Inside The Panthers

Look: Larry Fitzgerald Visits Pitt Volleyball

Larry Fitzgerald came back to campus and visited Pitt Panthers volleyball.

Dominic Campbell

Legendary Pitt WR Larry Fitzgerald and Pitt Volleyball Head Coach Dan Fisher
Legendary Pitt WR Larry Fitzgerald and Pitt Volleyball Head Coach Dan Fisher / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics
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PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers volleyball received a special visitor last week, as legendary Pitt wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald stopped by for their practice.

Fitzgerald came back to campus, as the football team honored him during the Syracuse game at Acrisure Stadium on Oct. 24, as he earned enshrinement to the College Football Hall of Fame. They also gave away a bobblehead of Fitzgerald prior to the game, plus a ticket discount too.

He visited the volleyball team and took pictures with them, spoke to them and made quite the impression on head coach Dan Fisher, who thanked him for coming in.

"Well it's just an honor to have someone like him take an interest in our program," Fisher said. "He's always struck me as someone that's just a pretty classy guy and carries himself really well and I know that our team appreciated him coming."

Pitt volleyball has had great success under Dan Fisher, with eight straight NCAA Tournaments, four consecutive Elite Eights and three straight Final Fours, the only Division I team to do the latter.

The Panthers are currently 19-1 overall and 9-1 in ACC play, with three wins at home over top five teams in No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Louisville and No. 5 Stanford, and looking for their first National Title.

Fitzgerald came to Pitt football after serving as one of the best high school wide receivers in Minnesota in the early 2000s. He excelled for the program in just two seasons in 2002-03, making 161 catches for 2,677 yards and 34 touchdowns.

He had one of the best seasons ever for the Panthers in 2003, where he worked with Pittsburgh native and quarterback Rod Rutherford to make 92 catches for 1,672 yards and 22 touchdowns. The receiving yards and receiving touchdowns both rank as the most for a Panther in a single season, while his 92 receptions rank third most.

Fitzgerald had 207 receiving yards in a 42-32 road win over Rutgers in Week 7 and 201 receiving yards in the 35-31 loss on the road to Toledo in Week 3, which both rank fifth and eighth most in a single game in Pitt history, respectively.

He earned a number of honors and won numerous awards for his performance that season, including First Team All-Big East, Big East Offensive Player of the Year, unanimous All-American, and both the Walter Camp and Biletnikoff Awards, identifying him as one of the best players in the country and the top wide receiver in the FBS, respectively.

The Arizona Cardinals drafted Fitzgerald the the No. 3 overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, a franchise Fitzgerald would play all 17 years of his NFL career.

He finished his NFL career with 1,432 catches for 17,492 yards and 121 touchdowns. His receptions and receiving yards rank second best all-time, behind Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, while his receiving touchdowns ranks sixth best.

Fitzgerald made 11 Pro Bowls (2005, 2007-13, 2015-17), a two-time Second Team All-Pro in 2009 and 2011 and is a member of the NFL 100th Anniversary Team and the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team .

His best season came in 2008, earning his sole First Team All-Pro honor. He led the NFL with 12 receiving touchdowns, while also making 96 catches and a career-high 1,431 yards. He also had an incredible postseason, getting the Cardinals within two minutes of a Super Bowl victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, before the defense failed to stop a last-minute drive.

Fitzgerald also led the NFL in receptions twice in 2005 with 103 and 2016 with a career-high 107. He would also lead the NFL with receiving touchdowns in 2009 with a career-high 13. 

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Dominic Campbell
DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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