From WPIAL to Pitt to Super Bowl, Tyler Boyd, Aaron Donald chasing dream to win a ring
Tyler Boyd was one of a handful of Cincinnati Bengals players standing on the stage at Arrowhead Stadium as they celebrated their first AFC championship in three decades after an epic comeback against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Then the audio went out on the loudspeakers, and Boyd couldn’t hear a word of the interviews CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz was conducting with Bengals owner Mike Brown, coach Zac Taylor or quarterback Joe Burrow.
So, to some extent, it still hasn’t hit Boyd that he has realized his childhood dream of reaching the NFL’s grandest stage. The Clairton High School legend and former Pitt star wide receiver is still pinching himself that his Bengals will play the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI next Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
“I just wanted to be able to be a part of that stage, just making it to the Super Bowl,” Boyd told the Tribune-Review. “As I grew and started to develop into my potential, I started to feel like, ‘Maybe I can play in that game. Maybe I can start. Maybe I can catch a touchdown pass. Maybe I can be the MVP.’ Every year, I got better and better and worked on what I needed to work on, and the expectations for myself just grew. They rose, and now I expect nothing less than a touchdown and a win. I want a Super Bowl ring.”
Standing in his way is another WPIAL legend. Former Penn Hills great and Pitt All-American Aaron Donald, a seven-time All-Pro and three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, will be doing everything in his power to prevent Boyd and the Bengals from winning the Super Bowl.
The two were teammates with the Panthers in 2013. Donald was a senior All-American defensive tackle who swept every major defensive award, Boyd a first-year player who broke Larry Fitzgerald’s freshman receiving records.
Boyd likens the 6-foot-1, 280-pound Donald to the Apex predator, residing at the top of the food chain where only the strongest survive — even in practice.
“He’s just a freak of nature,” Boyd said. “He’s a bully. He’s a guy you don’t want to have to get into an altercation with or battle with. I’ve seen it because I played with him. I’ve seen how hard he works. He’ll get mad at any guy who isn’t giving him a good enough look to better himself. I know what he’s bringing to the table and what type of caliber of player he is.”
Boyd can relate, as he is wired the same way. Like Donald, he has been a leader and team captain who commanded respect at every stage of his career.
“I’ve wanted to achieve things my whole life because my goal was to make it to the NFL,” Boyd said. “To do that, we had to be good at every level of trying to get there. Even back then, I held guys to a certain standard. I pride myself on that. I love to manifest things. I like to speak things into existence.”
Boyd and Donald followed similar paths to chase their childhood dreams, with storied careers at WPIAL programs and Pitt before establishing themselves in the NFL. They have spoken of their desire to win a Super Bowl. Now, one of them will win a ring at the expense of the other.
‘He became the prototype’
Ron Graham was coaching Penn Hills when word spread that linebacker Archie Donald’s little brother was going to be a good one. Problem was, Aaron Donald was still playing youth football as a freshman and wouldn’t join the varsity until his sophomore year.
By then, Graham knew that the round-faced kid was built different. Early-morning weightlifting sessions in the basement with his father had transformed Donald into a strong, compact player who became disruptive.
What stood out was Donald’s work ethic.
He was a student of the game at a young age, studying film and absorbing lessons from Penn Hills defensive line coach Demond Gibson, who starred on their 1995 PIAA championship team, was a four-year letterman at Pitt and had stints in the NFL, CFL and AFL. Gibson realized Donald was special but advised him to become a master technician so he could complement his explosive first step with fast hands.
“When we started working together in high school, he had the most unbelievable two, three steps than anyone I’d seen, even in my playing days,” Gibson said, comparing it to six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle La’Roi Glover of the New Orleans Saints. “Most high school players can do one or two things really well, so you focus on those things. With Aaron, as I was teaching him more, he was sucking it up and perfecting it that he had his own arsenal.”
Donald had 15 tackles for loss and 11 sacks as a senior, despite drawing constant double teams. Art Walker was early in his tenure as North Allegheny football coach when the Tigers had to play Penn Hills and account for Donald.
“We had so much respect for him,” Walker said, “that we changed our blocking schemes to do whatever you had to do to keep him out of the backfield.”
Despite drawing double teams on every play, Donald was still unblockable.
“He was so quick and strong, teams were doubling him and chip-blocking him,” Graham said. “That just didn’t work. Then they would try to run away from him, but the nice thing is Aaron is quick and has speed. He was in the backfield and making plays sideline to sideline. Every game was a highlight reel with him. He was wrecking offenses, just destroying people.”
Yet, at 6-foot, 240 pounds, Donald was deemed small for the position. He chose Pitt over offers from Akron, Rutgers and Toledo, where his brother Archie played. Donald developed into an unanimous All-American and ACC Defensive Player of the Year who won the Chuck Bednarik and Lombardi awards and Bronko Nagurski and Outland trophies.
“He was undersized in that era for big-time defensive tackles,” Graham said. “What they missed is that his heart was huge and his determination. That’s something that people weren’t measuring. He became the prototype.”
‘He was the MVP by halftime’
Tom Nola saw one play from the reserve freshman running back to know that he had something special.
The Clairton coach called an off-tackle run to the right, a play where most backs would bounce outside. When Tyler Boyd cut back inside and broke free for a big run, Nola thought to himself, Boyd is going to a big school and probably to the NFL.
Whether it was at running back or wide receiver, Boyd served as the catalyst for Clairton’s dynasty. The Bears set a state record with a 63-game winning streak and won four consecutive WPIAL and PIAA Class A championships. Boyd rushed for 2,584 yards and 43 touchdowns as a senior and finished his career with 5,575 yards — the fifth-most in WPIAL history at the time.
