Aaron Donald: ‘Force of nature’ who never lost his humility

The passage of time has blurred the reality.

DeWayne Brown, who has skilled Aaron Donald for the previous 13 years, mentioned his protege wasn’t sporting cleats the day he was “killing people” in one-on-one drills at a Pitt camp in the course of the summer season of 2008.

Greg Gattuso, the line of defense coach largely liable for recruiting him to Pitt, mentioned somebody discovered a pair of cleats for Donald someplace within the locker room.

“I’m not even sure where the heck we got cleats for him. He did get some cleats,” Gattuso mentioned.

The fact on this case doesn’t matter. Said Gattuso: “He didn’t need any cleats.”

So started Donald’s journey from a comparatively obscure Penn Hills participant to a freshman Pitt coaches couldn’t preserve off the sector to a first-round draft option to NFL Defensive Player of the Year and, lastly, to tearfully grateful Super Bowl hero.

Gattuso was among the many tens of millions worldwide who watched Donald lead the Los Angeles Rams to a 23-20 victory in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in Super Bowl LVI.

Gattuso needed to ensure he noticed the sport in nice element — how usually do you coach a participant who lands within the Super Bowl? — so he made a particular buy previous to the sport.

“I literally went out and bought an 85-inch television to watch him play,” mentioned Gattuso now the pinnacle coach at Albany.

Perhaps final credit score for tipping off Gattuso ought to go to John Peterman, the Penn Hills athletic director on the time, who had been relating Donald’s achievements to Gattuso.

Curious, Gattuso went to Penn Hills one night time to look at the Indians play Kiski Area and, really, to scout Donald’s teammate, linebacker Dan Mason, who additionally ended up at Pitt. The remaining rating doesn’t matter — Penn Hills received, 37-12 — however Donald became the principle attraction.

“Aaron was dominating the line of scrimmage,” Gattuso mentioned. “His AD had been telling me about him, that he was an up-and-comer, but I hadn’t seen him. That was my first encounter with him. He was just destroying the other team. It just jumped out at you.”

Gattuso referred to as coach Dave Wannstedt that night time.

“He asked me how Danny did. He was great, but Aaron Donald was ridiculous,” Gattuso mentioned. “We offered pretty much that night with him. He was a dominating, explosive, creating-chaos guy even then. He fit in the mold of what we were trying to be.”

“You’ve got to credit to Dave Wannstedt because he was the one who gave him a chance,” Brown mentioned.

Donald reminded Gattuso of Mick Williams, a Monessen graduate who preceded Donald on Pitt’s line of defense.

Like Donald, Williams didn’t have the peak most faculty coaches have been in search of on the line of defense — each males stand about 6-foot-1 — however they made performs.

“I always tell people Mick Williams was Aaron Donald before Aaron Donald,” Gattuso mentioned. “He was the same kind of player. He was explosive and athletic.”

Williams shared Big East Defensive Player of the Year honors with teammate Greg Romeus in 2009. Donald received the identical honor within the ACC — and each different acceptable collegiate award — in 2013.

“(Williams) had a lot of similar qualities,” Gattuso mentioned. “When I saw Aaron, I thought he was a perfect replacement for Mick Williams. That’s why I liked him so much.”

Pitt never has had an issue with shorter defensive linemen. Calijah Kancey was named a third-team All-American final season as a 6-foot defensive sort out.

“That story is relevant because you kind of look for the 6-3, 6-4 guys,” Gattuso mentioned. “Lots of individuals glided by Aaron as a result of they didn’t like his top. They didn’t assume he was going to be sufficiently big.

“We never were a giant defensive line. We were more fast and athletic. We wanted to create chaos in the backfield and be able to rush the passer. We had some guys who were a little undersized and Aaron was one of those.”

When Donald reported for his freshman season of 2010, Gattuso rapidly realized there was no must redshirt him.

“Coach requested me and I simply informed him, ‘This kid is ready to play.’

“He was mature. He’s very smart. He understands what’s going on around him. His power was always there. I’ve seen him in the weight room. I’ve seen him in camps. Obviously, in practice. You saw it on the next-to-last play of the (Super Bowl). He just melts the offensive lineman and makes the tackle and forces that fourth-and-1. He did it all by himself.”

Nothing in opposition to Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp, however Gattuso would have voted for Donald. Votes most likely have been solid earlier than the ultimate sequence.

“I was really disappointed he didn’t get the MVP. I don’t know how he didn’t. No disrespect to the other players, he dominates games and he draws so much attention that it frees other people up to play,” Gattuso mentioned. “Those last two plays of the game were critical moments and he rose up and made the plays. They should have ripped up (the MVP vote) and gave it to him.”

Gattuso was struck by Donald’s comment in his postgame interview on ESPN that what he actually needed to do was take his daughter away from the cameras so she might do what she needed to do — play within the confetti.

That aspect of Donald didn’t shock Gattuso. Donald spent an hour one offseason speaking to the Albany defensive linemen by way of zoom.

“It was kind of cool to see him in that big moment of his life,” he mentioned. “He’s at all times been a extremely good individual. I recruited him for a 12 months and a half and coached him for a 12 months. He doesn’t appear to have modified quite a bit.

“For a guy who’s a force of nature, it’s nice to see he’s kept his humility.”