Pitt's Tre Tipton granted 6th year of eligibility

When Tre Tipton came to Pat Narduzzi to talk about playing a sixth season at wide receiver, Pitt’s coach was honest about the future.

“We had long talks,” Narduzzi said. “I just told him when you become 40 years old, and you can’t kneel down to play with the kids, get them off the swing, it’s different.

“I just made him think long and hard: What if you got hurt again? How are you going to feel?”

Tipton was steadfast in his commitment to Pitt and its football team.

First, Pitt officials needed to petition the NCAA.

That never was a problem because he had played only one full season (2018). He suffered three knee injuries — every other year from 2015-2019 — and a collapsed lung in 2016. Tipton, a three-sport athlete at Apollo-Ridge, missed the 2017 season after a bicycle accident in New Kensington.

When official word from the NCAA reached Tipton on Tuesday, he said, “I’m not going to lie. I can’t stop smiling about it.”

“It’s a great opportunity. I’ve been very blessed. I’ve been praying about it.”

Tipton, 23, said the sixth season feels almost like a seventh because he is the last player on the current roster recruited by former coach Paul Chryst in 2014.

“I love Pitt. Pitt is everything to me,” he said. “It’s put me into the man that I’ve become, for the good and for the bad. Pitt has literally built me into the person I want to be and I’m going to be.”

Tipton said he contemplated giving up football.

“Of course, that crossed my mind,” he said. “I had to really sit down with myself and think about everything. My body has been through a lot of building and a lot of breaking.”

He saw football as an avenue to help others.

“In reality, all I ever wanted to be was a superhero,” he said. “Football allows me to be that person for people right now until I find some other way to do so.”

He said Narduzzi was helpful throughout the decision-making process.

“When it really got down to it, he said we need you to make a decision, but we need you to make the best decision for yourself.

“You can never go back and pick up a football and play football. It’s not like basketball. It’s not like you can play baseball and go to the batting cages.

“It’s one of those things when you’re done, you’re done.”

On the field, he played immediately as a freshman in 2015, but he injured a knee in practice after the fourth game. He played nine games in 2016 before suffering a season-ending collapsed lung at Miami.

In his only full season, he caught five passes for 42 yards in 2018. His career totals are 24 catches for 265 yards with two touchdowns.

Through each of his setbacks, Tipton remained a leader on and off the field. Three years ago, he started an on-campus mental wellness group called LOVE — Living Out Victoriously Everyday — that helps students deal with the stress of college life. He said LOVE has spread its reach to include talks to area high school and middle school students.

“Our goal is to spread our message as far as we can possibly spread it,” he said, noting the group has had personal contact with about 150 people on campus.

“We feel like we’ve helped a lot people, but the goal is to never stop.

“I have a goal in mind and my goal is to save the world in some type of way. I’m not going to stop until I get there.”

Tipton’s football activity will be limited through spring drills, but he’ll continue to test the knee he injured last season after catching seven passes for 81 yards and a touchdown in the first three games.

“I’ll try to maintain my health and create even a healthier body than I was before,” he said.

Tipton said he has been motivated by his father and mother, Charles Tipton Sr. and Kim Tipton.

“They give me a lot of freedom, freedom of thought, freedom to think, freedom to be who I really want to be. They just tell me, ‘Anything you want to do you can do it, but it’s going to take your work ethic.’

“And I always thought my work ethic has been unmatched when it comes to wanting to help people and be around people.”

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