Kancey 'checked all the boxes' at Pro Day

Calijah Kancey was the headline attraction at Pitt’s pro day on Wednesday. The Panthers’ highly decorated defensive tackle is one of the more high sought after prospects in the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft. He performed well at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis a few weeks back and followed that up with a strong showing at his pro day on Wednesday.

“I feel great,” Kancey told reporters after finishing his pro day workout. “I feel like I checked all the boxes and I’m ready to go.”

Kancey certainly checks a lot of boxes as an NFL prospect. His junior season was something to remember, as he posted 14.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. He was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and earned Unanimous All-American honors for his efforts in the 2022 season. Kancey’s college football accolades and ability has never been in question, but his size has been a topic of conversation for NFL scouts.

Kancey checked in at the combine at 6’1” and 281-pounds at the NFL Combine, which surprised a lot of people who thought he was smaller, but it also helped his cause and has vaulted him up draft boards in recent weeks.

“My biggest goal today was to come in and show the teams that I’m able to move, that I’ve got the same size, the 6’1” is not fake, and that I’m 280,” Kancey said.

The numbers didn’t lie, in fact, he weighed in at 283 pounds on Wednesday, up two pounds from the combine. Kancey has never seen size as a detriment to his game, because he knows it is all about leverage in the trenches and his burst and speed plays well against interior offensive linemen.

“Playing defensive tackle, you’ve got to play with great pad level,” he explained. "No defensive linemen plays at 6’7”. I mean you’ve got to bend at the point of attack, you’ve got to play with good footwork and pad level or you’re going to get moved around.”

Kancey was a three-star prospect back in the class of 2019. He was listed at 6'1" and 265-pounds on his Rivals.com profile at the time. Kancey did not attract a ton of big offers, but the Pitt coaching staff was never worried that he was undersized.

“He’s played big,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said of Kancey. “This is big boy football. I think he’s proven that. Some people don’t have the scheme and the ability to coach like we do. We can play with those guys. We’re not worried about the Aaron Donalds of the world, we kind of like those guys. We don’t worry about size at all ever.”

Kancey was an intriguing prospect in the wake of the 2022 college football season, but he really started to garner attention as a first round pick more recently, due to his strong showing at the combine. He clocked in with a 4.67 40-yard dash in Indianapolis, the fastest for a defensive tackle.

Kancey’s 40 time was also virtually identical to former Pitt great and Los Angeles Rams star, Aaron Donald. The comparisons between the two have been constant because of the position they play, where they went to school, and also their physical attributes. The questions on Donald coming into the league were about his size, but he quickly dismissed those thoughts and instantly became one of the best players in the league.

It is probably unfair to lay Donald-like comparisons on anymore. Kancey is appreciative of what people are saying about the similarities he has with Donald, but also wants to be his own man once he gets into the league.

“I mean that’s a great, great comparison something to be happy of, but I’m Calijah Kancey,” the former Pitt defensive linemen said on being compared to one of the best in the game.

Kancey participated in the three-cone drill on Wednesday, something he did not run in Indianapolis. He sustained a late season shoulder injury which knocked him out of Pitt’s final two games, and derailed his draft training a bit. On Wednesday, Kancey had a reported 6.82 time in the three-cone drill, which again would have been the fastest for a defensive tackle at the combine.

Kancey, the perfectionist, was a little dismayed by his effort in the drill.

“I had messed up on my technique and it’s something I could have fixed with that rep, but hey I’ve got to take it,” he said.

If the worst thing that happened on Wednesday was that Kancey did not meet his own high standards, then his pro day appearance was a success. For now, the focus shifts ahead to the next hurdle, the draft itself.

Kancey said if invited to Kansas City, he will attend the draft in person. At the moment, he is being projected by many mock drafts to be a first round pick. He said he would not be disappointed if he does not get selected on that first day, and for Kancey’s part, he is just looking for the right fit.

“It’s a lot of teams that like me, I’ve just got to find a team who falls in love with me,” said Kancey.

If a team selects Kancey in the first round, that would give Pitt back to back first round draft picks with Kenny Pickett being taken in the opening round a year ago. It would mark the first time that has happened at Pitt since 2008, when Darrelle Revis and Jeff Otah went in the first round in back-to-back years.

"It would be big-time to have two first-rounders and put another guy up on the board,” Narduzzi said on the significance of two first round picks in back to back years. “It just tells you about our evaluation and development that we’re looking at the right guys character-wise, athletic-wise, and so we’ve done a good job at looking at what we want.”