The NCAA recognizes five All-American teams to determine consensus and unanimous All-Americans. Pitt junior defensive tackle Calijah Kancey has now been named a first-team All-American by all five of those selectors, making him the 15th unanimous All-American in Pitt football history.
On Wednesday, the AFCA tabbed Kancey as a first team All-American. He also grabbed those same honors by the Associated Press, FWAA, The Sporting News, and the Walter Camp Football Foundation as well.
Kancey becomes the first Pitt player to achieve unanimous All-American status since Aaron Donald did it in 2013. He joins a distinct list of some all-time Pitt greats to achieve this feat like Tony Dorsett, Larry Fitzgerald, Bill Fralic, Hugh Green, and more.
"This is just an incredible honor," Kancey said in a press release. "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."
The junior defensive tackle has already collected ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors, and was a finalist for prestigious individual honors like the Outland and Bednarik trophies.
“I've run out of superlatives to describe how I feel about Calijah," Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. "He is the best defensive tackle I've ever coached, period. He's a first team All-American as 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 posted 31 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, and 7.5 sacks in 11 games played this season. He missed the team’s regular season finale against Miami, and that same injury will prevent him from suiting up in the Sun Bowl against UCLA on December 30th.
Despite ending the season with an injury, Kancey made his presence felt in three highly productive seasons as a Panther. He gained freshman All-American honors in 2020, and went onto have bigger success as a member of Pitt’s 2021 ACC Championship team a season ago.
Kancey posted 13 tackles for loss and seven sacks in 2021 and earned first team All-ACC and third team All-American honors by the Associated Press. He was on everyone’s radar entering this season, and continued to deliver for Pitt week after week. The Panthers ended the regular season leading the nation in sacks, and Kancey’s presence in the middle was a big reason why.
Kancey saved his best for the 2022 season and walks out of Pitt as one of the more distinguished defensive players in school history. The Miami native has not declared for the NFL as of yet, but the assumption is that he has already played his final game in a Pitt uniform.
Kancey’s presumptive next step will be preparing for the 2023 NFL Draft. Coming out of high school, there were questions about his size as he only received a three-star grade.
He overcome those projections and had a successful college career. The same questions will be asked about Kancey entering the NFL, but given his production at the college level, he should not have to wait long to hear his name called in the upcoming draft.
