Wayne's Greg Olsen Ready To Enjoy The Super Bowl Experience

WAYNE, NJ - It’s taken nine years for Pro-Bowl tight end Greg Olsen to make to a NFL championship game and he’s enjoying every minute of the experience.

Olsen talked about his team making it to Super Bowl 50 and who he grew up watching as a tight end at Wayne Hills High School in the early 2000s on ”Mike and Mike in the Morning” on ESPN Radio Tuesday.

“My wife and I were driving and taking the kids for pizza. We looked at each other and said, ‘Can you believe it? We’re going to the Super Bowl?’” Olsen said. “We’re making hotel reservations, flight reservations. We’re bringing the family out to enjoy the Super Bowl that I’m going to play in.”

Related: Wayne’s Greg Olsen Headed To Super Bowl 50

Olsen, now in his ninth-year in the league, attended Wayne Hills High School and a was a finalist for the national Gatorade Player of the Year Award. He attended the University of Miami and was selected by the Chicago Bears in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft, only a few months after that team went the championship game.

Olsen played for Chicago until 2010 when he was traded to the Carolina Panthers. He has been a favorite target of quarterback Cam Newton and has been named to the Pro Bowl this year and last year.

“These last five years we’ve built something pretty special here. We’ve done it the right way,” Olsen said.

It’s been a balancing act for the players and Carolina head coach Ron Rivera.

“It’s been the difficult task of enjoying coming to work but also understanding that this is something we want to take very seriously. That this isn’t something we want to do part time,” Olsen said. “We take our jobs very seriously and not just on game day. There’s a line of discipline, but there’s a line that we’re going to treat you like adults.”

Olsen could be just the fourth tight end to lead his team in receptions and receiving yards and win a championship in the same season. Co-host Mike Greenberg asked Olsen if he could name the other three players who have.

“Man, that’s a good question,” said Olsen, who incorrectly guessed the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski.

Greenberg said one of them was Mark O’Mara with the Raiders, another North Jersey football alumnus.

“He was a big deal growing up in North Jersey,” Olsen said. “I probably should’ve known that.”

Olsen said he grew up idolizing NFL tight ends Tony Gonzalez and Jason Whitten. Olsen played the position in high school just as it was becoming more of a focal point for NFL offenses.

“Whitten, I love everything about his, how he prepared,” Olsen said. “It’s been kinda cool to spend time with him at the Pro Bowl.”

“And now,” Greenberg said, ”you have a chance to do something he never did.”