Jason Kelce met one of the NFL’s best defensive players and defended his brother all during a busy weekend back at his alma mater.
The University of Cincinnati football team’s X account posted a photo Saturday afternoon of Kelce with Jets star cornerback Sauce Gardner, under the caption “Two eras. One program” and a goat emoji.
The Hall of Fame-bound Kelce, who retired from the Eagles earlier this offseason, began playing the position that would define his career (center) at Cincinnati from 2017-10.
Gardner, a two-time All-Pro cornerback in his first two seasons in the NFL, arrived on campus about a decade later and grew into an elite prospect by dominating from 2019-21.
Shortly after his alma mater’s post, Kelce wrote his own to respond to criticism of his brother Travis — the dominant tight end for the Chiefs and the boyfriend of pop star Taylor Swift.
The Kelces co-host one of the most popular podcasts in the country.
They brought “New Heights” back to Cincinnati this week, where Travis, in cap and gown, chugged a beer after receiving his diploma.
It was meant to look like a graduation ceremony, which bothered some viewers.
Not the same as Jason chugging a beer in a luxury suite while Travis’ Chiefs were playing in the playoffs.
“Please question your brother for the graduation antics?” one commenter wrote to Jason. “Doing what you did at a playoff game in buffalo is one thing but doing that at the college where he got kicked off the team for acting like a jack— prob wasn’t best idea.”
It turns out, however, that the university was just playing a joke on the Kelces by setting up a mock graduation.
“I know it looks like a graduation from the video,” Jason wrote, “but this was actually at the end of a ‘New Heights Live’ podcast that we put on to raise money for the University’s NIL. The university did this to poke fun at my brother and I for never really picking up our diplomas.”
In other words, no need to get Saucy with the Kelces about it.