Meet the Super Bowl LVI scout team: Long Beach Poly football

INGLEWOOD >> It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Long Beach Poly High School football team, as dozens of students became NBC’s scout team to help the production team prepare for Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium.

“Very surreal,” said Long Beach Poly senior quarterback Shea Kuykendall. “It was really an honor and a blessing that we were able to go there as a team and experience that.”

Kuykendall, who will be playing college football in the fall at Northern Colorado, was tasked with mimicking Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

“It was an amazing experience,” Kuykendall said.

Poly coach Stephen Barbee said his team spent the week learning both teams’ playbooks to prepare for Friday’s on-field practice and an all-access experience at SoFi Stadium.

Meanwhile, Long Beach Poly has a storied history when it comes to the NFL, with notable Pro Bowl players like DeSean Jackson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marcedes Lewis, Jurrell Casey and three-time Super Bowl Champion Willie McGinest.

The school has had nearly 60 alumni play in the NFL, according to Pro Football Reference.

Barbee said after visiting the locker room, his team also helped NBC’s production crew prepare for the big game by running out of the tunnel, as if they were the Rams and Bengals, so that crews could practice for the iconic shot of both teams running onto the field before kickoff.

“The only thing that feels real is the pictures I have from it,” Kuykendall continued. “I actually got my towel signed by Drew Brees. … I don’t feel like I was there (Friday) but when I look back at the pictures from it, I think I was really just there. It’s really awesome.”

“One day that’s my goal to play (at SoFi Stadium) but not anytime soon did I think I was going to have the chance to be in the stadium, be on the field,” said Kuykendall, who revealed that was his first time inside SoFi Stadium. “The fact that we all got to go there during Super Bowl is awesome.”