PITTSBURGH — Pitt redshirt senior defensive back M.J. Devonshire shared a special moment with his mom during the upset win over No. 14 Louisville Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium.
Louisville senior quarterback Jack Plummer threw a poor pass to redshirt junior wide receiver Jamari Thrash that ended right in the hands of Devonshire. Devonshire then ran through the Louisville defense and took the interception for an 86-yard touchdown.
The touchdown put Pitt up 31-21 heading into the fourth quarter and was the longest pick-six in program history since Chiffon Allen took one back 97 yards on Sept. 13, 1997 against Houston.
It is also the third interception for a touchdown in Devonshire’s career. His most famous one came against rival West Virginia in the first game of the 2022 season, which he took back for 56-yards off a deflection from wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton that gave Pitt the 38-31 win.
Following the touchdown, Devonshire waited to find his mom in the end zone to give her the ball. She told him, “I love you,” and his teammates celebrated his touchdown with him afterwards.
Pitt football also honored his mother, Terrie Tipper-Devonshire, with a video during the game. She spoke on her relationship with her son, how she has seen him grow on the field and the man he is today.
Devonshire said that he saw the importance of his relationship with his mother through his former teammates in linebacker SirVocea Dennis and defensive back Brandon Hill. They always “gave their mom a shoutout,” so he had been wanting to do the same and the pick-six was the perfect moment. With the practice he had been putting in the last week, he just needed to know how high he was going to have to reach to give her the ball.
“Being able to give her her moment and seeing her on that Jumbotron, I know how much that meant to her,” Devonshire said. “Man I love my mom so much. We go through a lot. We’ve been through so much and we just keep going and going. She’s one of my best friends. We talk all the time and I love her so much. That meant the world to me.”
Devonshire’s performance came also with some Pitt legends in attendance to see in Kenny Pickett, Tony Dorsett and Darrelle Revis. Dorsett and Revis are Aliquippa natives and both Revis and Devonshire played for Aliquippa.
Pitt honored Revis during the Louisville game, as he became the 10th player in program history to earn enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They made him an honorary captain and both he and Devonshire walked out onto the field together to do the coin toss and shake hands with the Louisville captains.
Devonshire finished the game with six total tackles, five solo and led Pitt with five pass breakups. Playing his best game of the season not just in front of his idol in Revis, but also with his mother in the audience, came at the best possible time for him going forward this season, but he also demonstrated the true excellence of an Aliquippa man, on-and-off the field.
