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Blue Chip Chat with Aaron Donald, Penn Hills
Catching up with the top area high school football players entering 2009:
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Height: 6-1 Weight: 270 Position: Defensive tackle Year: Senior

The Skinny: One of the top interior defensive linemen in the state. Donald had a big junior season and made the Post-Gazette Fabulous 22. He has added about 20 pounds since last year, but is still very quick for a lineman. He insists he will be an even better player this season. His brother, Archie, is a linebacker at Toledo.

College talk: Made a verbal commitment to Pitt in April. At the time, he also had scholarship offers from Rutgers, Toledo and Akron.

Did you want the added weight this season? Yeah. I'm trying to get even a little more. I'd like to be about 280. I just want to be harder to push around.

How can you be better this year? Just work harder and don't take any plays off. Go hard every play and work on some new moves to get by a guy quicker.

How much were you double-teamed last year and how much will it happen this year? I was doubled a lot at the end of the year and I expect it to happen even more this year. That's why I have to work to get off the double teams and get to the ball.

Who should be the no. 1-ranked team in the WPIAL? Penn Hills. Honestly, Penn Hills. We have some good players coming back.

But aren't there a lot of question marks on this team, too? Yeah, but people are stepping up.

Who will end up the best player, you or your brother archie? We're both good, but we play different positions.

So you're not going to answer? [Laugh] No.

If you couldn't be a football player, what would you be? I guess a businessman, working downtown somewhere. Getting paid a lot of money.

Best nickname on team? Buck Nasty. That's Cullen Christian. I don't know why, but that's just his nickname.

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Mike White can be reached at mwhite@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1975.
First published on August 19, 2009 at 12:00 am