Running late on this, I know.
On Monday Aaron Donald picked up the first of what has an excellent chance at being several more awards for everything he did this past season.
The Pittsburgh senior defensive tackle won the Bronko Nagurski award given to the nation’s top college defensive player.
The 6-foot, 285-pound Donald was presented the award at a ceremony Monday night in Charlotte.
The ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Donald averaged 2.2 tackles for loss per game while ranking 10th in forced fumbles and 13th in sacks per game.
He had 28½ sacks for his career with one game left to play.
“I’m just so excited,” Donald said. “I think it is a great way for my father to celebrate his birthday. And I think it’s huge for the University of Pittsburgh. There were so many people wishing me well.”
Tonight is the presentation for the Lombardi Award — best lineman or linebacker. On Thursday night, it’s the ESPN-centric extravaganza of college sports awards where Donald is up for the Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year) and the Outland Trophy (best offensive or defensive interior lineman).
Pitt hasn’t had a defensive player win national awards since Hugh Green in 1980 swept the Lombardi, Walter Camp and Maxwell awards.
Donald was happy to get the award on his dad’s birthday since he was the one that played such a huge role in instilling his work ethic. And his mom was just as proud.
As Donald walked up to collect the award, his mother stood, cheered and shouted, “Hail to Pitt!”
When his parents joined him on stage, before he was mobbed by TV cameras and photographers, Donald and his father shared a long embrace.
“I got my dad a nice birthday present today,” Donald said. “I’m truly humbled and truly blessed.”
Despite the chances at winning up to 4 national college awards, Donald was not even among the top-six vote recipients for the Heisman Trophy. So there is still room for outrage and claims of disrespect.
H2P Bowl over the Greens
Off topic, but I just saw that Mack Brown is supposedly going to retire. Hmm, the AD that hired Fraud Graham at ASU recently took over as AD at Texas, and now they need a coach. I’m thinking there’s a good chance that the ASU fans are going to be crying in their beers in couple of weeks when Toddy Boy vanishes in the middle of the night and appears in Austin ready to accept his “dream job” back in Texas. Who will give odds?
Not sure if Donald wins the Outland. He should clean up on the defensive awards however.
Please don’t try to bring up Hugh Green to argue the point in Aaron’s defense, Aaron Donald is GREAT, Green was THE GREATEST! Still remember him as a true Freshman on a play where he literally launched himself over the defensive linemen attempting to block him to sack the QB without ever touching the ground in the backfield, simply a Superman move!
What makes Aaron’s accomplishments so impressive however is that he put up those stats while taking on double teams all season. If we had just one other guy in our front seven that had half the motor that Donald has, our defense would have been much much better overall this season.
In any case, Mylie Cyrus could have just as easily done her most recent video riding on Aaron’s shoulders in the buff because he was definitely a one man “wrecking ball” for Pitt during his entire career. Sweep the table, including the Outland Trophy Aaron, cause you da man!
BTW, note the difference in the number of responses to a negative occurrence (Henry) as opposed to this postive post. The same phenomenon happened on Panther Prey. I guess we Pitt Fans are among the most cynical (and with reason.)
I would hope that we are just sumply frustrated and not truly cynical. While I hated some of our losses, I believe that a solid program is being built by Paul Chryst. I am optimistic that better times are coming.
Btw, I watched the Alabama/Auburn game and kept thinking how Pitt fans would be reacting if we had done the job Alabama did that day to give away the game. “We don’t pay the assistants enough and get bad play as a result.” “We need a special teams coach.” “It is the AD’s fault that we lost.”
H2P Bowl over the Greens
It has been an honor and a privilege to watch him develop as a player; to be able to bask in some reflected glory. Most importantly, it is truly inspiring to see someone so genuine, so humble and yet so accomplished and know that in some way Pitt contributed to his development as a man.
Congratulations to you Mr. Donald. Congratulations to your parents and your family.
All good things to you and them now and in the future.
H2P!!!
Aaron Donald – Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All ACC defense
Tyler Boyd – Second Team All ACC offense
On another note, I’ve seen various mentions that the new AD at Texas (Patterson) hired Graham at ASU. That is not correct. Graham was hired by Lisa Love, who was fired a few months later.
When I watched the Nagurski Awards on Monday night, I also saw somebody, who looked a lot like Coach Chryst, with his stuck out the top of a smart looking tux as well, singing the praises of Aaron Donald, but it couldn’t have been Chryst since we know that he is only allowed to wear sweatshirts. LOL!
Yeah, it couldn’t be Coach Chryst. Or, if it was, certainly someone would have pointed out that maybe his cumberbund was on upside down. I always have problems remembering if the folds are supposed to on the upside or the downside.
