Alumni making Pro Bowl and beginning NFL playoffs

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The 2011-2012 NFL season has been great for former Chippewas.

Central Michigan was one of nine college programs that have multiple players elected to the Pro Bowl. There are also four Chippewas in the playoffs.

Wide receiver and kick returner for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Antonio Brown, set a NFL record being the first person to rack up more than 1,000 yards receiving and returning kicks and punts. He will attend his first Pro Bowl with fellow CMU alumni Joe Staley of the San Francisco 49ers, unless those teams make the Super Bowl.

“Antonio and Joe had huge seasons and obviously played at a Pro Bowl level,” said CMU alum and current New York Jets linebacker Nick Bellore. “It’s nice to see Central Michigan up there with the likes of anyone else in the country at putting guys in the Pro Bowl.”

Bellore went undrafted, but still found his way to the Jets. They lost their final three games, barely missing the playoffs.

“We didn’t finish how we needed to,” Bellore said. “It was a rough one for us.”

In the Jets final game, star receiver Santonio Holmes was benched and the locker room seemed divided during and after the game.

“Anytime that you’re losing there’s a little more tension on the team,” Bellore said. “It’s an emotional time after a season that didn’t go the way we wanted it to. Everything is a bit overblown being in New York.”

He played mostly on special teams in his rookie season this year recording 19 tackles.

The Chippewas that did make it to the playoffs are: Brown, Staley, linebacker Frank Zombo of the Green Bay Packers and Houston Texans punter Brett Hartmann.

Hartmann won’t participate for the Texans due to an injury, but the three others are looking for deep playoff runs.

Zumbo and Staley’s squads both earned first-round byes in the NFC by finishing in the top two in the conference. Brown and the Steelers faced the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs yesterday.

“I’ll be cheering on all those guys and rooting for them as hard as possible,” Bellore said. “It’s going to be tough because you might have some guys playing each other in the Super Bowl.”