Jake Bobo is not upset that most of his close friends hope he loses the Super Bowl.
“Yeah, listen,” they tell him, “we’re hoping you have a big game, but Pats [win] by” whatever their score prediction is.
A 2018 Belmont Hill graduate, Bobo plays wide receiver and special teams for the Seattle Seahawks. The 6-foot-4, 207-pounder faces the Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Sunday, Feb. 8, at 6:30 p.m. at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. He caught a touchdown pass in Seattle’s NFC Championship Game win over the Los Angeles Rams.
“It’s crazy,” said his mother, Casey Bobo. “I think you knew going into the playoffs something could happen. It’s surreal, I just know that it hasn’t hit him, or me, yet.”
A Patriots fan growing up, specifically emulating former receiver Wes Welker, Jake Bobo enrolled at Belmont Hill as a freshman.
A North Andover native, Bobo earned three first-team All-Independent School League (ISL) honors at Belmont Hill, fueled by pregame meals from Ma Magoos near the Belmont/Cambridge line. He also played varsity basketball and ran spring track for the Sextants. Bobo caught his first high school touchdown at Gillette Stadium from Harry Kraft, Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s grandson.
“It was obviously a really cool moment for him, but I don’t think it was as cool as catching a touchdown in the NFC championship game,” said Chris Butler, Bobo’s coach at Belmont Hill. “It’s kind of insane to think about, you’ve got a guy that made it to the league and is playing in the biggest game there is.”
Butler also taught Bobo in chemistry class.
“He was an excellent student,” Butler said. “That’s one of those differentiation factors that can help you get to the NFL. I don’t care how talented you are, there’s a huge mental component to playing.”
According to Casey Bobo, Belmont Hill taught her son “how to learn” in all facets of life. And football?
“I remember it as the purest form of football, before politics and everything gets involved,” Jake said.
Bobo is one of two Belmont Hill alumni to play in the NFL. Watertown native Richard “Dewey” Jarvis, a 2013 graduate, made the Atlanta Falcons roster and spent time on practice squads in Jacksonville and Buffalo. Corey Gatewood, a 2007 graduate, participated in a Minnesota Vikings training camp. Jake’s grandfather, Keith Bobo, played at Southern Methodist University and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. Bobo’s late father, Mike, played at Dartmouth.
After playing for four years of college football at Duke – where he earned Third-Team All-ACC and multiple academic honors – Bobo used his final year of eligibility at UCLA. The Seahawks signed Bobo as an undrafted free agent, and he made the team out of training camp.
Bobo’s best season to date came as a rookie, when he amassed 19 catches, 196 yards with two touchdowns, and added a rushing score on his lone carry. He hauled in 13 passes last year for 107 yards, playing in all 17 games, including two grabs in a September win against the Patriots in Foxborough.
“I remember walking out to Gillette and being a little star-struck,” he said, “but when you play in these games for so long, it’s just another team.”
This season, Bobo made two catches in 11 regular-season games, missing contests both as a healthy scratch and due to injury. Bobo made the active roster for both postseason games and snagged one grab in each, including the third-quarter touchdown that gave the NFC’s top-seed a multi-score lead on its home Lumen Field.
Butler, a Patriots fan, is rooting for Seattle.
“I want to see Jake win it,” Butler said. “I would love to see him bring that Lombardi Trophy home for Seattle.”
Casey Bobo was in the process of figuring out her travel plans. It’s a little crazy for her to want the Patriots to lose, but it’s really more about pulling for her son.
“I just want Jake to win,” she said. “I wish it were another team, but it does make it kind of fun for us in terms of all the people that are going to go out there from this region.”
Bringing his “self-proclaimed northeast toughness” every day, Jake’s all about building on Seattle’s strong season. He’s thankful for “being in a position where we can link the story together,” he said, “but it’ll also just be another game.” Bobo expects about 15 family members and friends to make the trip.
“Hopefully they’re all in Seahawks gear,” he said, “but I’ve been told ‘no promises.’”
