On Tuesday, April 12, Kurt Warner returned to UNI to film a segment for the NFL Network alongside Deiondre Hall. It has been the first time in a long time since Warner was on campus and, boy, has it got everyone excited.

Warner, who is an NFL MVP and Super Bowl Champion, has got quite the underdog story himself. The segment they filmed will be for a new series on the NFL Network called, “Back 2 Campus.” The show will feature former NFL players who are catching up with the NFL hopefuls on their campus.

After graduating from UNI as one of the best quarterbacks in school history, Warner signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent. After being cut from the Packers in 1994, he returned to Cedar Falls.

He was hired as an assistant football coach at UNI as well as working part time at the local Hy-Vee. After getting tired of holding out for an NFL tryout, Warner decided to sign with the Iowa Barnstormers.

In 1996 and 1997, Warner led the team to two straight Arena Bowl appearances and is considered to be one of the 20 best Arena Bowl players of all time. Warner was later inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.

Here’s a fun fact: in 2000, the Arena Football League named their first popular video game after him: “Kurt Warner’s Arena Football Unleashed.” That’s wild.

Warner signed with the St. Louis Rams in 1998 but had to wait a year to finally get his chance.

After starting quarterback Trent Green went down with a torn ACL, Rams coach Dick Vermeil had this to say: “We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we’ll play good football.”

That year, along side Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, the Rams offense was dubbed “The Greatest Show on Turf.” They went on to win the Super Bowl and Warner was named NFL MVP, which he won again the following year.

After struggling for a few more years, he signed with the Arizona Cardinals in 2005. After a few years of splitting starts with Matt Leinart, Warner came back in 2008 and led the Cardinals to a Super Bowl appearance against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Warner eventually retired in 2010, excited to be around his seven kids on a more consistent basis. Warner then became a broadcaster for the Barnstormers in 2011 and is now an NFL analyst for the NFL Network.

For a guy like Kurt Warner to come back on campus with a film crew, you know it is going to be a big deal.

Katherine Jamtgaard, a graphic design intern for UNI football, got to walk along with the guys as they filmed. Katherine explained where they went, and what they did for the show.

“They basically went all around campus, stopping at Rider Hall (which was where Warner stayed when he was a student at UNI) as well as through campus to the Campanile and to the Dome…he also went to the Hill as well as the Cedar Falls Hy-Vee,” said Jamtgaard. “They mostly talked about Warner’s journey to the NFL from UNI and how Hall was going into the trials to get to the NFL now.”

Jamtgaard cherishes one thing in particular about the unique experience.

“Warner had some downtime [and] the UNI Fight Song came up in conversation and we interns, who were kind of just hanging out, taught him how we do the U-N-I Fight cheer in the middle of the song,” Jamtgaard said. “As a Panther Pep Crew member, that was really cool.”