Donovan McMillon came to Pitt this offseason looking for a bigger opportunity. McMillon, a class of 2023 four-star recruit, was highly sought after as a star for Peters Township High School in the Pittsburgh suburbs. During his recruitment, he collected over 50 scholarship offers and eventually signed with Florida.
McMillon was on the field immediately in Gainesville and played in 25 games in two years with the Gators. Statistically speaking, he was not making a serious impact. He recorded 30 tackles in two seasons with Florida, mostly in the role as a reserve safety and as a special teams player. When he entered the transfer portal following the 2022 season, McMillon wanted to find more playing time and did not have to go far to find it.
McMillon landed back with his hometown team and is having a breakout campaign as a junior safety for the Pitt defense. Through 11 games McMillon is Pitt’s leading tackler with 99 stops on the season. The second leading tackler, fellow safety Javon McIntyre, is over 20 stops behind him. He has been the team's most consistent and reliable tackler all season long, his first as a regular starter at the Division-1 level.
“I just envisioned coming here to play ball, like that’s all I wanted,” McMIllon said after Pitt’s 24-16 win on Thursday night. “At Florida, I don’t think I got the opportunities I really needed and earned, but when I got those opportunities here that was just a blessing for me to be able to go out there every week and make those plays.”
McMillon is simply following in the same path as some safeties who have played in this scheme before him. Pitt’s defensive scheme is very friendly to playmaking safeties who like to come down and make tackles in the run game.
There have been a number of players who have thrived in the role McMillon is starring in currently. Damar Hamlin led Pitt in tackles in 2020 and 2018 and has made six career starts in the NFL after his time at Pitt. Paris Ford is the only Pitt defensive back to earn first team all-conference honors under Pat Narduzzi after posting a team-high 97 tackles back in 2019. Jordan Whitehead posted a whopping 109 tackles as a freshman in 2015 on the way to being named ACC Rookie of the Year. Whitehead, of course, is now a starting as a safety for the New York Jets and is having a huge 2023 season.
Whitehead is also the only player in Pat Narduzzi’s defensive scheme to record over 100 tackles in a season. After posting 13 stops against Boston College, McMillon is sitting on 99 tackles with one more game to play and is looking like he will be the second to achieve that feat.
"Watching greats like Damar and all those guys, that’s something I dreamed to be like and I’m really happy with the opportunity to be in that spot right now,” he said on Thursday.
McMillon has earned seven starting assignments this season, including one in Pitt’s victory over Boston College on Thursday. It was only the third win for the Panthers, who will carry a 3-8 record into the season finale against Duke next week.
Pitt showed some resolve against the Eagles, especially considering what happened in the previous game. The Panthers’ run defense was gashed for over 380 yards against Syracuse in a 28-13 loss and Boston College boasted Thomas Castellanos, the ACC’s third leading rusher entering this week.
Pitt sacked the Eagles’ dual threat quarterback six times. He finished with 33 yards on 17 carries. Boston College was averaging over 200 yards per game on the ground and Pitt held them to 166 on 44 carries.
“Our whole mentality this week was to stop the run first and we knew if we stopped that run we were going to make them one-dimensional and when that happened, you saw what happened, they couldn’t score on us,” McMillon said after his team’s performance.
He was not wrong. Pitt only surrendered one touchdown against Boston College and generated two turnovers. The offense provided just enough to lead to that 24-16 victory. It was a bittersweet moment for McMillon. After waiting his turn for playing time and finding success in his first year with Pitt, it will be coming to a close last week.
Pitt’s win also sent off the senior class with one final win at home, and as McMillon nears the end of his junior year, it will be his turn in 12 short months, but he is appreciative of where he is after sear.
“I’m terribly saw that the season is already ending,” McMillon explained. “I got a little emotional on the field when we saw the seniors when we walked in today, like 365 days from now I’m in that same spot. I really value every day and every game that I get to be a part and be a Pitt Panther.”
