PITTSBURGH, Pa. — From Clairton to Penn Hills to the University of Pittsburgh, there’s a ton of pride for the two local players suiting up in Super Bowl 56.
At Pitt, it’s nothing new to see former football players in the Super Bowl, but head coach Pat Narduzzi told Channel 11′s Jenna Harner, when it’s two who played together and grew up in the Pittsburgh area, it just feels a little more special.
“Tyler Boyd, you could just see in the first practice as a coach that wow, he was special,” Narduzzi told Harner. “Aaron Donald, I saw him at an award ceremony in Orlando and I’m like, who’s that guy? Before I was even here (at Pitt), I knew he was special.”
Narduzzi coached Boyd for his last year at Pitt. Narduzzi was not at Pitt when Donald played, but he knows both of them very well. Both come back to the area frequently to give back; in 2019, Donald donated one million dollars to the University.
Narduzzi beamed with pride talking about Tyler Boyd and Aaron Donald and described both of them in a special way.
Donald and Boyd aren’t the first Panthers to play in the Super Bowl, and they certainly won’t be the last.
“It tells you about the tradition of this program,” Narduzzi said. “I think when you look at all the players we’ve had in this program going to the NFL and you walk down these hallways and look at them here.”
Panthers of the present and the future sure are looking. It’s players like Donald and Boyd, and those who came before them, who continue to pave the way for the next wave of local NFL talent.
“I think when kids commit to come to Pitt, they know those opportunities are there to not only win a championship here at Pitt, but to go win a championship in the NFL,” Narduzzi said.
Narduzzi gave Harner a diplomatic answer when she asked him who he was cheering for Sunday night. He said he is rooting for both Boyd and Donald to make a lot of big plays.
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