Jeff Garcia, '97 Marketing, is a four-time Canadian Football League All-Star and four-time NFL Pro Bowl selection. During his NFL career, Garcia, a Gilroy native, played for the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders and Houston Texans. Prior to his professional career, Garcia was the starting quarterback at San José State University and was named a UPI All-American his junior season in 1992.

We spoke with Jeff about his time at SJSU, how it prepared him for his professional career and what it means to have the Super Bowl in the Bay Area.

How did your time at San José State prepare you for your career in the NFL?

Jeff Garcia (JG) : I think more than anything, the relationships that I was able to establish there at San José State during my time and the inconsistency I experienced helped me out. I went through three different head coaches in three years, and that was a lot for us as a team to deal with and to also overcome. But that sort of adversity taught me how to adapt, how to grow, how to learn within different systems and how to learn terminology each and every year. We didn't have that consistency, so that really trained my mind to be able to adapt and not really focus on the things that I couldn't control.

I learned to control what I could control and apply it to how I played the game by trying to take each year and each coaching experience and have that somewhat carry over. At the same time, I was still open to learning from a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator, all those things. When you get into the NFL, you're going to have to have some versatility. You're going to have to have some flexibility to be able to learn and to grow, especially at the quarterback position.

You were able to face some really good competition during your time at San José State. What did those experiences teach you?

JG : It toughened me up physically and mentally. It prepared me for whatever I was about to face later in life. I didn't know that I'd be an NFL quarterback. I didn't get that opportunity coming straight out of college. I went to the Canadian Football League to really earn my stripes before I got that opportunity in the NFL. But I feel like once I did get that opportunity, once those doors opened for me, I was at a place in my life, maturity-wise, confidence-wise and intellectually where I could handle the transition.

I could handle the ups and downs of what it would take to make it at that level and compete to the best of my ability. And I think a lot of those things were instilled in me throughout my childhood and then obviously through my four years at San José State University.

What memories do you have from watching the Super Bowl as a youngster?

JG: I remember when the 49ers played the Dolphins at Stanford Stadium. That was right at the time when I was becoming a huge football fan, a huge fan of the 49ers and a huge fan of Joe Montana.

There was a local player from Overfelt High school named Carl Monroe, and he had played for my dad (who was a football coach) at Gavilan Junior College after coming out of high school. (Monroe) went on to the University of Utah and then signed with the 49ers, and he caught a touchdown pass in that Super Bowl against the Dolphins.

Carl Monroe was our elementary school yard duty so he could make a few dollars each day during his break at junior college. He'd come and be our yard duty at lunchtime at the school. I knew him because he played for my dad. I idolized the guy. I was 8 or 9 years old when Carl Monroe was there. He would be the main guy in our lunchtime football games. So that as well got me following the 49ers, knowing that there was a connection there to this young man who I looked up to, who was there at my school and who played for my dad.

What does it mean to have the Super Bowl close to where you grew up?

JG : Being able to host the Super Bowl again is a great opportunity for the Bay Area. I think it's a blessing to bring people into the Bay, with the location and with the 49ers' facility being in Santa Clara.

With San José State being right down the road, it becomes a featured university for the use of its facilities. It's great that their facilities are at a point now where they can host an NFL team and be proud of it. It's great to see that growth happen, and it's great to see that they can be a host to a team from the NFL and be a landing base at home throughout the week, and that the Bay can participate in being a host of what is the greatest event in sports on a yearly basis in the world.