Pitt CB M.J. Devonshire Etches Name in Backyard Brawl History

Pitt Panthers corner M.J. Devonshire, an Aliquippa native, made the biggest play of the Backyard Brawl.

PITTSBURGH -- The Backyard Brawl is hyper-local. Contrasting the national stage the 105th game received, this rivalry between Pitt Panthers and West Virginia Mountaineers encompasses just a small slice of Appalachia, which makes it so fitting that one of the region's own made the night's biggest play. 

Pitt had just tied the game at 24, all. Kedon Slovis and company had engineered a seven-play, 92-yard drive that stole back momentum lost after two straight futile drives. A lucky carrom off the hands of redshirt junior receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton gifted M.J. Devonshire, Aliquippa native turned Pitt cornerback, sprinting towards the endzone with the ball in his hands. 

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His teammates created a crease that Devonshire, a former punt returner, made sure not to miss. He tallied two tackles and a pass breakup, but that 58-yard pick-six was the crown jewel of a well-played game.

“I got past the receiver, thanks to [Bangally Kamara], and then I saw [Brandon Hill] and [SirVocea Dennis]," Devonshire said. "But I saw them tell me to come back and I have a little vision being a former punt returner so I had seen the crease and I knew I just had to run as fast as I could. As soon as I saw the student section, I knew how crazy it was.” 

Senior defensive end John Morgan was on the sideline for that game-winning play, one that started so innocuously and ended with ecstasy.

"It was kind of a blur because I saw him catch it and then I thought he was moving a little fast," Morgan said. "He broke it to the 20-yard line and then I realized he was going to score a touchdown. MJ's a 100-meter track star so once he caught it, I expected him to score a touchdown."

The magnitude of the moment immediately struck Devonshire, who had dreamed of making a play like his mentor and fellow Aliquippa-turned-Pitt-defender Darelle Revis' iconic punt return from the 2006 Brawl. He said that former Pitt head coach Dave Wannedstat's pregame speech, one in which he said that anyone can become legendary in a game like this, was when Devonshire became determined to leave his stamp on this rivalry. 

“All summer I watched Darrelle [Revis’] punt return and I thought ‘Man, how crazy would it be if I could run up the same sideline, do the same spin move, score a touchdown, make a crazy play?’," Devonshire said. "I’m competitive so I just want to do what those guys did. I think I did something, something like what he did. So it’s pretty amazing.”

Devonshire, who is from Western Pennsylvania and is in his second season at Pitt after transferring from Kentucky to his hometown school, knows what this rivalry means. It permeates and divides his family, which includes fans of both teams, making this game a personal affair. Nights like this are why Devonshire chose to come back home.  

“This is why I came back to Pitt, to do things in this type of game," he said. "This is the greatest rivalry in college football and I just did something crazy that, for years, I’ll be able to tell my kids about."

Devonshire typically takes a ride back to Aliquippa with his dad after every game. The half-hour commute is typically an impromptu review of Devonshire's play from his father, one of his most honest critics. But Devonshire expected his ride home to be a less harsh postgame debrief. 

“I beat him to it. I saw him on the field and I was like ‘Well, I almost blew the game with a slant!’," Devonshire said. "But he was happy so I don’t know if he has anything to say about play 47 this time.”

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