Paris Ford's High School Football and College Football Teammates talk about the greatness of Paris

University of Pittsburgh Defensive Back Paris Ford celebrates during a Pitt football game.

SOURCE: CBS Pittsburgh

Steel Valley alumnus Paris Ford had offers to play college football at NCAA Division I schools such as Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, Notre Dame, Penn State, West Virginia, and other schools. However, at the end of the day, he decided to stay home and commit to the University of Pittsburgh as he signed with the team back on February 1, 2017.

Paris, who will play his redshirt junior year of college football in the fall, has made a really big name for himself at Pitt. He recorded three interceptions (one of them a pick six), defended 14 passes, forced three fumbles, and recorded 97 tackles in 2019. These statistics helped him get selected on the 2019 All-ACC First-Team Defense. His two interceptions and 12 tackles against Duke back on October 5, 2019 helped him win ACC Defensive Back of the Week for the sixth week of the college football season.

With all the recent success that Paris has had in his college football career, it is possible that he'll get drafted in the National Football League in the near future. Media outlets such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Sports Now have written articles about how Paris and other Pitt defensive back Damar Hamlin could be the best the safety duo in college football going into the 2020 season.

Anyone who follows WPIAL football knows how dominant that Paris was during his high school career (2013-17) as he was a literal beast at Seton LaSalle and Steel Valley. He even played at Central Catholic in 2013. Look, at his HUDL highlights if you do not believe it. So, with all the success that he has had in high school, which includes a 2016 WPIAL & PIAA football championship in his senior year at Steel Valley, his high school and college teammates are not surprised of the success he is having at the collegiate level.

Current Robert Morris University linebacker Jamar Shegog played with Paris in 2015 at Seton LaSalle and Jamar knows how good Paris is.

"Paris Ford is the best player in college football right now," Shegog said. "Paris showed up every day ready to work. He treated practice like a game. No matter what was going on, you knew he was going to bring the energy at practice. Game day was no different. Playing with him, we knew he was going to get us three touchdowns a game. He is an electric returner, he was going to get us an interception, force a fumble and we knew when we needed a big play to get him the ball. Paris was a good player, but he was also I great teammate."

During Jamar's freshman at Seton LaSalle in 2015, he wore the number 33. Then after his freshman season, he switched to the number one and he stuck with that number for the rest of his three years of high school football. The reason he switched numbers was because he knew he had to fill a gap for Ford leaving Seton LaSalle and transferring to Steel Valley in 2016. He knew he had to step up.

"My sophomore year I wore #1 after he left," Shegog said. "I knew I had to step my play up. I could not wear the same number as him and not be elite. I could go on forever about Paris Ford. I am happy I got the privilege to play with him. I love seeing the success and accomplishments. I wish him the best."

Current Duquesne Tight End Billy O'Malley, who will play his senior year of football at Duquesne in the fall, also played with Paris at Seton LaSalle as he also knows the player that Paris is.

"You could tell from the first practice that he [Paris Ford] was just different, the way he just kept making play after play," O'Malley said. "He is probably the best athlete I’ve ever played with, and he’s one of the few guys that could talk trash and actually back it up every time. It was fun playing football and basketball with him, just always competing."

Paris, as a high school sophomore, also won a second place WPIAL medal on Seton LaSalle's basketball team in the 2014-15 season as O'Malley was on that team too. Seton LaSalle lost to Aliquippa in the WPIAL 2A Boys Basketball championship game by a score of 68-57 back on February 28, 2015.

For O'Malley, he is happy for Paris and hopes he can continue to watch him succeed.

"It’s awesome to see all the success he’s having; he deserves it, he’s always worked hard. All around genuine guy too, so for him I hope this is just the start," O'Malley said.

Nolan Abbiatici was Paris's quarterback in 2015 at Seton LaSalle. Nolan now plays football at the University of Mount Union as a Defensive Back and he knows all about Paris's play making skills.

"Paris is one of the most gifted athletes I have ever played with," Abbiatici said. "He brought a lot of energy to the practices and games that some opponents just could not match it. I’ve learned a lot from Paris about the game of football that I still use to this day and I couldn’t be more excited to see what the future holds for him."

Someone who is seeing all of Paris's college football success in person is Pitt wide receiver Will Gipson. Gipson, a 2019 Aliquippa graduate, played against Paris in high school as Aliquippa played Seton LaSalle in the WPIAL 2A Quarterfinals back on November 13, 2015. Aliquippa would win the game by a score of 46-6. Little did Gipson know that he and Paris would be college football teammates.

"[Having Paris as a teammate] It's like having an older brother playing on the same team. He’s a great leader, he brings energy to the team 24/7, he’s the guy that the coaches can call on no matter what and he’ll produce. He always gives me points of wisdom and honestly I can see why he’s the best safety in college," Gipson said.

Gipson has enjoyed his transition from Aliquippa to Pitt as he is working hard with his teammates such as Ford to try to become a very great ACC football team.

Nahki Johnson, a 2021 Pitt recruit, knows about what Paris was like in Steel Valley because Johnson lived in the Steel Valley school district for a while before transferring to West Mifflin after the 2018 WPIAL & PIAA football season. When Johnson was in eighth grade, he would watch Steel Valley football practices, and see the way Paris and the rest of his teammates would go at it in order to be great.

"Paris loved to get challenged. That state championship team Steel Valley had in 2016 had some of the best players in 2A football on it and they use to go at it every day in practice and it made the games easier because what they went against in practice was harder than the games, Johnson said."

When Johnson was making his college football decision back in 2019, he called Paris and asked him what he liked about Pitt, and it helped Johnson make his decision much easier. Johnson verbally committed to Pitt on June 25, 2019.

"When I was making my decision, I did reach out to Paris and asked him how he felt about being in Pittsburgh," Johnson said. "He never gets tired of being in the city of Pittsburgh and he told me he loved being here [in Pittsburgh] because he feels famous in Pittsburgh because everyone knows him here, he has a big name, and he can play for his whole family".

Paris will be looking to win many college football awards in the 2020 season as he has helped strengthen football cultures on different teams throughout his football career. He has also helped his other teammates become better due to his teammates noticing how good he is. Paris playing at a high level basically forces his other teammates to play at a high level too. A lot of people can see that he has talent that you cannot teach, and it is fun to watch.

Brentaro Yamane: bkyamane@gmail.com and Twitter/Instagram @BYHilton13