Jordan Whitehead recorded 109 tackles in 2015, which stands as the most in the Pat Narduzzi era, but he might have some competition from a current Pitt starter.
Donovan McMillon entered Saturday’s contest against Duke with 99 tackles, and with a first half tackle — wrapping up Duke running back Jaylen Coleman — he hit the century mark.
Whitehead, who now stars for the New York Jets in the NFL, and McMillon now stands alone as the only Pitt defenders in the Narduzzi era to have recorded 100 tackles in a single season. And with nine more, McMillon can tie Whitehead’s leading mark.
McMillon, who played 60 snaps against Boston College, was certainly impactful last week, too.
He was in on just about every tackle for Pitt, racking up 13 (eight solo), to lead the Panthers. And through 11 games, he sat third in the ACC with 99 tackles — 51 solo.
He had a game-high of five tackles entering the season, which he set against Eastern Washington last season, and since that opening game against Wofford, McMillon has recorded at least five tackles in every game this season. He’s hit double-digit tackles five times, including each of the last three games.
It’s been everything that McMillon imagined when he decided to come home after leaving Florida.
“I just envisioned coming here to play ball,” McMillon said. “That’s all I wanted. At Florida, I don’t think I got the opportunities I really needed and earned but when I got these opportunities here, that was just a blessing for me to be able to go out every week and go make these plays, And watching greats like Damar (Hamlin) and all of those guys, that’s something I dreamed to be like and I’m really happy with the opportunity to be in that spot right now.”
Pitt is leading Duke 10-3 midway through the second quarter, and McMillon and the defense will have plenty of opportunities to continue to stifle the Duke offense.
When your safety is making that many tackles it’s a problem