Crisan's Kickoff: Pitt's Alexandre embodies spirit of the giving season taken in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Pitt)

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Pitt's Deslin Alexandre volunteering at a food drive.

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Crisan's Kickoff: Pitt's Alexandre embodies spirit of the giving season

By Corey Crisan

Nov 25, 2022 • 9:54 pm

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

I hope you all were able to enjoy your holiday with your loved ones and those close to you.

It's officially the first couple of days of the giving season. This time of the year brings forward the best and brightest of the community. Charity and giving are at the forefront. Consideration for others goes before the consideration of self. The top-of-mind topics shift from the everyday norms into the spirit of what the true human heart can maximize when we all put differences aside.

As you may be aware, by now, Pitt's two-time team captain doesn't need a special time of year to embody these qualities.

It's just who Deslin Alexandre is.

Alexandre is not only displaying ultimate selflessness by means of his own NIL initiative, but also from his works around Pittsburgh and its communities. He has picked up prestigious national award nominations because of these acts.

You have likely heard of his amazing work with the Pittsburgh Kids Foundation and his 'Fifth Down' campaign for Haiti, where he is on a mission to raise money for children in his hometown of Cap Haitien, Haiti. His goal is to raise $50,000, and over the course of the season, it has been absolutely tremendous and enlightening to follow along with the growing support that he has received from Pittsburgh, the Pitt faithful, and those who have caught wind of his mission and have generously given.

I remembered tracking the donation total from the start of the season, and it was in the low-four figure range. As of this posting, Alexandre has eclipsed the $40,000 mark, thanks in large part to an unbelievably generous $22,500 donated by PGT Trucking, as announced during last week's home game against Duke.

What a tremendous gesture for a well-deserving campaign and a well-deserving person leading the charge.

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"I think it's a blessing, man," Alexandre said this week. "Just to come out with Thanksgiving, just really being thankful for all that I have and my brothers and my team. Also thankful for PGT Trucking helping Fifth Down with our efforts. Really blessed with that, and really appreciate it."

Any time we get to chat with Deslin, whether it's on camera and recording or away from it, the conversation never begins with football. It's always about life and about well-being. That, simply put, is the aura he gives off. 

"I'm just saying I'm thankful," Alexandre said. "Thankful is a word that I think can help me describe it. For everyone, even (teammate) Marcus Minor's mom has been doing a lot of work behind the scene and has helped in (getting the word) out. Really thankful for that. Thankful for everyone, going out to you guys (the reporters), getting the story out, Miss Celeste (Welsh, Pitt's director of community engagement) helping me get this together, everyone who has had a hand in it, who's donated, if you hear this, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for allowing me to help people, thankful for them helping people, also. It takes us all, so I'm really thankful for that."

What a first-class individual.

I have posted about this campaign in the past, and to err on the side of potentially sounding repetitive, I'll jump to the next point by saying this: In today's college athletics world, where the name, image, and likeness deals are running rampant and athletes are profiting for themselves, Alexandre is among a special class of student-athletes who is using these NIL parameters for all of the right reasons.

And, we can applaud him for that.

But, Alexandre isn't just displaying these acts within his own NIL campaign. If you look closely, you'll see numerous acts of kindness displayed by Alexandre right here, in Pittsburgh.

So much so, that Alexandre has earned national recognition and is a semifinalist for two incredibly prestigious national awards.

On Nov. 1, Alexandre was named a semifinalist for the Wuerffel Trophy, which is given as college football's premier award for community service. Named after former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel, the award is to "honor college football players who serve others, celebrate their positive impact on society and inspire greater service to the world."

Then, on Nov. 16, Alexandre was recognized as one of 20 semifinalists for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year award, which is given to a student-athlete who "demonstrated a record of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity and sportsmanship both on and off the field."

Appropriate recognitions, and here is hoping he earns at least one of these awards. It would be well deserved, to say the absolute least.

