Sixth year means another chance for Pitt receiver Tipton

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Tre Tipton’s ambitions are not small in their scope.

“I have a goal in mind, and my goal is to save the world in some type of way. And I’m not going to stop until I get there.”

For the Pitt receiver, who has spent the last three years dedicating his life to more than just catching passes, that ambition might be just the start. But before he goes out into the world, Tipton will spend one more year in a Pitt uniform, as the NCAA has granted him a sixth year of eligibility that will allow the former Apollo-Ridge standout to play as a Panther in 2020.

It was something of a no-brainer for the NCAA, even if that governing body’s decisions tend to be more head-scratcher than no-brainer. Tipton has been at Pitt since 2015 but has played in just 27 games over that span, missing nine contests in 2015, four in 2016, all 12 in 2017 and 10 last season.

Those missed games were all due to injury, with Tipton’s various ailments ranging from ligament sprains to ACL tears (two of them) to a collapsed lung suffered in the loss at Miami in 2016.

“My body’s been through a lot of building and a lot of breaking,” Tipton said Wednesday in something of an understatement. His body had been through plenty of trauma before he tore his left ACL - again - in practice the week before Pitt’s win over UCF last season. That injury sidelined him for the year and very well could have ended his career with the Panthers.

Everyone involved was certain Tipton could get a sixth year of eligibility if he wanted one. For all of its inconsistency, the NCAA is pretty reliable for giving student-athletes who have been through Tipton’s series of injuries - or less - an extra year.

The question was whether or not Tipton would want to continue playing. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi may not have had doubts about that, necessarily, but he wanted to make sure Tipton knew the possible consequences of a decision to return.

“We had long talks whether he even wanted to, you know, go after his sixth year. I just told him, you know, when you’re 40 years old and you can’t kneel down to play with the kids and get them off the swing, whatever it may be, it’s different.

“So we talked about that, I think, through the last couple months, and I just made him think long and hard about, ‘What if you get hurt again? How are you going to feel?’ Because it’s not easy. It’s not easy being injured. But he’s got the right mindset and we’re going to pray and cross our fingers he stays healthy.”

“When we really got down to it, he was like, ‘Man, we really need you to make a decision but we need you to make the best decision for yourself,’” Tipton said. “And it took me, I want to say a week or two to really be like, ‘Yeah, it’s time for me to really do this.’ Because you can never go back and play football, go pick up a football; it’s not like basketball, it’s not like you can go to play baseball and go to the batting cages. It’s one of those things were, when you’re done, you’re done. So I really thought to myself, like, ‘Can you really see yourself giving this up with knowing that you have a chance?’ So I had to give it all I’ve got, and that’s right now what I’m doing.”

Still, Tipton admits there were times when he thought about giving it up, moving on to his life beyond football and following his next path.

“Of course, that crossed my mind,” he said. “But in reality, all I ever wanted to be was a superhero, and football allows me to be that person right now until I find some other way to do so.”

Tipton’s “superhero” work so far has involved starting a mental health support group for student-athletes. The organization is called L.O.V.E. - Living Out Victoriously Everyday - and Tipton created it while rehabbing from his 2017 ACL tear. It began as a way to help other Pitt student-athletes, but he has branched out and started speaking with high school student-athletes as well.

“L.O.V.E.’s incredible,” he said Wednesday. “Right now, we’ve been working nonstop to build it to be even bigger than what it’s become.”

Through his 27 games played, Tipton caught 24 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns. His return gives Pitt’s roster another veteran receiver, but it also gives him one more season to suit up in a Pitt uniform, run through the tunnel at Heinz Field and make plays for his hometown team.

“I love Pitt. Pitt is everything to me. It’s built me into the man that I’ve become for the good and the bad, you know what I mean? Pitt has literally built me into the person that I want to be and I’m going to be. So I can’t thank the University enough.”