University at Albany football mentor Greg Gattuso was the defensive line coach for the University of Pittsburgh when he went to scout a substantial school game in the Pittsburgh area in 2008.
Gattuso was there to search at a senior linebacker but could not choose his eyes off a 5-foot-11 junior defensive deal with for Penn Hills Substantial University.
That player was Aaron Donald.
“He was just destroying the other crew,” Gattuso recalled previous week. “I known as the head coach and we supplied him suitable away. He was pretty unique in my eyes even as a younger person. Had no idea he’d be the greatest participant of his era, but he was really some thing in significant faculty, and university, and in the NFL.”
Donald dominated at Pitt and then grew to become a superstar for the Los Angeles Rams, who won the Super Bowl final Sunday. Donald, now a 6-foot-1, 280-pound, three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Yr, built vital performs on third and fourth down to protect Los Angeles’ 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I was thrilled for Aaron,” Gattuso reported. “That’s exceptional I get that engaged in any pro soccer … but I was actually hoping Aaron would be aspect of a Tremendous Bowl winner. He’s carried out everything in his job. He’s a fantastic man or woman. So I was genuinely energized when I observed he designed the two huge performs in the game back again-to-back and to close that match and I just thought it was amazing.”
Donald, thought of small for his posture, was evenly recruited out of high school. Gattuso recalled Donald had only three scholarship offers, and a single was from the College of Akron.
Gattuso only served as Donald’s place mentor at Pitt for just one year, in 2010. Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt and his workers ended up fired just after that season. Donald remained at Pitt, made into an All-American and was the 13th decide on of the Rams in the 2014 NFL Draft, when the franchise was still in St. Louis.
“We presented him simply because we thought he was heading to be a terrific player,” Gattuso said. “He was explosive and athletic. What I acquired later on in the recruiting method the whole next yr, and a year of coaching him, is he’s exceptionally challenging and clever as properly. The way I place it is, he’s A-moreover in each category but real dimensions. He’s not the sizing you appear for, but the guy, he’s acquired an extraordinary football thoughts, he’s amazingly challenging and really hard-nosed and no a person will outwork him and that is Aaron. And he rises up in major moments, which is why I imagine he need to have been the (Super Bowl) MVP.”
Rams extensive receiver Cooper Kupp was named the MVP following catching the winning touchdown go with 1:25 still left.
With the Rams protecting their 3-stage guide, Donald tackled Cincinnati’s Samaje Perine for no acquire on third-and-1. On fourth down, Donald broke in and harassed Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow into a video game-ending incompletion.
“The third-down end was, I’m telling you from a defensive coach’s point of view, was one of the great performs I’ve at any time viewed from a defensive lineman,” Gattuso mentioned. “Just shutting the gap down with the offensive lineman and wrapping the guy up and not letting him press for the lawn, was a specific play.”
Gattuso mentioned he despatched a congratulatory textual content to Donald, who responded the up coming day. The two have remained in touch more than the decades. In 2020, at the start off of the pandemic, Donald went on online video conference simply call with Gattuso and the UAlbany defensive linemen. He took concerns from the Excellent Dane gamers for pretty much an hour.
“That’s just the kind of particular person he is,” Gattuso stated. “He’s a terrific male and I’m genuinely delighted for him.”