Taylor Lewan didn’t leave any room for debate after seeing the clip. “Attempted murder,” the former Titans tackle wrote over the video.
Polymarket Football posted the same play and called it the definition of targeting. The hit has kept circulating because the contact is brutal: a Pittsburgh Panthers player rises for a jump ball and gets launched into helmet-first contact. “This is the definition of targeting. pic.twitter.com/UkOtOKUdvY”
The play came on November 16, 2023, at Acrisure Stadium, not on Saturday. Boston College was in town for a Thursday night game, and the sequence unfolded near midfield on a first-down pass from Pitt quarterback Nate Yarnell to tight end Malcolm Epps. KP Price already had Epps covered when Boston College defensive back Khari Johnson left his feet, drove the crown of his helmet into Epps’ head and neck, and knocked the ball incomplete.
Officials threw the flag right away, and after review Johnson was ejected. Pitt went on to win 24-16.
Johnson never made a play on the ball. He launched, led with the crown, and hit a defenseless receiver who was already extended in the air. That’s the part of the clip that keeps bringing people back to it.
Epps finished the game with one catch for 24 yards and walked away from the collision.
The reaction online was immediate and harsh. “This type of hits should be banned, if not the penalty should be 30 yards and player ejected plus 2 games suspension,” one person wrote.
“Should be suspended for the season, loss of all scholarship & NIL money,” another said.
“The helmet is for safety and your protection not a weapon, dude should be suspended for the season,” another added.
“Unfortunately we just can’t let these things go. Even if it wasn’t intentional.
If you let that pass, others will get the message. It has to be zero tolerance.
Otherwise we are letting young men get brain injuries for our entertainment,” a fourth said.
The clip has spread the way so many Pitt moments do, and this one doesn’t need much explanation beyond the hit itself. Targeting calls can get messy in college football, but this one was clear enough that it didn’t really need a long argument. Johnson was ejected in the second quarter, and because the ejection came before halftime, he did not automatically miss the first half of Boston College’s next game under that season’s rule.
That part is just a footnote. The image everyone remembers is the launch.
Lewan, who spent nine NFL seasons at left tackle, knows the difference between a football hit and something else. This wasn’t that.
In Other News...
Pitt Passed Its First Real Road Gut Check At BYU
Pitts volleyball team came through its first true road test of the season in Utah, taking a hard-fought win at BYU and staying unbeaten at 5-0. The Panthers had to navigate a tight opening stretch, dropping the second set after edging the Cougars 25-23 to start, but they responded with cleaner defense and a more balanced attack as the match wore on.
Olivia Babcock led the way as usual, and the performance had the kind of depth Pitt has been looking for early in the year. Blaire Bayless and Ayanna Watson also gave the Panthers valuable production on the pins, and the night carried extra weight for Babcock beyond the box score, with a milestone that nudged her further into program history. [Read more 🡒]