There’s a lot to live up to if you are a football player from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. More specifically, if you are a cornerback from the small Beaver County town. The school has produced numerous Division-1 and NFL players through the years, but NFL Hall of Fame cornerback Ty Law is an alumnus of the prestigious program. Former Pitt great Darrelle Revis is surely on his way to Canton soon, to make that two NFL Hall of Fame cornerbacks from the same small town.

Pitt sophomore cornerback MJ Devonshire says it is not added pressure to follow in those footsteps, but rather a challenge.

“I wouldn’t call it a burden, but I just love to compete,” Devonshire told reporters after practice on Tuesday. “My goal is to get a gold jacket like both of those guys. So I definitely can’t wait to hopefully one day be the next great Aliquippa DB.”

OK, maybe slow down the Canton talk for now. But Devonshire has been receiving strong feedback during Pitt's 2021 fall camp and looks to be pushing for a starting job at cornerback, which is one of the most competitive spots on team with three returning players with starting experience.

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi praised Devonshire’s play during the scrimmage from over the weekend, and Pitt junior cornerback Marquis Williams confirmed it.

“Right now he’s just slowing the game down and starting to make plays,” Williams said of his teammates. “I love it. MJ, he can play corner, safety, special teams. He can play anywhere and he’s definitely a big help and he’s going to have a big season this year.”

When asked about that showing on Saturday, Devonshire downplayed it a little.

“Just a couple of tackles,” he said. “Normally I try my best to try to help the team and make a couple plays. Tackles on third and second down, tackles for loss - simple things. I try to get better everyday.”

Devonshire worked in the spring as a safety and he possesses the versatility to play both and even be a return specialist on special teams. He has since been moved to cornerback for fall camp, his preferred position. The same thing happened in high school and he said cornerback clicked back then just like it is right now.

“One day I just started playing corner and my coach in high school just started letting me follow the number one receiver and I just loved it ever since,” he said as to why he prefers cornerback. "I want to be like Darrelle (Revis) and Ty Law, guys from my city that come in and get a piece of paper with an assignment and it’s just like, ‘that’s your assignment, take him out of the game.”

Devonshire is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Revis one day, though so far he’s taken a different path to get there. Out of high school he chose to leave his hometown school and ended up at Kentucky, but after two years he has found his way back to Pittsburgh and is feeling at home.

“After about the second week of spring, I got more and more comfortable after my first couple of practices of learning the defense,” he explained. “Then to the guys, I can’t thank them enough and hopefully one day I can say it in front of the whole team, but they came to me with open arms so much, that I was just so appreciative of everything. So far I’ve been very comfortable out here and Pitt is definitely home.”

The stop at Kentucky helped shape his second college commitment. The Aliquippa native knew what he wanted this time around, and made the call to join Pitt because of what the coaches were selling him, the same pitch they made to him back in 2019.

“Just being older and more mature and knowing what to look for when you’re talking to coaches,” he said of why he made the move to Pitt. “What you want to hear from them and getting that type of knowledge from them and not to make that second mistake twice. I just felt like the coaches were real genuine and it was proven true because they’ve been the same people that recruited me as when I got here.”

Devonshire is now locked in a battle for a starting job in what is a pretty tight race. Damarri Mathis, a senior, started ten games in 2019 before being injured last season. In his absence, Williams made eight starts last year, and AJ Woods notched three starts as well. All four guys are looking to win jobs.

“My first couple of days I struggled,” Devonshire said of switching to corner early in camp. “It’s honestly not going to be as easy as I thought, we’ve got one of the most talented corner rooms that I’ve been in…We all have the same goal and we all push each other to work hard and try to compete for that DB1 spot.”