It's the seniors' day Saturday at Pitt, but they haven't forgotten about Clemson

The day football programs set aside to honor their seniors is almost always a special time, often the last home game — such as it will be at Pitt on Saturday — and an event coaches might use to motivate their players.

“I talked to our team just about playing for our seniors,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said of the Panthers’ game against Clemson at Acrisure Stadium.

Pitt’s Senior Day, however, falls amid strange circumstances — in the midst of a two-game losing streak that followed a seven-game winning streak. Pitt may have lost its best chance to play in the ACC championship game, but the seniors and their teammates want to finish strong and some are more focused on Clemson than any festivities that mark personal achievement.

“I don’t think the emotions are going to hit until that day, that moment,” senior safety Donovan McMillon (Peters Township) said. “I live day by day. I know my parents, my family, they’re going to feel it. I’m going to be more excited to go play Clemson.”

Asked about what he thinks 2025 will bring after his eligibility expires, McMillon admitted to having specific “dreams and aspirations,” but none that rival in his mind the Clemson game for significance.

“I’m really just locked in on Clemson right now.”

McMillon never redshirted when he played at Florida in 2021 and 2022, so 2024 is his fourth and final season of eligibility.

OK, but just for laughs, what if rules changed and he could come back for another season?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I have to beat Clemson first.”

Sense a trend?

There is plenty to push the players beyond their capabilities — the last home game for the seniors and playing nationally ranked No. 20 Clemson — but McMillon said the game is enough.

“We’ve lost the past two games,” he said. “We’ve worked too hard to crumble now.”

McMillon, 22, acknowledged his time in college has gone by quickly.

“It’s crazy how time flies,” he said. “You really have to make the best of every opportunity. People are always talking about you blink and you get old.”

The other day, one of the freshmen called him “Unc” (as in uncle).

“I remember when I was 18 years old thinking the 22-year-olds are so old,” he said.

Running back Daniel Carter is concluding his sixth — and best — season at Pitt, with career highs in yards rushing (177) and touchdowns (three). He remembers teammates who have meant the most to him — players such as Brandon Hill, SirVocea Dennis, Calijah Kancey, Vincent Davis and Leslie Smith — and he’s the only one from that group still on the team. Some went to the NFL; others transferred.

How did Carter make it through six seasons at one school?

“Me, just being loyal, how I was raised,” he said of parents Darryl and Tonya Carter back in Margate, Fla. “You never want to quit on your teammates. I committed here for a reason. I didn’t commit here so I could just come here for a couple of years and leave and go someplace else.

“I wanted to wear that Pitt script. I wanted to stay here and do this with my teammates. I’m glad I got the chance to do that.”

Carter has seen every level of success at Pitt. The 2021 team won the ACC championship. In 2023, Pitt won three games. Plus, there were eight-, six- and nine-victory seasons and this one to be determined.

“We’ve seen the highs of the highs and the lows of the lows and us having just an average season,” he said.

He said he wants to leave an impact that will live beyond his days at Pitt.

“We won here before. We know what it looks like,” he said. “We need to demand that from everybody, not just (the seniors). We need to demand that out of the people in the back of the room, too.”

Like McMillon, tight end Gavin Bartholomew is concluding his fourth and final season, having joined the team in 2021.

“I try not to think about it because I like my time here, and I’m trying to stay focused,” he said. “Trying to get wins and make it memorable.”

He said the past four years changed him on and off the field.

“I came a long way (as a person),” he said. “Being around the older guys we have on the team and a championship-caliber team definitely helped me to get to that level. Everyone is buying in, and you just have to fight the good fight and keep chugging along.”

Even Narduzzi will feel a tug on his emotions.

“All these (seniors) who sit in the front row (of the meeting room), I love each and every one of them,” he said. “I don’t care if they’ve been here just for six months, three months. You build a relationship with these guys every day. You see them every morning. I want to see them all go out on top.”

Then, there’s linebacker Brandon George, another six-year player, who will play in his 62nd game Saturday (two off Cal Adomitis’ school record).

Asked George, “Is it Senior Day already?

“For me, it’s another game,” he said. “There are still two more after it to win.”