Super Bowl LIV: Kyle Juszczyk has a tough name but tougher game as he shows with TD catch for 49ers

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – They call him “Juice” because his real name is as hard to pronounce as an eye chart. But they also call Kyle Juszczyk a fullback, and that may because his actual role in the 49ers’ offense is so hard to define. The seventh-year pro is a do-everything type of player, whether it be blocking, running or receiving.

On Sunday night, he was a Super Bowl touchdown scorer.

The Harvard graduate was the first Niners player to find the end zone, hauling in a short pass from Jimmy Garoppolo, eluding a tackle attempt from Daniel Sorensen and sumersalting across the goal line for a 15-yard score that tied it at 10 with 5:05 left in the second quarter.

It was the kind of play that illustrated why the Niners signed him as a priority free agent from the Ravens two years ago — “He does things most fullbacks can’t do,” Garoppolo said this week — and the kind of play that showed why Juszczyk has stuck around the league for so long at a position that is fading from the game.

“I figured out early on when I got into the NFL that I wasn’t going to be around very long if I only was a walking short-yard sledgehammer,” Juszczyk said. “I knew that fullbacks needed to bring more to the table, just for GMs and coaches to keep them on their roster. So I felt like I had a special ability to block in space and run routes. And if I could do that, I could get a chance to show what could be.”

In college, he was a tight end. That’s where he developed his ability to catch passes. The Ravens took him with a fourth-round pick.

"He's kind of a Swiss Army knife out there, we use him in so many different ways – different motions, different blocking schemes, catching the ball out of the backfield or evening lining up split wide," said 49ers offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey. "Juice is so good. He's just a football player. There's no real label to put on him. I know he's listed as a fullback but he's capable of so many different things, and he's such an asset to our offense and such a weapon for us, he and [tight end George] Kittle being interchangeable parts.

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"He gets the job done every time."

On Sunday night he did once again. Juszczyk also had a 10-yard catch to give the 49ers a first-and-goal at the 1, setting up Raheem Mostert's TD run for a 20-10 lead in the third quarter. 

It’s probably not enough to make him a household name ... even if folks could pronounce it. That’s the burden of anonymity carried by fullbacks.

But the Niners love their Juice. Espceially when he puts the squeeze on opponents.

“We were pumped to get Juice when we got him,” Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Personally, I like having a fullback because I feel like that’s the only way you can dictate your terms. When you have a fullback in the game, if you really want to run the ball, you can run the ball regardless of what the defense is doing.”

And then there are the kinds of plays like he made on the touchdown catch and run.

This season he caught just 20 passes, the first time he’s had fewer than 30 since 2014. He said he was fine with that.

“I'd rather catch the first down,” he said. “I grew up as a receiver first. But I've adapted the mentality of really embracing blocking and being happy for the guys whom I open things for … What I've always told myself is that the better I can block, the more opportunities I'm going to get to be on the field. The more opportunities I have on the field, the more opportunities I get to catch the ball.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.