One of the most prolific seasons in Pitt football history has earned proper national accreditation, as Calijah Kancey officially achieved the rarified air of being named a unanimous All-American selection on Wednesday.
By virtue of recognition on the American Football Coaches Association's All-America first team, Kancey is officially the 15th unanimous All-American selection in Pitt program history, and he is the first to be recognized to all five All-America squads since Aaron Donald in 2013.
All-American 🇺🇸🏆 @WeAreAFCA
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Calijah Kancey » @CKancey8
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“This is just an incredible honor,” Kancey said via news 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.”
Kancey was a first-team selection on all five nationally recognized All-America squads, including from the AFCA, the Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America, the Sporting News and the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
His season was also marked by being named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He was a finalist for each of the Outland Trophy as the nation's top interior lineman and for the Bronco Nagurski Trophy as the nation's defensive player of the year. Michigan center Olusegun Oluwatimi won the Outland Trophy, and Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. won the Bronco Nagurski Trophy for the second year in a row.
"I’ve run out of superlatives to describe how I feel about Calijah,” 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 was the primary focal point for every offense Pitt opposed this season, often drawing double teams and extra blockers just to keep him out of the backfield. Despite this, the redshirt junior still amassed 31.0 total tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks in 11 games. Kancey anchored a Pitt defense which led the nation with 45.0 sacks for an NCAA-high 314 yards this season. Kancey's 7.5 sacks led the team and were tied for third in the ACC, and his 14.5 tackles for loss were tied for second in the ACC.
Kancey joins a Hall of Fame list of unanimous All-American selections in Pitt history:
• 1927: Gilbert Welch
• 1929: Joe Donchess
• 1932: Warren Heller
• 1938: Marshall Goldberg
• 1956: Joe Walton
• 1960: Mike Ditka
• 1976: Tony Dorsett
• 1979: Hugh Green
• 1980: Hugh Green
• 1980: Mark May
• 1983: Bill Fralic
• 1984: Bill Fralic
• 2003: Larry Fitzgerald
• 2013: Aaron Donald
• 2022: Calijah Kancey
The list speaks for itself. Two Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees (Ditka, Dorsett), two will-be Hall of Famers (Fitzgerald, Donald) and another arguable Hall of Famer in Green. Kancey is now officially among the greatest to ever don a Pitt uniform.