H2P Bowl over the Greens
Former Pitt Assistant Coach and good guy (despite being a PSU Alum) Greg Gattuso is now Head Coach at Albany.
He was an assistant past 3 years at Maryland
OK, I know we have strayed here. But, I have heard the opposite. That the pleats were placed there way back when with the idea of providing a small pocket for your tickets to the opera—or to the Outland Award ceremony to bring it a little closer to topic.
H2Pleats
not becuse of what they would pay him but becuse they would not come up with enough money for his ASST coachs so pitt is not the only school that is cheap with a buck.
Very concerned. Following Pitt sports is an addiction. Maybe he went to a Pittaholics anonomous meeting to break the spell.
TG from az state or maybe chryst what a joke.
… oh, and was one of the critical 4 star recruits we absolutely have to get to survive???
He is a good example of picking wisely… we will see soon if this group does the same no matter the stars…
Not a bad haul at all for a kid whose three collegiate offers were Pitt, Rutgers and Toledo.
I absolutley love his Mom shouting “Hail to Pitt!” that’s a clip that needs to be played for every recruit and during every home game next game.
Thank you for being a Panther, Aaron Donald.
Aaron Donald committed to Pitt in April of 2009. Perhaps fittingly, he was the first WPIAL kid to commit to the 2010 class. I remember watching him on a Fox Sports Pittsburgh broadcast during his senior year. I think it was against Fox Chapel. He spent the entire night absolutely decimating their offensive line. He was unblockable. Comparisons to names like Sean Gilbert were tossed around, at least in terms of sheer dominance.
For whatever reason – I guess mostly because of his size – he had only three offers. Pitt. Rutgers. Toledo. Maybe it was because he committed relatively early to Pitt and he told other schools he wasn’t changing his mind. Maybe he just didn’t generate the interest.
Whatever it was didn’t matter.
Donald got to Pitt and immediately went to work. On a 2010 team with significant veteran defensive line depth, he worked his way into the two-deep. Forget the redshirt. He saw action in his very first collegiate game at Utah and never looked back.
Donald’s career at Pitt represented a lot of what is right about college football and frankly, what I wish we’d see more of among some players these days. As the last few years of his career played out and he emerged as a national talent, stories of his work ethic on and off the field emerged. And in the end, his career proved to be very simple – he was certainly a talented player to begin with, but his natural talents were exceeded by his work ethic.
We’ve been lucky because we’ve seen variations of this a few times the last decade or so – guys who came in however ballyhooed they may have been, played at high levels and in most cases, became great ambassadors for the program. Larry Fitzgerald. Lesean McCoy. Dion Lewis and Ray Graham. Now Aaron Donald.
My hope for the future of this program is that current and future players learn from his example. He didn’t necessarily have the ideal “measurables”, but he knew his strengths, he knew how to develop them, he let himself be coached and he prepared.
His career parallels an incredibly tumultuous time in Pitt football history – a period that wasn’t easy to watch at times as a fan of the program. But Donald’s play over the last three years has helped make it worth it. I can’t wait for the bowl game just because it’ll be one final chance to see him in a Pitt uniform.
It would be nice to see him rewarded with going in the first round but he’s probably a solid second round pick and worst case slips to the third round. Unless his trials or pro day is spectacular, his size will go against him. Great motor, heart and head.
So proud of him in high school….@ Pitt. ….and we’ll be proud of him in the NFL, too. 🙂
If Baker Mayfield, who is a walk on with no scholarship, leaves Texas Tech and comes to Pitt, can he play right away or does he have to sit out a year?
H2P and H2AD
He stikes me as the kind of individual that simply out works everybody else and has overcome his lack of God given natural ability or physical gifts with unlimited training and dedication to a regimented work ethic. Now, how does that translate to providing inspiration and leadership to the rest of the team is my question? A fine example to be followed for sure, but it is wasted on those type individuals that fail to pay attention to the process involved in what it takes in the making of a champion like Donald has become.
For example, I doubt that Rushel Shell ever considered Aaron’s work ethic as a quality to be emulated and adapted into his own character, if you know what I mean?
Hopefully Chryst is filling the Panther ranks with the kind of kids that WILL appreciate the opportunity that they’ve had to share the weight room, practice field and locker room with such a rare individual as Aaron Donald though, because guys like him only come along rarely, even in the elite programs like the Ohio States and Alabamas.
Hard to beat a team that has a dedicated work ethic and perserverence, even when their overall talent level is less than ideal. I hope that the “Donald Factor” hangs around in the heads of the upcoming young bloods who were fortunate enough to personally know and play with the guy, if so, that can’t do anything but help the mindset of this team going forward.
Hail to AD, Hail to Pitt!