Super Bowl Team Has Ties To Former Local Player

The Baltimore Ravens are preparing for the biggest sporting event of the year when they take on the San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans on Sunday. This will be the final game of Ravens linebacker, Ray Lewis’s historic career. Ray was drafted by the Ravens in 1996 and has played his entire career with the franchise.

He led the Ravens to victory in the 2000-2001 Super Bowl and was named the game’s MVP. Lewis has been the center piece of one of the most feared defenses in NFL history. Did you know a homegrown talent used to play on the same side of the ball as Ray?

Being a graduate of Saratoga High School, when I played high school ball the bar was set by defensive end Anthony Weaver (pictured above). Tony graduated from Saratoga and eventually played college football at Notre Dame. He was one of the Irish’s team captains during his senior year. In the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft, he was selected by the Baltimore Ravens.

At that time, Tony played for defensive line coach, Rex Ryan, who eventually became the team’s defensive coordinator and is currently the head coach of the New York Jets. After his stint with the Ravens, Weaver went on to play a few years with the Houston Texans until 2008.

Weaver made the leap from player to coach in 2010 when he became a graduate assistant coach for the University of Florida. He then coached the linebackers of the University of North Texas in 2011 before landing a job with his former coach, Rex Ryan. He was an assistant defensive line coach for Ryan’s Jets this past season.

The Saratoga native has excelled through the coaching ranks at a rapid pace as he was most recently named the defensive line coach for the Buffalo Bills. He will make his debut with the team in the 2013-2014 season.