Calijah Kancey: DL · Pittsburgh · #8.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Calijah Kancey
Disrupts the pocket from the interior. Third year in the Pittsburgh defensive front. All-America (Consensus) in 2022 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. On tape: 5 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss against Georgia Tech, Week 5, 2022.
Play style
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
29 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 14 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Oct 24Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Pittsburgh | 29 | 19 | 14.0 | 7.5 | -- |
| 2021 | Pittsburgh | 33 | 23 | 13.0 | 7.0 | 1 |
| 2020 | Pittsburgh | 27 | 12 | 7.0 | 1.5 | 2 |
| Career | 89 | 54 | 34.0 | 16.0 | 3 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2022 season · 11 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 38-31vs West Virginia | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 2 | L 27-34vs No. 24 Tennessee | 2 | 2 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 34-13@ Western Michigan | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 45-24vs Rhode Island | 3 | 1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 21-26vs Georgia Tech | 5 | 3 | 3.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | 3.5 TFL |
| Wk 6 | W 45-29vs Virginia Tech | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 10-24@ Louisville | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 24-42@ No. 21 North Carolina | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 19-9vs No. 22 Syracuse | 4 | 2 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 37-7@ Virginia | 3 | 3 | 3.0 | 3.0 | — | 0 | 3 sacks |
| Wk 12 | W 28-26vs Duke | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 29 | 19 | 14.0 | 7.5 | — | 0 |
Week 11 · 2022
W 37-7
at Virginia
3 sacks · 3 tackles for loss · 3 tackles
Dominant 30-point win on the road against Virginia.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
48%14 TFLSack rate
26%8 sacksHurry rate
34%10 hurries29 tackles · 14 for loss · 7.5 sacks.
3 seasons under Pat Narduzzi — 26-12 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2022 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 3.1 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 3.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 1.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Pat Narduzzi
Pass share
43.7%
391 pass / 503 run
Plays / game
68.8
13 games
Team sack rate
4.1%
410 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2022
First team on every major selector list.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #41 at the position.
Selector Grid · 2022
Named Consensus All-American — recognized on 3+ of the 5 NCAA-recognized selector lists.
How it ended
Three seasons at Pittsburgh, 16 sacks, a Unanimous All-American season (2022) — drafted at #19 overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
A stat line in 32 games over three seasons.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-AMERICA · UNANIMOUS
Unanimous AA (2022)
Named to 7 first-team selectors
ALL-ACC · 1ST TEAM
All-ACC 1st team (2022)
Weekly recognition
1 weekly honor (2022)
ACC Defensive Line Player of the Week
Coaching lineage · 2019–2022
1 coachPlayed every college season under Pat Narduzzi.
Next stop · NFL
Tampa Bay BuccaneersEntering 4th NFL season
Tampa Bay BuccaneersEntering 4th NFL season
