Pitt Football
Former Pitt Star Darrelle Revis Cracks Top 100 Athletes of 21st Century List
There have been thousands and thousands and thousands of professional athletes in the United States since the turn of the century. It’s hard to narrow down a list of the 100 greatest, but that’s exactly what ESPN is doing.
Darrelle Revis, who starred at Aliquippa in the early 2000s before going to great success at Pitt and then in the NFL, cracked the list. He checked in at No. 96.
“Revis took man-to-man coverage to a new level in 2009 when the Jets’ coaching staff made the unconventional decision to put him on the opponents’ top receiver with no safety help. He was on his own island, so to speak, spawning the “Revis Island” moniker. The result was one of the best cornerback seasons in history. Revis held Andre Johnson, Randy Moss (twice) and Terrell Owens (twice) — all Hall of Famers — under 35 receiving yards. He did the same to Torry Holt, Steve Smith Sr., Reggie Wayne and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson. He finished with six interceptions and a staggering 31 passes defended, earning the first of four first-team All-Pro selections.”
The New York Jets selected Revis with the 14th pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, and he would put together his Hall of Fame professional career.
In 11 NFL seasons with the Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs, Revis racked up 496 tackles (411 solo), nine tackles for loss, 29 interceptions (three returned for touchdowns), 139 pass breakups, four forced fumbles and 12 recoveries.
He is a seven-time Pro Bowler, four-time first-team All-Pro and a member of the PFWA 2010s All-Decade team. He also won Super Bowl XLIX with the Patriots in 2015 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023.
Revis, obviously, is one of the greatest athletes to come out of Western Pennsylvania. He starred at Aliquippa High School in the early 2000s, winning two WPIAL Class-2A titles and the 2003 PIAA Class-2A state championship in which he scored five touchdowns three different ways — blocked field goal, punt return and three rushing.
He stayed home at Pitt for college, playing for Walt Harris in the mid-2000s, and he quickly emerged as one of the best defensive backs in the Big East. In 35 games at Pitt, he racked up 80 tackles (66 solo), five tackles for loss, eight interceptions and returned two for touchdowns — and he scored two more punt return touchdowns.
Revis is one of the best cornerbacks in the history of the NFL, and he’s a native of Western Pennsylvania, one of the most famous examples of the WPIAL to Pitt pipeline.
