Stephen Sullivan (born November 28, 1996) is an American football tight end for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU and was a part of their national championship win in 2020. In college he played wide receiver. He was drafted by the Seahawks in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Sullivan spent his childhood in Irving, Texas, where he lived in extreme poverty and at times experienced homelessness. His youth football coach offered to let Sullivan live with him. While Sullivan originally planned on attending Nimitz High School, he opted to move to Donaldsonville, Louisiana and stay with family and enroll at Donaldsonville High School.^[1] He eventually moved out of his aunt's house and stayed with the family of a teammate.^[2] Sullivan excelled in football at Donaldsonville and caught 57 passes for 987 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior.^[3] As a senior, he was named first-team All-State after finishing the year with 57 receptions for 1,159 yards.^[4] Sullivan was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play college football at LSU over offers from TCU and Mississippi State.^[5]

Sullivan spent his first two seasons playing special teams and was used on offense primarily as a blocking receiver. As a sophomore, he had 11 receptions for 219 yards and a touchdown while also rushing twice for five yards and a touchdown. LSU's coaching staff worked out Sullivan at tight end going into his junior season before ultimately moving him back to receiver.^[6] As a junior, he finished second on the team with 23 receptions and 363 receiving yards and scored two touchdowns. Sullivan spent most of his senior season as the Tigers' second tight end, catching 12 passes for 130 yards as the Tigers won the 2020 National Championship.^[7]