Inside The Panthers

Former Pitt CB Takes Shots at Penn State, West Virginia

M.J. Devonshire is still in touch with his Pitt Panthers roots despite leaving the team for the NFL Draft.

Stephen Thompson

Former Pitt CB Takes Shots at Penn State, West Virginia
Former Pitt CB Takes Shots at Penn State, West Virginia /
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PITTSBURGH -- He might not be on the Pitt Panthers' roster anymore but M.J. Devonshire is staying true to his blue and gold roots while he prepares for the NFL Draft. 

Devonshire, who announced that he would forgo his final season of eligibility to pursue a career in professional football, had some time in his hands and used it to poke some fun at Pitt's two biggest rivals. 

He continued to go back and forth with Mountaineer fans, for whom the rivalry is freshest with the two schools still locked in a four-game series, about his own exploits in the Backyard Brawl. Devonshire poked fun at their misery over his game-winning pick-six in 2022 and they responded with jabs about Devonshire getting suplexed in a 2023 loss to West Virginia. 

Devonshire arrived at Pitt too late to take part in the four-game series that marks the last time Pitt and Penn State played, but he did come home to the Steel City to leave a lasting impact on the Backyard Brawl. 

Devonshire made one of the series' most iconic plays when he intercepted a pass from J.T. Daniels that caromed off the hands of a wide-open Bryce Ford-Wheaton and returned it 56 yards for the game-winning touchdown in the 2022 edition. He and the Panthers lost the 2023 game down in Morgantown, West Virginia but the defense was hardly to blame for the 17-6 defeat. 

He grew up in Pittsburgh and fully understood both of these rivalries after being raised in the region. After completing his career as a Panther, he will continue to fully embrace them long after his college career is over. 

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Stephen Thompson
STEPHEN THOMPSON

Stephen Thompson graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Pitt in April 2022 after spending four years as a sports writer and editor at The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh's independent, student-run newspaper.  He primarily worked the Pitt men's basketball beat, and filled in on coverage of football, volleyball, softball, gymnastics and lacrosse, in addition to other sports as needed. His work at The Pitt News has won awards from the Pennsylvania News Media Association and Associated College Press.  During the spring and summer of 2021, Stephen interned for Pittsburgh Sports Now, covering baseball in western Pennsylvania. Hailing from Washington D.C., family ties have cultivated a love of Boston's professional teams and Pitt athletics, and a fascination with sports in general.  You can reach Stephen by email at stephenethompson00@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his latest work:

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