Scott McKillop
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Scott McKillop (born March 3, 1986 in Export, Pennsylvania) plays linebacker for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers in the NCAA college football tournament. Praised for his mix of speed and strength, McKillop quickly rose to the ranks of the country's elite linebackers after turning out one of the most productive seasons ever by a Pitt defender and putting up eye-popping digits in tackles (12.58 tackles/game, #1 in the nation) and solo stops (8.17 avg., #2 in the country). His 151 single-season total in tackles is the third most in program history, helping the Panthers defense which gave up only 297.67 yards per game (7th nationally).
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Personal Life
Scott is one of Robert and Monika McKillop's three children. His two older brothers are athletes like him, with the eldest (Robert) being a former heavyweight wrestler at Slippery Rock University while the second eldest (Chris) a former Panther defensive lineman. Scott had his first break in football in 10th grade when he was thrust into a linebacking role after his team's first string LB got injured. One of his rituals before a game include finishing his pregame meal first. He is also tasked for assembling the huddle on the field and is in charge of calling the defense and making sure the other players are in the right spot.
The story behind his jersey number, 40, is an interesting one. Since his older brother Chris wears #41 in honor of their grandfather who passed away at the age of 41, he said that he wore #40 in high school just to annoy his sibling. By the time he was in college, he kept the number because he thought it would be cool to have brothers play for the same team wearing 40 and 41.
Scott, a business-marketing major, interned with Pittsburgh's Major League Baseball franchise, the Pittsburgh Pirates, in its special events department and once during the summer of 2007, he wore one of the oversized costumes in two of the team's Great Pierogie Races.
Scott says his favorite tackler is Brian Urlacher, his favorite kind of tackle is the open field tackle, and his personal favorite tackle is the one he did on former West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton in the regular season finale last season. On fourth-and-3 at the Pitt 24 with 3:47 to play, he dropped Slaton which forced the 2nd ranked Mountaineers to give up the pigskin on downs. Pitt went on to win and in the process cost WVU a berth in the BCS National Championship.
High School
McKillop attended Kiski Area High School where he was a three year letterman in football and wrestling and earned two more in track and field. In the football field, the versatile McKillop played under head football coach Dave Grimm both as a linebacker in defense and as a running back on offense during his last two seasons of high school. In his junior season, he posted a team-best 124 tackles, 10 TFLs, 2 interceptions, and 5 forced fumbles to go along his 729 rushing yards and 9 scoring runs to earn an All-Quad South Selection and a Pittsburgh Tribune Review All-Quad AAAA team accolades as an all-purpose performer at RB and LB. On his final playing year, McKillop registered 61 solos and 71 assists while rushing for 321 yards on 71 carries with 4 scoring TDs to earn a spot at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Fabulous 22" selection.
The Export, Pennsylvania native ended his high school football career establishing a school record of 332 career tackles and 161 solos while leading his school to three consecutive WPIAL Class AAAA playoff berths. Among his other accolades include a spot at the Pennsylvania Class AAAA All-State First Team from the Associated Press, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review "Terrific 25", the Harrisburg Patriot-News "Platinum 33", the SuperPrep All-Northeast Team, the PrepStar All-East Region, and a Valley News All-Star honors. Rivals.com ranked McKillop as the No. 20 overall prospect in Pennsylvania and the No. 31 outside linebacker prospect in the nation, while SuperPrep rated him as the #24 prospect in Pennsylvania. Aside from these, he was also chosen to take part in the Big 33 Football Classic.
On the wrestling mat, McKillop was equally impressive after posting a 41-1 record as a junior (the winningest season ever by a Kiski wrestler) while bagging the PIAA Southwest regional title and placing 3rd overall. As a senior, he posted a 38-1 record and claimed runner-up honors in the 215-pound division. He ended his high school wrestling career with a 109-10 mark while going 79-2 over the last two seasons. On the track, he advanced into the WPIAL track and field championships in shot and discus. He also excelled in the classroom as he was an honor roll and was a recipient of the National Science Merit Award. He was also a member of the Pride Club, German Club and the Wrestling Club.
College
McKillop, a 3-star rated and 57th ranked linebacker by Scout.com signed with Pittsburgh over Boston College and Syracuse after being offered a scholarship, stating that Pitt was always his #1 choice and that he loved them all along while growing up watching them.
2004
Redshirted.
2005
McKillop appeared in all of Pitt's games during his redshirt freshman year and made appearances as a reserve at the middle linebacker position behind future NFL 6th round pick H.B. Blades. He recorded 27 tackles for the season, including a career high 13 stops against West Virginia---when he saw extended minutes after Blades went down with an injury---and five more tackles at Ohio.
2006
During his sophomore season, McKillop continued to be an understudy of Blades at middle linebacker. He made his season debut at Virginia and had 2 solo stops before recording a season high 7 tackles @ Cincinnati (5 of them on special teams). It was during the game against the Bearcats that he was awarded with the Special Teams Player of the Game honors after putting up a key stop on 4th-and-inches in the 4th quarter with end Joe Clermond. He also registered 6 more tackles at Toledo (with 1 TFL), 3 at Central Florida, and posted 2 tackles a game in his last three outings. He ended the year with 29 tackles (18 solo, 11 assisted), 2 TFLs, 1 sack and 1 pass break up.