There was such a mystique around Boyd’s improvisational skills that Nola told a tall tale at a coaching clinic about how he designed the 78-yard touchdown run Boyd scored on a toss sweep that saw him reverse field twice against Southern Columbia in the 2012 PIAA championship game.
“I said, ‘This is how we coach all those good players that I had: We flipped the ball to Tyler, tell him run to the hash mark so you get everybody chasing you. As soon as you get to the hash mark, we told the linemen to miss your blocks on purpose, then get up and form a wall like a punt return. That’s how we teach our linemen to block on this play,’” Nola said, with a laugh. “Tyler reversed field, then reversed field again and ended up where you’re supposed to end up on a sweep left.”
When Boyd joined the Pennsylvania team for the Big 33 Football Classic, North Allegheny’s Walker needed only one practice to see that Boyd was playing at a different level, in terms of skill and speed.
“We walked off the field, and I remember saying, ‘I’m going to make a couple play changes,’ ” Walker said. “There was a reverse put in for him and a pass off it.”
Boyd returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, caught a 16-yard scoring pass 20 seconds later and ran the reverse for a 4-yard touchdown. Boyd also threw a 68-yard scoring pass off a reverse and added a 5-yard touchdown catch to finish with 244 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns to lead Pennsylvania to a 58-27 win over Maryland at Hersheypark Stadium.
“He had three scores instantly, and it just proved everything we were thinking,” Walker said. “He was the MVP by halftime. Now we knew he was the best player on the field, including the Maryland kids.”
‘He goes harder’
For DeWayne Brown, Aaron Donald is his business card.
Through his 2/10ths agility and speed program, Brown had worked with Donald off and on throughout his career at Penn Hills and Pitt but saw a different side after the defensive tackle received a fifth-round grade after his junior season with the Panthers.
Donald pushed himself to become even better, improving his footwork by doing drills designed for offensive skill players. Brown, who trains high school, college and NFL players at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side, said Donald separates himself with preparation and performance.
“He goes harder,” Brown said. “Aaron is at 150-200% going into the workout. When Aaron ends, he’s at 100%. For him to be a lineman, he poses an intimidation factor for a lot of guys that come in. He sets a presence.”
After running the 40-yard dash in 4.68 seconds, bench-pressing 235 pounds for 32 reps and recording a 32-inch vertical leap at the NFL Combine, the Rams drafted Donald No. 13 overall in 2014. Playing at 285 pounds, Donald had 39 sacks, 72 tackles for loss and 108 quarterback hits in his first four NFL seasons. During his holdout in August 2018, Donald dropped weight without losing strength.
“He was so focused on staying in shape he was down to 265. I said, ‘You’re going to be over-running the play,’ ” Brown said. “The crazy thing is, if he was 4.6 at 285, just imagine what he’s running at 265.”
When the Rams signed Donald to a six-year, $135 million extension with $87 million guaranteed, he responded with 20.5 sacks, 25 TFLs and 41 QB hits to earn his second straight NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2018. The Rams reached the Super Bowl but lost to the New England Patriots, 13-3.
“He had that taste before and that feeling of not winning,” Brown said. “Now he’s just going all out. This is his second chance. This is it. They put a team together so they can get a ring. You only get this shot maybe once. He’s got one more game to go. This is the last thing on his list of things to accomplish as an NFL player. He wants to win a Super Bowl. If he wants to ride off into the sunset, he can.”
‘Something to celebrate’
Tonya Payne Scott started sending her son the text messages in his sophomore season at Clairton, long before Boyd would become a prep legend, break Larry Fitzgerald’s receiving records at Pitt, get drafted in the second round by the Bengals and earn a four-year, $43 million contract extension after back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons in 2018-19.
“Praise and thanks first, then it’s time to go to work!”
It’s a reminder for Boyd to count his blessings, for both his ability and the adversity he has overcome. Raised in a small town by a single mother, Boyd knows that playing in the NFL is a life-changing opportunity.
Boyd believes he was built by adversity.
At Clairton, he was pulled from a basketball game because his home was destroyed by an electrical fire. In his second NFL season in 2017, he injured his MCL and was buried on the bench. Boyd battled back to regain his starting job, and in the season finale, he caught a fourth-and-12 pass for a 49-yard touchdown to beat the Baltimore Ravens, which allowed the Buffalo Bills to clinch their first playoff bid since 1999.
Bills fans donated to the charities of then-Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton and Boyd, who directed a portion to the Western Pennsylvania Youth Athletic Association programs that Tonya runs.
“Every time, I found a way to overcome that and prosper. That’s one of my greatest achievements, to continue to not give up on myself and to continue to strive and work,” Boyd said. “I don’t ever take that for granted. I remember all the hard times that I had because I never had it easy and make sure I don’t mess that up. It’s the position I always wanted to be in my whole life. Football is what I was determined to do, what I wanted to play at a very young age. To make it to the highest level, it’s pretty much the greatest feeling.”
Those who coached Boyd and Donald credit their humble demeanors, their willingness to give back to their communities — both run summer football camps for kids — and their desire to be great for their success. Walker called their Super Bowl appearance an “unbelievable representation of Western Pennsylvania football, not just the WPIAL but the University of Pittsburgh.”
Payne Scott believes that everything comes full circle, karma for two players from humble beginnings who overcame adversity to become NFL stars who now have a chance to win a Super Bowl ring.
Captain ???? Captain@AaronDonald97 ???? @boutdat_23
One week from Super Bowl LVI ????#H2P » @NFL pic.twitter.com/qkoBNKu8sm
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) February 6, 2022
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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