'Burgh’s Best to Wear It, No. 40: Scott McKillop made one of the biggest stops in Pitt history

The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.

No. 40: Scott McKillop

Scott McKillop had 344 career tackles as an inside linebacker at Pitt, none of them more famous — or critical — than the one he made in the 2007 Backyard Brawl.

On a fourth-and-3 in the fourth quarter, West Virginia handed the ball to All-American running back Steve Slaton. McKillop shed a block and chopped Slaton at the knees, inches short of a first down to preserve Pitt’s stunning 13-9 upset victory that denied the No. 2 Mountaineers a shot at playing for the national championship.

The Panthers were 28 1/2-point underdogs, which was symbolic of McKillop’s incredible career arc.

When asked after a lopsided loss to WVU in 2005 about how good Slaton and quarterback Pat White were after the Mountaineers rushed for 451 yards, McKillop responded: “I really can’t say. I didn’t get close enough.”

Never mind that McKillop had 13 tackles as a redshirt freshman in that game.

After spending his first two seasons backing up an All-American linebacker in H.B. Blades, McKillop became one.

At Kiski Area, McKillop starred in football, wrestling and track and field. It would take until his redshirt junior season before he shined at Pitt. As a junior, his average of 12.58 tackles a game led the nation. As a senior, he earned All-American honors from the Football Writers Association of America after recording 126 tackles, including 16 1/2 for losses, and four sacks. His 344 career stops are tied for 10th in school history.

McKillop played with a fearless edge, breaking five facemasks and two helmets his senior season. And he wasn’t shy about his distaste for all things West Virginia, giving the Mountaineers bulletin-board material when he told the Tribune-Review, “I (expletive) hate West Virginia. I can’t stand the state. I just don’t like the university.”

While that might be true on the football field, where McKillop remains a Pitt hero, his post-football life proved otherwise. McKillop married a West Virginia native, Lauren Statler.

McKillop is the best player to wear No. 40 in Pittsburgh sports history, though he has plenty of company:

• Backup goaltender Frank Pietrangelo made “The Save,” snaring an open-net shot by Peter Stastny in Game 6 of the 1991 Patrick Division semifinals in his Stanley Cup playoffs debut to lead the Penguins to a 4-3 victory to even the best-of-seven series. Pietrangelo recorded a Game 7 shutout, and the Penguins went on to win their first Cup championship.

• Kirk Bruce was a key player as a junior guard on Pitt’s 1973-74 Elite Eight team and averaged 17.1 points a game as a senior.

Bruce would later coach Pitt’s women’s basketball from 1985-98, leading the Panthers to their first 20-win season in school history.

• James Conner wore 40 as a freshman at Pitt, when he broke Tony Dorsett’s bowl rushing record with 229 yards in the 2013 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit.

• Preston Carpenter wore the number as a Pro Bowl tight end for the Steelers in 1962, when he had 36 catches for 492 yards and four touchdowns.

Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.