CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard football leads the Ivy League with four former standouts on NFL rosters as the league heads into the first Sunday of the season. The Crimson's four representatives are tied with James Madison for the fourth most among FCS institutions (North Dakota State – 9, Delaware – 5, South Carolina State – 5), according to NCAA.com.
 
Heading into opening week, Cameron Brate '14 (Tampa Bay), Kyle Juszczyk '13 (San Francisco), Tyler Ott '14 (Seattle) and Anthony Firkser '17 (Atlanta) headline a Crimson group that sits atop the Ivy, ahead of Yale (3), Penn (1) and Princeton (1).
 
Juszczyk, a six-time Pro Bowl fullback, is entering his 10^th season overall and his sixth with the San Francisco 49ers. Classmates Brate and Ott, meanwhile, are gearing up for Year 9 and 8, respectively. Brate, a Super Bowl LV champion, is a tight end for Tampa Bay, while Ott, a 2020 Pro Bowler, serves as Seattle's long snapper. Firkser, meanwhile, is on the Falcons' practice squad and is beginning his fifth year as a tight end in the league.
 
The 2022 Crimson, meanwhile, opens its season on Friday, Sept. 16, when it plays host to Merrimack College. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET, with the game airing on ESPN+, and tickets are available at tickets.gocrimson.com.