By James Tatter, Staff Writer

Super Bowl Sunday is on its way and every student at Reynolds High School has somebody to cheer for even if their favorite team didn’t survive the playoffs: Anthony Levine, a 2005 Reynolds graduate, is headed to the Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens.

As if that isn’t already impressive enough, this isn’t his first trip to the Super Bowl. At age 25, Levine has a chance to earn his second Super Bowl championship. Levine was a part of the practice squad of the 2010 champion Green Bay Packers and is ready to get another title.

“(Our path to the Super Bowl) really isn’t all that much different,” Levine said Friday in a phone interview with Pine Whispers. “With Green Bay, we had to do it the exact same way as we are doing it now. It is a different team and different leadership.”

As a part of the practice squad, Levine does not always get to share the glory that some of the starters do. But practice squad players put in just as much work as the starters – and they still receive Super Bowl rings just like the starters.

“You do everything that everybody else does. The only thing you don’t do is play in the game on Sunday,” Levine said. “You go to work when everybody else goes to work, practice when everyone else practices, travel when everyone else travels.”

Levine was a standout football player during his time at Reynolds despite never having played the game before his freshman year. He joined the Demons that season after moving from Abbeville, La. In his high school career, Levine received All-State and All-Conference honors and was selected to play in the annual East-West All-Star Game.

“At times he would kick, he would play defensive back and safety, he would return kicks, play quarterback, running back, wide receiver,” said A.J. Highsmith, a classmate of Levine’s who now teaches at Reynolds. “I mean, he played every position on the field really.”

After graduating from Reynolds in 2005, Levine got a scholarship to play at Tennessee State. He earned second team All-Ohio Valley Conference honors as a senior.

Besides football, Levine also excelled on the track. He won a state championship with the Reynolds track team in 2005 and also ran track his junior year of college. Levine’s speed helped him garner attention from many NFL teams in 2010 before he eventually signed as a rookie free agent with the Packers on May 3, 2010. Levine remained on the practice squad only for Green Bay during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

After playing in the Packers’ preseason games at the start of this season – click here to see a highlight of his interception against San Diego on Monday Night Football – Levine was signed to the Ravens’ practice squad as a free agent on Sept. 13.

He also got his first-ever NFL snaps late in the season with Baltimore, appearing in Week 11 at Pittsburgh and Week 12 at San Diego and recording one tackle on special teams. For Levine’s official page with the Ravens, follow this link.

Despite the fame that comes with being part of an NFL team, Levine is remembered at Reynolds as a very humble person.

“He was very humble,” Highsmith said. “You would have never known he was a potential NFL guy. There is not a person around here that didn’t like Anthony Levine.”

Levine’s talent was not limited to athletics, either. He also sang at Reynolds. Terry Hicks, the chorus teacher at Reynolds, fondly remembered Levine’s first day of chorus.

“He told me that he didn’t sing, and I said, ‘Well, I don’t play football!’ ” recounted Hicks.

Levine developed a talent at singing and grew close to Hicks. While Hicks was trying to teach Levine about singing, Levine was also teaching Hicks about football.

“He was always trying to teach me about downs and I was trying to teach him to stay on pitch,” Hicks said.

English teacher Ruth Sartin commented on how Levine was not initially enthusiastic about being in chorus, but she said he ended up being one of the stars.

“Chorus taught him confidence and he has told me that he has used things he learned from chorus in football.” Sartin said.

That confidence, however, did not extend to every situation. Sartin recalled a funny story about a time that Levine came to her house to have dinner with her son, William, a football teammate. When the door of the house opened, the Sartin family dog darted out. The next thing Sartin knew, Levine had jumped on top of William’s car to get away from the dog.

Moments such as that one shared with friends away from school and other memories from the football field and the hallways paint a picture of a player worth rooting for. Even though he won’t be playing Sunday in New Orleans, RJR fans should clear their schedules to tune in and cheer for the Ravens and a Demon great in the Super Bowl.