Pickett named as Heisman Trophy finalist

Kenny Pickett's list of accolades just keeps growing.

Monday night, less than 48 hours since Pitt won its first ever ACC Championship in Charlotte, N.C., ESPN announced Pickett as one of the four finalists for the 2021 Heisman Trophy.

Pickett becomes the first Pitt Panther to be named a Heisman Trophy finalist since Larry Fitzgerald in 2003. He has a chance to become the first Pitt player to win the award since Tony Dorsett in 1976.

He's up against Michigan's defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, Ohio State's quarterback C.J. Stroud, and Alabama's quarterback Bryce Young:

Between the quarterbacks, Young has the most passing yards with 4,322, most passing touchdowns with 43, and the fewest interceptions with just four. Pickett is right behind him with 4,319 passing yards and 42 passing touchdowns, the most ever by an ACC quarterback, and only seven interceptions. Stroud is further back in yards and touchdowns with 3,862 yards and 38 touchdown passes, but only five interceptions.

Hutchinson has the second-most sacks in the country with 14.0 through 13 games. He will lead two-seed Michigan in their semi-final College Football Playoff game against three-seed Georgia, while Young will lead one-seed Alabama to face four-seed Cincinnati. 

Stroud will lead Ohio State against Utah in the Rose Bowl, while Pickett and the Panthers take on Michigan State in the Peach Bowl. But none of that will count towards the award as voting closed 6 p.m. and the votes have been tallied.

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi first called for voters to put Pickett on their Heisman Trophy watch list after Pickett threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns against Georgia Tech. The Panthers' quarterback has been consistently elite all season long with multiple touchdown passes in each game he's played, outplaying highly-touted quarterbacks like North Carolina's Sam Howell, Virginia's Brennan Armstrong, and most recently Wake Forest's Sam Hartman.

Months after Narduzzi's call for the rest of the world to start thinking about Pickett as a Heisman Trophy candidate, Pickett was leading Pitt to a rout of an ACC Championship win, where Pitt fans had taken over Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., chanting "Kenny Heisman!"

Now Pitt fans can watch the Heisman Trophy presentation Saturday, Dec. 11 at 8 p.m. to see if Pickett can add another historic feat to his resume.

That'll be tough to do as Young had an impressively strong finish to his season as well. He led Alabama to a overtime comeback win over Auburn that kept the Crimson Tide's season alive and picked apart the best defense in the country when Alabama took down former No. 1 ranked Georgia in the SEC Championship.

But regardless, Pickett has earned this national respect. Not just for his play on the field, but also for his leadership in the locker room and how he's turned Pitt football around.