Inside The Panthers

Former Pitt All-American Suffers Season-Ending Injury

A former Pitt Panthers All-American defender suffered a season-ending injury in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' game against the Houston Texans.
Karl Ludwig|
East Rutherford, NJ -- November 24, 2024 -- Tommy DeVito of the Giants gets hit after he threw this pass by Calijah Kancey of Tampa Bay in the fourth quarter. DeVito was injured and came out of the game for one play as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to MetLife Stadium and defeated the New York Giants 30-7.
East Rutherford, NJ -- November 24, 2024 -- Tommy DeVito of the Giants gets hit after he threw this pass by Calijah Kancey of Tampa Bay in the fourth quarter. DeVito was injured and came out of the game for one play as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to MetLife Stadium and defeated the New York Giants 30-7. | Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Former Pitt Panthers defensive tackle Calijah Kancey will be out for an extended period of time after exiting his NFL team's game with an injury.

Kancey suffered a torn pectoral in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' win against the Houston Texans and will miss the rest of the 2025-26 season, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported. He will undergo season-ending surgery this week.

It's a tough loss for the Buccaneers, and for Kancey, who has suffered through multiple injuries in his first few seasons in the NFL.

Kancey recorded one tackle, one tackle for loss, before exiting the game with an injury.

Kancey played in 12 games last season, missing time early in the season to injury, but he racked up 28 tackles (22 solo), 11 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

In his three seasons in the NFL, missing eight games (and now the rest of this season), he's recorded 55 tackles (41 solo), 22 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.

The Buccaneers selected Kancey in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft (19th overall), following a standout career at Pitt.

Kancey earned unanimous first-team All-American honors as a redshirt junior, leading the Panthers with 31 tackles (17 solo), 15 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. He wrapped up his Pitt career with 93 tackles (52 solo), 35 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, a forced fumble and three pass breakups.

Kancey's 2022 season was one of the most impactful in recent seasons, dominating from the interior on the way to earning ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He continued a long line of dominant defensive linemen under Pat Narduzzi.

Kancey came out of Pitt as an "undersized" defensive tackle, like his predecessor Aaron Donald, but he showed his speed (a record-setting 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine) and his technical ability leading up to the draft.

Kancey has shown that his pass rushing chops carried over to the NFL level, racking up 85 pressures and 53 hurries over his first two seasons with the Buccaneers.

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Karl Ludwig
KARL LUDWIG

Karl Ludwig is a Pittsburgh Panthers on SI sportswriter. He has spent the past three years covering the Pitt Panthers for a couple of platforms. While he did not attend Pitt, he grew up in the Pittsburgh area, attending North Allegheny Senior High School and Slippery Rock University. As a student at SRU, he served as the sports editor of SRU’s student-run newspaper, The Rocket, and provided award-winning coverage in football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer. It was at SRU that his love for sports journalism blossomed. Karl spent three seasons as the Pitt football beat writer for Pittsburgh Sports Now, following time as an intern for the Sports Now Network. His most recent coverage of the University was for Pitt Sports News of the On3/Rivals network. He’s also contributed to Athlon Sports and SB Nation’s Behind the Steel Curtain.

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