The Bachelor star Hannah Ann Sluss and NFL player Jake Funk got engaged in January 2023

Bachelor star Hannah Ann Sluss and Miami Dolphins running back Jake Funk are getting ready to walk down the aisle.

Sparks first flew on TikTok when the football player noticed one of Sluss’ videos and sent her a DM. The couple publicly announced their relationship in February 2022 and got engaged in January 2023. These days, Funk is regularly featured in Sluss’ TikToks, participating in daily life vlogs, vacation montages and more.

The reality alum opened up about their romance during an April 2022 E! News interview. “I don’t want to change anything about him,” she said. “I mean, he’s my best friend and we just truly enjoy being around each other.”

Sluss shared in a December 2022 TikTok that Funk told her he loved her just two weeks into dating. About one year later, the couple started wedding planning — after Funk’s extravagant beachside proposal in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

So, who is Hannah Ann Sluss’ NFL player fiancé? Here’s everything to know about Jake Funk and his relationship with the Bachelor alum.

He’s an NFL player

Hannah Ann Sluss and Jake Funk.HANNAH ANN SLUSS INSTAGRAM

Funk is currently a running back for the Miami Dolphins. After playing college football for the University of Maryland, he was drafted in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams. Despite suffering a hamstring injury early on in the season, Funk recovered and joined his team at the 2022 Super Bowl against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Rams later waived him in October 2022 following an ankle injury during the season opener, and Funk signed with the New Orleans Saints practice squad. The next month, the NFL player joined the Colts practice squad before he was promoted to their active roster in January 2023.

In August 2023, he rejoined the Colts practice squad before returning to the active roster two weeks later, just in time for the NFL season. Funk was released by the Colts in October 2023 and was added to the Miami Dolphins’ practice squad.

He’s from Damascus, Maryland

SHELBY DEMPSEY/AMAVI WEDDINGS

Funk grew up in Damascus, Maryland, and enjoyed success while playing for the Damascus High School football team. His record-breaking senior season earned him both Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year and Washington Post All-Metro Offensive Player of the Year in 2015.

During his NFL rookie year with the Rams, the running back opened up about adjusting to life in Los Angeles after leaving his hometown.

“The differences … are through the roof,” he wrote in a February 2022 piece for the University of Maryland Athletics website. “You live in this city of superstars and celebrities, and it’s crazy.”

Funk elaborated: “There are no real country roads, no mom-and-pop shops, and it’s just so much bigger and broader than anything I knew growing up in Damascus.”

He and Sluss first connected on TikTok

Indianapolis Colts running back Jake Funk with his fiancée Hannah Ann Sluss. HANNAH ANN SLUSS INSTAGRAM

Sluss and Funk’s love story began on TikTok when he came across one of her videos.

“I was looking through my DMs, and I get this DM from Jake that says, ‘Shooter’s shoot.’ I ended up saying back ‘Slam dunk,’ ” she revealed in a December 2022 video.

Although she responded, the reality star admitted that she wasn’t interested at first. Still, she gave him a chance by going on a date with him three days later at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.

“My friends had to beg me to go because I was nervous going on a date with a stranger, someone I didn’t know,” Sluss said. “Someone that would maybe ask me about the show or just … seeing me on TV but not really trying to get to know me for me.”

She continued: “What really stood out to me about him was he was the only guy that I have ever gone on a date with that didn’t ask me about the show. We were able to keep things private and really get to know each other.”

The pair debuted their relationship ahead of the 2022 Super Bowl, when Sluss posted a TikTok in honor of Funk’s big game. Right before the major event, she also shared a PDA-filled mirror selfie of them, captioned, “Good luck kiss.”

He and Sluss got engaged in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

NFL player Jake Funk and reality TV star Hannah Ann Sluss celebrating their engagement. HANNAH ANN SLUSS INSTAGRAM

Sluss and Funk announced their engagement on Jan. 25, 2023, in a TikTok. The video showcased the couple having dinner on the beach surrounded by romantic lighting. In the last seconds of the clip, a giant “She said yes” projection was visible on a rock by the water when the sun went down.

