Listed among 19 members of Pitt’s 2019 recruiting class — and rated below quarterback Davis Beville, who never rose above third string before transferring — Calijah Kancey found himself Wednesday on another list.
This one was different.
When Kancey was named a first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association, it was his fifth such designation since the end of the regular season. That made Kancey, a 6-foot, 280-pound defensive tackle, Pitt’s 13th unanimous All-American.
The NCAA uses five selectors to bestow consensus and unanimous All-America status: AFCA, Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, Sporting News and Walter Camp Football Foundation. Kancey is first team on all five.
He is Pitt’s first unanimous selection since Aaron Donald, a similarly built defensive tackle who was drafted in the first round after the 2013 season and has won NFL Defensive Player of the Year three times.
Kancey joined Donald and 11 other Pitt unanimous All-Americans, at least one in nine of the past 11 decades. The list includes Gilbert Welch (1927), Joe Donchess (1929), Warren Heller (1932), Marshall Goldberg (1938), Joe Walton (1956), Mike Ditka (1960), Tony Dorsett (1976), Hugh Green (1979-80), Mark May (1980), Bill Fralic (1983-84) and Larry Fitzgerald (2003).
“This is just an incredible honor,” Kancey said in a statement. “I want to thank all of the All-America voters who considered me worthy of this recognition. I am so grateful for my Pitt coaches and teammates as well as our support staff. They help make me better every single day, on and off the field. This is just as much their honor as it is mine. I’m so blessed to be able to call myself a Pitt Panther.”
Added coach Pat Narduzzi: “I’ve run out of superlatives to describe how I feel about Calijah. He is the best defensive tackle I’ve ever coached, period. He’s a first-team All-American as a player and, more importantly, as a person. These national honors didn’t happen by accident. He absolutely earned them all, and we are so proud of him.”
Kancey, who recorded 14 1/2 tackles for a loss in 11 games, also was named named ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a finalist for the Outland Trophy (nation’s top interior lineman) and Bronko Nagurski Trophy (national defensive player of the year).
A shoulder injury will prevent Kancey from playing in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl on Dec. 30.
“I am going to do everything I can to help my teammates prepare and get that ninth win,” he said.
