start my rookie season and in my second season go to the Super Bowl and win it," Wagner told KSL's Rod Zundel during "A Conversation with Rod."
"I'm definitely blessed to be in the situation I'm at," Wagner said.
It's been so surreal to go in and start my rookie season and in my second season go to the Super Bowl and win it.
–Seattle Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner
Wagner led the Seahawks in tackles in their massive 43-8 win over Denver a week and a half ago in Super Bowl XLVIII. On the biggest of stages, Wagner played one of the best games of his life.
"It was nuts going through that tunnel and seeing all the fans," Wagner said. "I remember watching the (Super Bowl) last year and in other years and when it kicks off to see all the (camera) flashes, it kind of hit me. Also when the kickoff happened and I was on the field instead of watching it."
In the days following the Super Bowl win, Wagner became a celebrity of sorts, appearing with three of his teammates on the ESPN show, "SportsCenter." But Wagner is taking it all in stride.
"It's been fun. That's the stuff you dream about as a little kid, being on ESPN so it was dope," Wagner said. "I don't look at myself any differently than I did before the Super Bowl so I am just going to live life like I always do."
One thing fans may not know about Wagner is that he is one of the biggest fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At Utah State he had TMNT pajamas, toys, even posters in his apartment. While walking around campus and into the locker room, Wagner did so with a TMNT backpack every day.
"My backpack is still in my locker room," he said. "When I first got to Seattle my teammates and the veterans gave me crap about it but the better and better I played the less and less they cared, so it's all good."
Click on the video link above to watch Rod Zundel's story with Bobby Wagner and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from November 2011.
To listen to the full radio interview with Bobby Wagner, click here.