"Relationships and getting degrees and winning, all those things, really are the foundation of coach (Pat) Narduzzi's program, and Des is just the kind of person that has taken it and run with it," Pitt defensive line coach Charlie Partridge said this week. "Calijah (Kancey) does a lot of great things in the community, Dayon Hayes is involved in things. There's a lot of people that are involved in things around the community, and Des is a great focal point for that."

Within Pittsburgh, Alexandre has become a public figure and has been that focal point for community service.

Alexandre is a regular volunteer at his church in Pittsburgh, and has been active within the "Red Door Program," which his parish utilizes to provide meals and community engagement for the homeless. He has enlisted the help of his teammates in donating clothing, which Alexandre personally has delivered.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alexandre donated his per diem to the city's youth football teams so they could purchase bottled water for practices and games. He also partook in regular virtual reading sessions with elementary schools in the area, and later went for in-person visits and Q & A sessions with students once in-person restrictions were lifted.

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Pitt Athletics

Deslin Alexandre reads to a group of school children.

He has hosted football clinics for Pittsburgh's Hill District, where he instructs players on-field. During Pitt's annual "day of service," Alexandre participates in helping the various associated non-profit organizations.

He has also supported our nation's great veterans, as a regular visitor to the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center. He hosted a day for veterans during Pitt training camp, where they came to watch practice and interact with the team.

He has participated in Make-A-Wish, when he hosted children at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for tours and lunch in the team cafeteria.

Last Christmas, Alexandre helped gather and wrap presents for local families in need. 

That's the summary, as brief as I could make it, of the tremendous outreach that Alexandre has provided.

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Pitt Athletics

Deslin Alexandre and a group of students hold up hands to signify Alexandre's Fifth Down campaign.

"Deslin is such an unselfish guy," Narduzzi said earlier this month. "His Fifth Down for Haiti is a big deal. He's into that. He wants to take care of his people back home, he's still got family there, so anybody out there that's interested, please help Deslin out. He's trying to get to $50,000. He's just a guy that cares about other people, and that's what you'd better have. You better have a loving team that cares about other people, not just themselves. It kind of goes into the 'we, we,' not the 'me, me' part of who we are, who we try to be. 

"He's just a tremendous kid. You sit down and talk with him, and it's just like, that guy will do anything for anybody, and it's not just that, the Fifth Down deal. He does it all during the summer. I get texts from our life skills (staff) and Celeste saying, just out of the blue, like, look what Deslin's doing on a Sunday at noon. There's nothing planned, he's just out there helping. He's not trying to get an award, it's just that's who he is. It's tremendous."

ON TO MIAMI

Now, let's discuss Saturday's game, which I haven't touched on much this week from a matchup perspective.

Before the season started, this game oozed all of the makings of one which could have decided the ACC Coastal Division. Both teams were primed as contenders, with Pitt being the defending conference champion and Miami building plenty of buzz after the hiring of Mario Cristobal as its coach in December of 2021. Miami pulled in the 16th-ranked 2022 recruiting class in the country, per 247Sports, and while some of those freshmen have not yet seen the field, that in of itself was at least enough to generate buzz around Miami's program.

The Hurricanes, however, are probably be one of the largest disappointments in college football this season, with regards to expectations. They are 5-6 overall and 3-4 within ACC play, and it's truly hard to believe that they need this game for bowl eligibility.

Miami's season was defined through five weeks, with a three-game losing streak which included a paltry 17-9 defeat to Texas A&M, an ugly 45-31 loss to Middle Tennessee State, and a closer-than-anticipated 27-24 defeat to Coastal champion North Carolina. 

Miami also sustained home losses to Duke (45-21) and Florida State (45-3 -- yikes!), and a 40-10 drubbing at Clemson last week.

Miami needs this game in the worst way, aside from gaining bowl eligibility, and Narduzzi and Co. are preparing for a carousel of quarterbacks which could start.

That is the biggest and, quite frankly, the only question mark that needs to be looked at. 

