PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pitt defensive back MJ Devonshire has had numerous conversations with future Hall of Famer Darrelle Revis. He said Revis will often text him and his big advice is to do his own thing. Thursday, when Pitt needed it most, he did a Revis-like thing to lift the Panthers to a comeback win in the Backyard Brawl.
It was November 16, 2006 against West Virginia in the same stadium with a different name and Revis fielded a punt on a hop with seemingly nowhere to go he darted right, gave up ground, got a great block from Derek Kinder, up the sideline making a pair miss. Then got past punter Pat McAfee, spun around a last Mountaineers defender at the eight and into the end zone for a touchdown. Panthers beat West Virginia.
September 1, 2022, another Aliquippa guy settles the Backyard Brawl. Devonshire grabbing a tipped pass and taking off 56-yards for the end zone in a 38-31 Panthers win.
“All summer I’ve been thinking I watched Darrelle Revis’ punt return,” Devonshire said. “If I could run up the same sideline and do the same spin move, it would be a crazy play. I’m competitive, I wanted to do what those guys did. I think I did something similar to what he did. It was amazing.”
“All I say is, wow,” said Pitt Head Coach Pat Narduzzi. “When he caught that thing he was going. He's had some great punt returns and today, he's one of our punt returners as well. That makes you want to put him on punt return because he took that one; he was running 4.3 for sure. It was impressive.”
“That guy was running. He was fast. That was one of the nicer ones I've seen, and that was a big-time play. He wasn't going to be denied.”
“It was kind of a blur because I saw him catch it down the sideline,” said Panthers defensive lineman John Morgan. “I was like he was moving a little fast and he broke it at the 20-yard line. I was like he’s going to score a touchdown. MJ is a 100-meter track star, so once he caught it and started rolling. I expected him to score.”
Devonshire said on the play he was coming up expecting to make a tackle on Bryce Ford-Wheaton. He felt like he was on the verge of getting a pick during the game and when the ball defected off the junior receiver’s hands, everything was slow motion.
“It fell into my hands,” Devonshire said. “I made him miss and the rest is history.”
Just like his buddy Revis, stepping up in a big game.
“Somebody has to make a big play, Coach Wannstedt said it (in his speech to the team before the game),” Devonshire said. “Somebody is always going to be legendary and it could be you. When he said that I was like ‘why not me’?
“You know, we wanted MJ out of high school, and he went to Kentucky and then we were able to get him back,” Narduzzi said. “You know, I really think we take care of our Pittsburgh guys. Our Pittsburgh guys are successful. Dayon Hayes had a nice day today as well. Our Pittsburgh guys stay home and stay here, they are going to make a lot of plays and it's good for all those Pittsburgh kids saying, look, where are they being successful?
“100%, this is why I came back to Pitt to do things in this type of a game,” Devonshire said. “This is the greatest rivalry in college football. I just did something crazy that it’s something I can tell my kids for years.”