Raleigh Marine gets big Super Bowl surprise from NFL player Bijan Robinson

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Marine from Raleigh will be watching the Super Bowl live in Las Vegas this year thanks to a surprise from one NFL player.

Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson presented Mark Cauble with two tickets to the big game taking place February 11.

The surprise was part of a partnership with USAA, the Official NFL Salute to Service Partner, and The American Legion to surprise deserving military veterans from around the country with the experience.

Cauble was involved in the planning for Robinson to visit The American Legion in Chapel Hill, but he believed it was all for a commercial for USAA.

"They called me a couple of days before and said, 'Bijan is not coming. We're going to scrap everything,'" Cauble said. "I thought they're going to come and do a couple of clips, get some people involved. So I'm sitting there thinking, 'OK, this really looks bad.' So I'm talking, and next thing I know, Bijan comes walking up behind me. It just blew me away, but I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know I was getting anything. I thought it was just some feel-good story. I was completely floored."

Cauble served in the Marine Corps from 1990-1999 and achieved the rank of Sergeant.

He was assigned to bases in North Carolina, such as Camp Lejeune and Camp Geiger, and was deployed to six different countries.

Cauble grew up a Falcons and Panthers fan. He will be rooting for the 49ers, since former Panthers player Christian McCaffrey and former interim head coach Steve Wilks are part of that team.

Cauble plans to bring his girlfriend, who is also a veteran, to the game and is looking forward to hearing the National Anthem and seeing his now favorite player of all time, Bijan Robinson again.

"I felt like we made a bond when he showed up here and we walked around post six and Chapel Hill," Cauble said. "I got to show him the museum and I got to actually talk to him a little bit about Be the One campaign -- the initiative that the American Legion has about suicide. He's awesome. He was really awesome."