BOONE, N.C. — App State Football alum Shemar Jean-Charles is a Super Bowl champion.
Jean-Charles, a cornerback who suffered a training camp injury and spent the 2025 season as a member of Seattle's practice squad, was able to join select company as he celebrated with his teammates following the Seahawks' 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday in Super Bowl LX.
Jean-Charles has added his name alongside the likes of John Settle (1991 Redskins season), Matt Stevens (2001 Patriots season), Daniel Wilcox (2002 Buccaneers season) and AJ Howard (2018 Patriots season) as App State alums who became Super Bowl champions.
Jean-Charles has played five NFL seasons since departing Boone, spending time with the Packers (2021-22), San Francisco 49ers (2023) and New Orleans Saints (2023-24) before joining the Seahawks organization in March 2025. The lower-body injury contributed to him not being part of the 53-man roster and re-signing to Seattle's practice squad in late August.
"I made the decision, at the end of the day, I'm kind of playing with house money, so whenever I touch the field, my biggest goal is to make a play, know my job and play with confidence, and nobody else has more fun than me," Jean-Charles
told the Nothin' But An App State Podcast before the Super Bowl. "Simple rules. Simple rules.
"That's kind of the same wave I was on, especially my senior year at App State, right before I left. I took that approach as I was rehabbing during training camp this past year and getting my knee ready. The GM had a good conversation with me, long story short, telling me they wanted to keep me here on practice squad, that they had one practice squad spot for one corner this year. They told me, 'We believe in you and we want you here.' That meant a lot for a team to have that belief in me — it was second to none. So I've just been rehabbing the whole year, and I feel great now, but I've been rehabbing and just staying ready, giving the good looks to guys like JSN (receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba) and (quarterback) Sam Darnold in practice and being a rotational guy on our defense and getting to play nickel, safety, dime, corner. They allow me to play all over the field, and I love it. It's been good."
After signing with App State as a two-star recruit, Jean-Charles worked to improve behind all-conference cornerbacks
Clifton Duck and
Tae Hayes before becoming a starter in 2019 – his fourth year with the program.
Jean-Charles, known as "Sherm" to his teammates, made the most of his final two seasons.
As a first-year starter, Jean-Charles helped lead the Mountaineers to the 2019 Sun Belt Championship and a win over UAB in the New Orleans Bowl to cap an historic 13-1 season. His 45 tackles, nine pass breakups and first career interception in the bowl game helped set the stage for a highly decorated senior year.
In 2020, he led all FBS players with 16 pass breakups and 17 passes defended (with one interception) en route to becoming the first App State player to be selected a first-team All-American. In addition to his first-team honor by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, he earned second- and third-team recognition from Sporting News, PFF College and Phil Steele. He was tabbed PFF's Sun Belt Player of the Year.
Jean-Charles helped App State go 52-13 with five bowl wins and four Sun Belt championships, including a 42-10 mark in four years as an active player, before being a fifth-round draft pick of the Packers in 2021.
"I sat behind some amazing corners — Tae Hayes, Clifton Duck — and I had to sit and wait," Jean-Charles said. "I didn't play freshman year, sophomore year, and I was given the keys junior year and senior year. Fast forward into the league, it was kind of the same thing, where I could sit here and sulk about it and be mad that I'm not playing early, or I could take the opportunity to learn, get better and understand that even though I am on practice squad, I get to go against the No. 1 receiver in the league every day. It's my responsibility to get him better for going out there on Sundays, as much as I can ... Taking that, I could be nonchalant about my job, but I get excited about it.
"I've kind of felt like a coach this year. Even though I haven't been playing, I'd give my input and sit on the sideline and see everything manifest that I had seen earlier in the week on Sundays. It's just been a beautiful thing, seeing guys make plays. At the end of the day, I'm still ready. Whenever the coach is ready to call my name, I'm ready."
