With the end of the decade at hand, we’re looking back over the last 10 years of Pitt football. Here’s the all-decade team on defense.
DEFENSIVE END - Ejuan Price, Brandon Lindsey
Price is an obvious selection to any all-decade team for Pitt. When he finally got healthy, he was virtually unstoppable off the edge, and in his final two seasons with the Panthers, he recorded 24.5 sacks and 42.5 tackles for loss. His 13 sacks in 2016 were the most by a Pitt player since 1987, and his 29.5 career sacks are tied for No. 4 on the Panthers’ all-time list.
There were a few candidates for the other defensive end spot, including Jabaal Sheard, who had an outstanding season in 2010, and Patrick Jones, who was very good this past season. But Lindsey had one of the great forgotten seasons in 2010 when he stepped into a primary role at defensive end and put up 10 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. 2011 was a strange season for him, as he moved between outside linebacker and defensive end in Todd Graham’s 3-4 system, but he still got 8.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss to create an impressive two-year stat line of 18.5 sacks and 29 tackles for loss.
DEFENISVE TACKLE - Aaron Donald, Jaylen Twyman
Two guys who wear No. 97, fittingly, and the first one is so obvious that it goes without saying. Aaron Donald was one of the greatest players to ever wear a Pitt uniform, a Panther who finished his career with so many major awards that it’s a question of when, not if, the football program will retire his number.
Twyman gets the selection here for the other defensive tackle spot because even though his contributions have been basically in one season, that one season has been better than any other single season by a Pitt defensive tackle since Donald (Shakir Soto’s one year at tackle gets some respect, though). Twyman was one of the most productive tackles in the nation with 10.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss, and he earned All-America and All-ACC honors for it.
LINEBACKER - Matt Galambos, Kylan Johnson, Seun Idowu
Picking linebackers from the 2010’s was not easy, and the fact that a one-year graduate transfer made the cut illustrates that point. Johnson seems like a legitimate choice, though; his seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss were better than just about any other season by a Pitt outside linebacker, and he seemed to be the missing piece in what became an outstanding defense in 2019.
For the other outside spot, Idowu stands out above players like Todd Thomas and Nicholas Grigsby due to producing some pretty good numbers in his final two seasons as a starter: 7.5 sacks, 21 tackles for loss and 176 tackles from a crucial position in Pat Narduzzi’s defensive scheme. There weren’t a lot of good options to select from at outside linebacker, but Idowu was a solid contributor on a defense that had its ups and downs.
As for Galambos, he wasn’t a fan favorite, but he was a three-year starter who had one pretty exceptional season in 2015 when he recorded 88 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, five sacks, two interceptions and two forced fumbles. He wasn’t quite as productive in 2016, but that one season was good enough to elevate him above Max Gruder (lots of tackles but not much else) and Saleem Brightwell.
CORNERBACK - Dane Jackson, K’Waun Williams
If this list considered NFL careers, Avonte Maddox might have made it. But since the focus is on Pitt, he falls short. Instead, Jackson and Williams are the picks. The former grew from an all-around athlete into a refined cornerback whose size, speed and physical skills combined with technique to make him one of the better players in the ACC.
Williams came to Pitt as an undersized cornerback but played all but four games in his four seasons with the Panthers. He had six interceptions in his final two years with the Panthers and even tallied 11.5 tackles for loss in his career as a physical cornerback who wasn’t afraid to make tackles.
SAFETY - Jordan Whitehead, Paris Ford
This was as tough a call as any, because leaving a multi-year starter like Damar Hamlin off the list was not easy. But Whitehead and Ford were two of the best overall athletes to suit up for Pitt in the decade, and they get the edge.
As Pitt’s safety play has solidified in the last two years, Whitehead’s career has been somewhat overlooked, but he was quite good for the Panthers. He came in with a bang, recording 110 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, an interception and a pair of rushing touchdowns. Whitehead’s next two seasons were limited by injury and suspension, but on a per-game basis, he was arguably - or not arguably - the best player on the team.
Ford is, so far, a one-year wonder, but that one year was exceptional enough to put him on the list. The redshirt sophomore from Steel Valley filled the stat sheet this season: 97 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions, 11 pass breakups, three forced fumbles and one defensive touchdown. Ford earned All-ACC first team honors in his first season as a starter, and with the announcement this week that he’ll be returning for another season, the sky is the limit.
