Pitt’s Kenny Pickett Named ACC Male Athlete of the Year

PITTSBURGH—Pitt football great and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett was named the 2022 ACC Male Athlete of the Year, the conference office announced today.

Pickett, who led the Panthers to the 2021 ACC football championship and was the first quarterback selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, becomes Pitt's first Atlantic Coast Conference Athlete of the Year winner since the university joined the league ahead of the 2013-14 athletic campaign.

Pickett ACC Athlete of the Year

Pickett joins the likes of North Carolina's Michael Jordan (1984), Wake Forest's Tim Duncan (1997), NC State's Phillip Rivers (2004) and Clemson's Trevor Lawrence (2021) as a recipient of the Anthony J. McKelvin Award, which the ACC has presented to the league's top male athlete since 1954.

"It is a tremendous honor to receive this award from the ACC, a conference that annually produces so many accomplished athletes," said Pickett. "As always, I share this honor with my Pitt teammates, coaches and staff. Winning the ACC championship together is something I will cherish forever."

"Kenny had a historic year, not only for Pitt but also for the Atlantic Coast Conference," Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. "He represented our university, the city of Pittsburgh and the ACC with the utmost class every step of the way. Kenny is a very deserving recipient of this prestigious award and we are, yet again, tremendously proud of him."

This award is the latest in a long line of accomplishments for Pickett stemming from his remarkable 2021 season.

Pickett directed the Panthers to an 11-2 record and the program's first ACC title. The 11 victories marked Pitt's most since Dan Marino quarterback the 1981 team to an 11-1 mark.

From an individual standpoint, Pickett started 13 contests and completed 67% of his passes (334 of 497) for 4,319 yards with 42 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. Including his five rushing scores, he totaled 47 touchdowns. Pickett's passing yardage, passing touchdowns, total TDs and completions all marked Pitt season records. He set an ACC season record for touchdown passes, breaking the prior mark of 41 set by Clemson's Deshaun Watson, who also won the McKelvin Award.

Pickett was named a first team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), becoming the first Pitt quarterback to earn first-team status since Marino in 1981.

He won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (presented to the top upperclassman quarterback set to graduate with his class) and the Senior CLASS Award (presented to the most outstanding senior Football Bowl Subdivision student-athlete). Pickett additionally was a Heisman Trophy finalist—Pitt's first since receiver Larry Fitzgerald in 2003—and finished third in the balloting.

Pickett finished his collegiate career as Pitt's all-time leader in passing yards (12,303), pass completions (1,045), total offense (13,112), touchdown responsibility (102) and passing touchdowns (81). He had 20 career rushing touchdowns, a new standard for a Pitt quarterback.

In addition to his athletic excellence, Pickett was accomplished academically and from a community and leadership standpoint.

Pitt's two-time team captain earned his bachelor's degree in marketing and enrolled in the Katz Graduate School of Business.

He was nationally lauded for his NIL initiatives, which have emphasized philanthropy as well as his teammates. Pickett's volunteerism while on campus included efforts with the Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania, Make-A-Wish of Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the Dollar Energy Fund and Voting Matters campaign. Pickett also donated his student-athlete per diem so that local youth teams could have resources to purchase bottled water for practices and games.

Now with the Steelers, Pickett will look to build upon Pitt's history of producing excellent NFL talent, which has seen the likes of Aaron Donald, James Conner, Brian O'Neill, Larry Fitzgerald, Darrelle Revis and LeSean McCoy make Pro Bowl appearances in recent years after playing college football at Pitt.

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Pitt’s Kenny Pickett Named ACC Male Athlete of the Year

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