2007
McKillop's years as back-up paid off when, after an impressive outing during the spring, he was thrust to leadership status on defense in lieu of former All-American linebacker and Washington Redskins draftee H.B. Blades. McKillop proved to be a worthy replacement as he proved that there was life on the Panther's linebacking position after Blades' departure. In the season opener at Eastern Michigan, he produced 8 total tackles (5 solo, 3 assisted) and 1 tackle for 6 yards loss in the Panthers' 27-3 win. During the course of the season, he reached twin digits in tackles in seven games, including 17 in Michigan State, 15 @ Virginia, 14 against Navy, 16 in a win against 17th ranked Cincinnati, 12 against Syracuse, 16 @ Rutgers, and a season high (career high) 18 against South Florida.
In his first season as starter, McKillop led the Panthers in tackling and was also tops in the nation in tackles per game at 12.58, which was 1-1/2 tackles higher than any other returning player had averaged in 2007. His 151 total tackles was also 91 more than Pitt's #2 tackler, linebacker Shane Murray. He also leads the Big East in solo tackles (98), total tackles (151) and tackles per game (12.58). Among his postseason accolades include a first team All-American selection from Scout.com, a 2nd team citation from Sports Illustrated and CollegeFootballNews.com and a third team from the Associated Press.
2008
McKillop, one of seven returning starters for the Panther defense which was 4th in pass defense in 2007, has been named an early candidate to the 2008 Loft Trophy (college football's "Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year"), the Lombardi Award (country's outstanding lineman or defensive player), and along with teammate LeSean McCoy, was named as preseason candidates for the prestigious Walter Camp Player of the Year award. He also received preseason first team All-American citations from Athlon, The Sporting News, Lindy’s, Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook and NationalChamps.net.
In the season-opening upset loss to Bowling Green, McKillop had six stops with 1.5 TFLs, 2 pass break-ups and a quarterback hurry. The following week against Buffalo, he was named as the Big East Defensive Player of the Week after recording a game-high 15 tackles, with two quarterback hurries, a pass breakup and one tackle for loss while providing a key defensive stop when he applied heavy pressure on quarterback Drew Willy that eventually helped preserve the win. He duplicated the feat as the league's best defensive player when he collected a game-high 10 tackles, including three tackles for loss and a quarterback sack as the Panthers took down Iowa, 21-20. At No.10 South Florida, McKillop not only received the Big East weekly award for the third time, he also bagged the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week as well as the Lott Trophy "IMPACT Player of the Week" honors after his stellar contribution in Pitt's upset win that include a team-high 12 tackles - all solo-with two quarterback sacks, three total tackles for loss and a key stop on a fake field goal attempt in the 26-21 victory.
Career Stats
| Tackles | Tackles for Loss | Sacks | Interceptions | Misc | ||||||||||||||
| Year | Solo | Asst | Tot | Tot/G | TFL | Yds | TFL/G | Sack | Yds | Sck/G | Int | Yds | TD | Int./G | PBU | QBH | FF | K/P B |
| 2005 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 2.45 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 18 | 11 | 29 | 2.42 | 2.0 | 7 | 0.17 | 1.0 | 6 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 98 | 53 | 151 | 12.58 | 9.0 | 31 | 0.75 | 3.0 | 21 | 0.25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.08 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||
Highlights
| Pittburgh's football promo with Scott McKillop (2008). |
Achievements
2008
- Athlon Preseason first team All-America
- Big East Defensive Player of the Week (vs. South Florida, vs. Buffalo, vs. Iowa)
- Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook Preseason first team All-America
- Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook Preseason first team All-Big East
- Chuck Bednarik Award preseason watchlist
- CollegeFootballNews.com Preseason first team All-Big East
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #3 Player in the Big East
- Lindy's Preseason first team All-America
- Lott Trophy "IMPACT Player of the Week" (vs. South Florida)
- Lott Trophy watchlist
- NationalChamps.net Preseason first team All-America
- Phil Steele Preseason first team All-Big East
- Rotary Lombardi Award watchlist
- The Sporting News Preseason first team All-America
- Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week (vs. South Florida)
- Walter Camp Player of the Year Award watchlist
2007
- All-Big East Football First Team (Coaches and Media)
- Big East Defensive Player of the Week (vs. Rutgers)
- CollegeFootballNews.com All-Big East Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com Defensive Player of the Year
- CollegeFootballNews.com Second Team All-America
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #1 LB in the Big East
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #2 Player in the Big East
- Rivals.com All-Big East First Team
- Scout.com First Team All-America
- Sports Illustrated Second Team All-America
- The Associated Press Third Team All-America
- Phil Steele All-Big East First Team
- Pittsburgh's Most Valuable Defensive Player
2006
- Pittsburgh's Special Teams Player of the Game (vs. Cincinnati)
References
- Intense McKillop works to perfect his gift
- Scott McKillop living a Pittsburgh dream
- Scott McKillop Pittsburgh Profile
- Scott McKillop Scout.com Profile
- Scott McKillop Stats @ cfbstats.com
- Scott McKillop Wikipedia
