Pitt DT Calijah Kancey is Testing His Ceiling
PITTSBURGH -- The same critiques have followed Calijah Kancey from high school, through his time as a Pitt Panther and into the beginnings of his professional career. He is too small to be a defensive tackle at the next level and any Aaron Donald comparisons you might want to throw out there are misguided.
He won't be able to prove those doubters completely wrong until he actually reaches the NFL but the next man up in a long line of stud defensive tackles in Pitt's program, Kancey has done everything he could during the draft process to prove that he is worthy of not just a pick in the coming NFL Draft, but one of the very first selections. Kancey is knocking on the door of stardom and seeing how high he can climb.
Some had floated the idea of Kancey being picked in the first round as early as last summer, long before he had embarked on his ACC Defensive Player of the Year and unanimous All-American 2022 campaign. The buzz picked up steam when he earned those accolades on the field, but the dominant showing on film wasn't enough to get him into the upper crust of this year's projections.
You'd think Kancey would take that personally, channeling his inner Michael Jordan to spin being one of the best defensive tackles in this year's draft class into new motivation. Instead, Kancey says his focus has been inward.
“I know that I just got to keep improving and not try to prove anyone wrong," Kancey said. "I just want to prove myself right.”
It wasn't until he took his official measurements and tested at the NFL Combine that the first round, top 20 and even top 10 buzz began to materialize and what Kancey knew about himself became clear to everyone else watching. He stood an inch taller and weighed a pound heavier than expected and that was before he broke a Combine record with his 40-yard dash.
At his Pro Day this week, where he measured a verified 6'1 and found he added two pounds since the combine, Kancey still shattered the best numbers from the combine, recording a three-cone drill time that would have beaten the best run in Indianapolis by almost half of a second. Kacney said one of his goals was to show that his size and the accompanying quickness that defies logic is real.
“My biggest goal entering today was to come in and show the teams that I’m able to move, that I got the same size - I’m 6’1, 280 and it’s not fake.”
Nothing about Kancey's game is fake. In live action, he punished offensive linemen and quarterbacks without discrimination and in testing drills, he showed every trait necessary to overcome whatever he lacks in height. The question is no longer whether Kancey can crack the first round, but how high he can climb. There are plenty of teams in need of defensive linemen this year and more than a couple have picks in the top 10.
No Panther has been drafted in the top 10 since Larry Fitzgerald was selected third overall by the Cardinals in 2004. Maybe Kancey won't break that mark but he is challenging it. As he shatters combine records and lights up stopwatches, Kancey is testing the scouts and executives watching him - trust what your eyes tell you or what conventional wisdom dictates.
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