Aaron Donald: A Pittsburgh Success Story
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- Penn Hills native, first team All-State Class AAAA in final two seasons, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and unanimous All-American at Pitt, 13th overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft and 3-time Pro Bowler.
These are all statements used (among many others) to describe former Penn Hills and Pitt star, now L.A. Rams defensive end, Aaron Donald. But for everything he has done on the field, people in Pittsburgh and around the country should be impressed by what does off the field and what fuels him each day.
Donald joined "The Fan Morning Show" on Wednesday while attending Pitt's National Signing Day festivities. First thing's first, Aaron is always proud to say he is from Pittsburgh.
"That's where blue collar football comes from in my eyes is the city of Pittsburgh, so I'm just happy to be a guy that was born and raised in a great city," said Donald.
Aaron still sometimes marvels at the fact that he has made his NFL dreams come true.
"I'll still be at practice sometimes and I sit and I look around like, 'I'm really in the NFL right now.' It's still surreal going into year four and still like, 'This is what I dreamed about doing all my life,' and for it to come full circle, me actually being in the National Football League, when I say it's a blessing I mean it. I put a lot of hard work into this game and I'm still putting a lot of hard work into it and just to see it come full circle and see all this work pay off, man, I'm just happy and blessed to have the opportunities that I'm having," he said.
At his position, Donald is often characterized as being small in stature at 6-feet-1-inch and 285 pounds. But, what he lacks in pure size he certainly makes up for in the work that he puts in. He credits his family for instilling the work ethic in him that he has implemented his entire football career.
"[When] you've got older siblings to look up to to push you and motivate you, that makes my job a lot easier. When I wanted to sit down and watch TV and those guys are outside doing extra work, I'm like, 'Let me get up, let me do some extra work too,'" said Donald. "That's how it's always been in my household, you know we always fed off each other, pushed each other so my family is definitely a huge part of my success and where I'm at today because of the way they pushed me and who they made me as a person and as a football player, I give a lot of credit to them. Definitely all those headlocks my brother picked me up growing up toughen me up a lot, too."
The Pitt football program and the Steelers share the same practice facility on the South Side, so Pitt players have a unique opportunity to be close to and interact with professional football players throughout the season. Donald took advantage of that during his Pitt career for inspiration.
"Players come up to you, talk to you a little bit, they know who you are and even head coach Tomlin came up to me and talked to me a lot when I was there," said Donald. "Being a young guy and trying to get to that level and having NFL football players come up to you and talk to you and you've got the head coach of an NFL football team come up and talk to you, that's motivation right there in my eyes."
While at Pitt, Donald won the Lombardi Award, Bronco Nagurski Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award and Outland Trophy. With his superior talent, it didn't take long for Donald to become a feared pass rusher in the NFL.
"My second year probably later in the season my second year, but this year I've seen a lot of teams scheming and game planning to take me out of the game and definitely seen a lot of double teams, triple teams and even the running back coming up, chipping out the B gap. I never got that before, so that was new. You get a lot of different things thrown your way, you just have to find ways to beat it," said Donald.
Being a player on the Rams' roster certainly has come with some changes lately with the franchise moving from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
"Big city. It's a real big city, it's whole lot different from me being a Pittsburgh kid moving to L.A., it's a big city," said Donald. "The fans are great, but it's definitely a whole different world out there I had to get used to it, fast-paced city. I'm liking it though, I'm definitely liking it. I'm loving the fans, the fans always show so much support and love to the Rams so I think it was a good move for us. I'm still kind of down about the St. Louis fans because I love [those] guys too, but I know they are going to continue to support us hopefully."
One downside to the L.A. life is that Donald lives about 45 minutes outside of the city and he said he really has to be careful about when he leaves and what routes he takes because it's very easy to get caught up in traffic.
Finally, Donald recognizes all the things that his parents did for him growing up to allow him the opportunity to play football, go to college and eventually become a professional. Aaron devotes his life's work on the field to them in appreciation.
"That was always my goal to just retire my mom and dad," said Donald. "Work my butt off to repay them. And I feel like I still can't repay them, that's not enough. But, having an opportunity to do that and have them relax a little bit more and not worry about things that just makes me feel good and makes my heart feel good. That's why I work how I work and I'm going to continue to work how I'm working and I'm not comfortable yet so I'm still working. I'll be comfortable when I hang it up one day, but right now, I'm just working."
You can hear the entire interview with Aaron Donald on "The Fan Morning Show" below.