Tyler Van Dyke "has a great chance" to play against Pitt, according to Cristobal earlier this week, after missing last week's game at Clemson. It was a mix of Jacurri Brown (6-for-13, 53 yards, interception) and Jake Garcia (3-for-5, 15 yards, touchdown) against the Tigers.

"Big question mark would be who the quarterback is," Narduzzi said this week. "Obviously we know Tyler Van Dyke is a tremendous quarterback. Jacurri Brown is a guy started I think the last couple weeks. It's hard to tell. There's quarterbacks in and out. So they have had some quarterback issues.

"The Brown kid really is a great athlete that can run, and I think he just keeps getting better every game he gets in there. The one interesting thing this week is he's not leading the team in rushing because he hasn't played enough games. Otherwise he probably would. But he hasn't been in enough games to be that guy yet, but he shows streaks of being able to really get up and go."

More from Cristobal this week, on Van Dyke:

“He’s been getting better and better," Cristobal told WQAM radio in south Florida. "Obviously since, I think it was Game 6 or Game 7, when he got injured, certainly he’s a guy that is sorely missed. We started off OK and then we had some lumps and then he really got hot for two games before he got hurt. ... It would be great to have him back, and he’s got a great chance to be back, and we’re monitoring that daily.’’

THE ESSENTIALS

• Who: Pitt (7-4, 4-3 ACC) at Miami (5-6, 3-4 ACC)
• When: 8 p.m. Saturday
• Where: Hard Rock Stadium (65,326)
• Spread: Pitt by 6.5
• Weather: 85°, Partly cloudy, 24% chance of rain, 8 mph. wind (Hard Rock Stadium has a canopy enclosure)
• TV: ACC Network
• Radio: 93.7 The Fan, 92.1 WPTS-FM (Pitt student broadcast)
• Streaming: ESPN App
• Satellite: SiriusXM channel 194, SXM App channel 956
• Box score: Stat Broadcast
• Media notes: Pitt (Miami's unavailable)

TEN TO WATCH

• #2 Israel Abanikanda -- At the conclusion of Saturday's game, Abanikanda will officially be crowned the ACC's rushing king. He enters Saturday with 1,320 rushing yards and a 360-yard cushion on Clemson's Will Shipley for the ACC lead. Abanikanda is a semifinalist for three high-end, performance-based awards: the Maxwell Award (writers' player of the year), the Walter Camp Award (coaches' player of the year), and the Doak Walker Award (nation's top running back).

“What I know about Izzy and that room is, one, coach (Tim) Salem must have done a great job recruiting him, coach (Andre) Powell does a great job coaching him," offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. said this week. "Izzy’s very talented. … He can hit home runs. He’s a joy to be around. He loves football, he’s got a positive outlook on it, he wants to get better. As a play caller, you love being able to hand the ball to a running back that can make big things happen, right? Really happy and proud of Izzy.”

• #2 David Green -- Green had the key strip of Jordan Waters, which led to a Brandon Hill scoop-and-score last week against Duke.

• #6 John Morgan III -- After a blazing hot start to his season, Morgan experienced a lull over the month of October in registering just six total tackles and zero sacks. In November, Morgan has tallied four total tackles, 1.5 for a loss, with 1.5 sacks. Morgan was one of the main playmakers in halting Duke's two-point conversion attempt at the end of the game, as he flushed Blue Devils receiver Jordan Moore up into the pocket on the "Philly Special" redux, which led to a SirVocea Dennis sack.

"Like any player, I think sometimes guys need an extra little push, and John works hard every day," Partridge said. "It's no different than any other player. I think at some point, not that I think he felt he arrived in any way, shape, or form, I just wanted to make sure that John was practicing and living up to his standard, and I wanted to make sure he knew that there was still a lot out there for him. And to John's credit, he reacted, and he's doing a nice job. 

"It's not that he was doing anything bad, it's just, I think that the daily standard of how to prepare and how to practice. I'm not upset about anything -- I think, at times, we talk about taking risks all the time, and part of taking a risk is how to mitigate that risk and how to handle that risk, and those are some of the things that we were looking for John to make sure that he had control of."

