Aaron Donald looked relaxed as he roamed the sidelines at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday afternoon. A bright smile was plastered on his face as he posed for photos and signed autographs with fans lining the sidelines. His family — wife, kids, parents, cousins, all with Pittsburgh roots — was in tow. A banner with his now iconic No. 97, hanging off the stadium rotunda, was hidden behind a black curtain and tucked in between Mike Ditka’s No. 89 and Hugh Green’s No. 99, awaiting the unveiling ceremony.

This Pittsburgh kid, Penn Hills graduate and enormously proud former Panther still found it hard to believe, despite all he accomplished as a player and all he’d given to the program, that his name would fit alongside the greatest players in his hometown school’s rich football history.

“It’s

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