Rookie cornerback Darrell Luter Jr. stepped into the Super Bowl LVIII spotlight in the wrong way on Sunday.

The former South Alabama standout had gotten most of his work on special teams in nine games as the San Francisco 49ers won the NFC championship. That’s what he was doing against the Kansas City Chiefs when a punt hit him on the foot.

San Francisco punt returner Ray Ray McCloud had to try to pick up the football on the bounce. He couldn’t, and Kansas City cornerback Jaylen Watson recovered the muff at the 49ers 16-yard line.

On the next play, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling as Kansas City took a 13-10 lead with 2:28 left in the third quarter of the 2023 NFL championship game.

The turnover came on a 40-yard punt by Kansas City’s Tommy Townsend, and the falling football grazed Luter while he was blocking.

Luter is the second South Alabama alumnus to play in the Super Bowl. Tight end Gerald Everett played in the Los Angeles Rams’ 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 3, 2019.

After the San Francisco 49ers selected Luter in the fifth round of the NFL Draft on April 29, a knee issue kept the cornerback on the physically-unable-to-perform list until Nov. 18.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.