When I asked Narduzzi on Monday about Morgan's resurgence, he remarked, "I think coach Partridge has got a size-10 shoe. I think that's part of it."

Partridge said this week that he wears a size-11 shoe, for those wondering.

• #7 SirVocea Dennis -- Dennis, a semifinalist for the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker, has been on a tear for himself over the last month. He registered 38 total tackles over his last four games -- exactly eight in three of those, and a season-high 14 tackles recorded against Duke last week.

Check out this video from Pitt's social media of Dennis working man-on-the-street-style interviews with Pitt teammates and personnel about Thanksgiving food. It's quite entertaining. He might have a future in broadcasting.

And, a second helping of SirVocea was served later in the afternoon on Thursday:

• #8 Calijah Kancey -- What more can be said about Kancey? He is on track for All-America status, again, and is on track to potentially clean up on some postseason awards. Kancey is a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, given to college football's best defensive player, as well as a semifinalist for the Outland Trophy (best interior lineman) and a semifinalist for the Nagurski Trophy (writers' defensive player of the year).

• #14 Marquis Williams -- Perhaps an under-the-radar hero of this Pitt team, Williams largely hasn't had numbers that explode off the stat sheet, but for cornerbacks, that is not necessarily a bad thing. His two interceptions have been returned for touchdowns this season. He has registered just 19 total tackles and three passes defended. What does that mean? Teams are not throwing to his way much.

• #50 Dayon Hayes -- Newsy item here: A simple assault charge stemming from an incident on Nov. 6 was dropped in his preliminary hearing on Tuesday. A second charge of harassment was filed as a non-traffic summary offense, which is the lowest grade of criminal charge under Pennsylvania law. Hayes returned to the field for Pitt last week, after missing the Panthers' game against Virginia two weeks ago.

"Obviously he missed one game, and like I've said, you're always innocent until you're proven guilty," Narduzzi said on Monday. "But, we've kind of made him guilty until he's innocent. He's paid a price with the team, he's paid a price on the field. He was out for a week, and spent some time down in what we call 'the pit' down there, doing some stuff with coach Stac (strength coach Michael Sacchiotti), so we'll wait to see where that whole thing goes, then we'll move on from there."

• #60 Owen Drexel -- It has been a welcomed sight to see the redshirt senior Drexel work his way back from a leg injury, and Pitt's offensive line has looked more cohesive with the center's return. 

"Well, first off, Owen’s a great player, great kid," Cignetti said. "He does a great job with his I.Ds. He brings experience. He gets everyone on the same page. But, you know, you brought up a good point, because we’ve had a lot of different rotations in there. But it shows you what a great job that coach Narduzzi and coach (Dave) Borbely have done recruiting linemen and training linemen. As the offensive coordinator and play caller, I haven’t had to blink worrying about who’s playing left tackle, who’s playing right tackle, who’s at center. We’ve been very fortunate with the depth that we have up front.”

• #86 Gavin Bartholomew -- I'm starting to believe Bartholomew is not at 100%, after sustaining a shoulder injury against Rhode Island in Week 4. Maybe I'm grasping at something to explain his continued lack of usage, but that might have something to do with it, at this point.

"He does a really good job in the passing game," Cignetti said. "I’d love to get him more touches. You know, he’s a really good player, and I think what you’ll see in these next two years is Gavin continuing to develop into a total tight end. What do I mean by that? A guy that can play in all three phases. He can run block, he can pass protect, and he can run routes.”

• #90 Ben Sauls -- Sauls was named the ACC's specialist of the week, after scoring eight points against Duke. He made a 47-yard and a career-high 51-yard field goal against Duke in windy conditions. His 51-yard make was the longest by a Pitt player dating to Nov. 21, 2020, when Alex Kessman converted from 52 and 53 yards against Virginia Tech.


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