“The surprise at the end he had for me 🥹🤍,” Sluss wrote in her caption.

A few days later, she shared more photos from the special day on Instagram. “Pics from our 💍🌙 (engagement moon).” the 2015 Miss Tennessee Teen USA runner-up wrote alongside snaps of them celebrating.

Sluss revealed that she knew an engagement was in the works after they had spoken about it for a while and Funk had asked her father for his blessing. However, she didn’t know for sure that the proposal would take place during their Mexico trip.

“I rarely ask Jake’s opinion of my outfits, but … he ended up picking out the ivory dress,” she recalled about their engagement evening. “My heart dropped, cause I’m like, ‘Oh shoot, I’m getting engaged.’ “

In October 2023, Suss told PEOPLE that their destination wedding is booked for 2024.

He and Sluss have a Bernedoodle named Dash

Jake Funk and Hannah Ann Sluss with their dog, Dash. HANNAH ANN SLUSS INSTAGRAM

Sluss and Funk adopted their Bernedoodle dog, Dash, in August 2022. “Puppy love is FurReal,” she wrote on Instagram at the time, alongside a photo of her, Funk and Dash together. According to Sluss’ caption, Dash loves “playing ball, snuggling on the couch. and chewing … everything!”

He also got his own slide in Funk’s 2022 Instagram recap photo dump, which featured him next to a Christmas tree.

Apart from Sluss and Funk, the Bernedoodle has a close relationship with the NFL player’s mother, A’Lisa Funk. “Granddog Dash and I had a great time while you were vacationing in Cabo,” she wrote in an Instagram post congratulating the newly engaged couple.

He comes from a family of athletes

Jake Funk with his family. JAKE FUNK INSTAGRAM

Athleticism runs in Funk’s family. He got the football gene from his father, Jim Funk, who played at Penn State. His mother, A’Lisa, had quite a successful swimming career at Clarion University. She is a member of the Clarion Athletics Hall of Fame and was a three-time Division II National Team Title winner, not to mention a five-time individual NCAA Relay National Champion.

Meanwhile, Funk’s grandmother participated on Penn State’s men’s rifle team as one of the school’s first female athletes. The Dolphins player’s grandfather was on Penn State’s basketball team, while his brother also captained Ohio State’s lacrosse team.

He and Sluss’ families are close

Jake Funk and Hannah Ann Sluss attend the 2022 ESPYs in July 2022. LEON BENNETT/GETTY

Sluss and Funk’s parents are “best friends” according to the Bachelor star, and they couldn’t be more excited about the engagement. After the couple’s announcement, Funk’s mother wrote on Instagram, “Jake & Hannah Engaged! Dad & I are so excited for you both. Hannah you are such a beautiful person inside and out. We are so happy to have you in our fun and crazy Funk family.”

During an April 2022 interview with E! News, Sluss recalled, “I met his parents. Then that next week, had my parents come out from Tennessee. They made the trip out to California and they met him and then also his parents all within the same day, which was really fun.”

Her own parents “adore him.” She added, “They think he’s such a great fit for me.”

He has overcome several challenges and keeps a positive attitude

Jake Funk and Hannah Ann Sluss pose together. HANNAH ANN SLUSS INSTAGRAM

Throughout ACL surgeries during college, a shortened 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a hamstring injury during his time with the Rams, Funk remained positive. Others didn’t always believe in his athletic abilities either — he didn’t have much interest from Division I schools and was a 233rd overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Despite obstacles and doubters, Funk always believed in himself.

“For me, it’s just humbling me ’cause at the end of the day I just proved myself that I was right,” he explained during a September 2021 interview with WUSA9. “Not to prove that everybody else was wrong, but to prove that I was the football player all along that I knew I could be.”

In a February 2022 interview with CBS Baltimore, Funk recalled his college injuries and optimistic mindset at the time. “It’s incredible when you … finally control the thoughts in your brain and focus on what you want to do in life,” he said. “When you have that power in your mind and the relentless attitude, good things fall into place.”