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<p>When it&#8217;s all said and done Shakir Soto will have a host of memories from his time with the Pittsburgh Panthers when his watch ends in a few days.</p><p>The Panthers defensive tackle still has one more game to go &#8212; the Pinstripe Bowl against Northwestern at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.</p><p>The bowl game will be his 13th game of the season, a mark he&#8217;s reach every year, in a season where he registered 43 tackles, good for sixth on the team, helped the Panthers beat both in-state rival Penn State and ACC champion Clemson and finish with an impressive 6-1 mark at home.</p><p>The GAR grad will be going for his first nine-win season as a Panther, too.</p><p>&#8220;It was definitely a great year, a long ride,&#8221; Soto said. &#8220;This team is definitely the best team I&#8217;ve ever been around all four of my years here. This team plays with heart. We have good senior leadership on the team and we set a good example.</p><p>&#8220;(The Pinstripe Bowl&#8217;s) going to be a sweet game to play. I&#8217;ve talked to a lot of people and they&#8217;ve said that&#8217;s a nice stadium. I&#8217;m excited to check that out. To end my college career playing at Yankee Stadium is pretty cool.&#8221;</p><p>From the moment he stepped on campus in December 2013, Soto made an immediate impact.</p><p>Playing in all 13 games as a true freshman defensive end, Soto made his first-career start in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, a game he registered a 10-yard sack in. He finished the season with 20 tackles, four tackles for a loss and a sack. </p><p>Soto&#8217;s four-year long success came at no surprise to his former head coach at GAR, Paul Wiedlich Jr.</p><p>Wiedlich coached Soto for six years, three at the junior high level and three on varsity. It was during Soto&#8217;s freshman campaign that Wiedlich realized the type of potential the young kid possessed.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what, the kid worked his tail off,&#8221; Wiedlich said. &#8220;Not only in the weight room and the football field, but he worked his (behind) off in the classroom. He just graduated last week, which was the most important thing. The kid really had a great work ethic in high school and him going out there, enrolling early, seeing a lot of playing time freshman and sophomore year at defensive end. It&#8217;s just a testament to him and his character.&#8221;</p><p>But it hasn&#8217;t always been smooth sailing for the Wilkes-Barre product. From the six-win season in 2014 to the head coaching change that ultimately led to a position shift this past offseason, Soto kept grinding away.</p><p>And it certainly helped to have the backing of one particular person &#8212; head coach Pat Narduzzi.</p><p>The former Michigan State defensive coordinator came to the Panthers in December 2014 at the end of Soto&#8217;s sophomore season. </p><p>It was Narduzzi who approached Soto about switching from defensive end to defensive tackle. At that point, Soto said he could count on one hand the number of times he lined up as a three-technique, but it was Narduzzi&#8217;s conviction that emboldened Soto.</p><p>&#8220;He was like, &#8216;I know you can do it. I&#8217;m not going to move you to D-tackle just to move you to D-tackle. I&#8217;m only going to make position changes if I know you&#8217;re going to have success from it,&#8217;&#8221; Soto said of Narduzzi. &#8220;He believed in me a lot. Just things like that. At the end of the day your head coach is a role model to you. You see someone like that believe in you and it just gives you the personal confidence to go out and do things you never thought you&#8217;d be able to do before.&#8221;</p><p>After struggling the first day of spring ball, Soto got his legs underneath him and put together his best season as a Panther. His 3.5 sacks are tied for third on the team and are a career best.</p><p>&#8220;Moving to D-tackle was kind of taking a chance on me at a position I never really played before,&#8221; Soto said. &#8220;My first practice was bad. I&#8217;m not going to front. As a D-end, you&#8217;re in open space and you pretty much know what&#8217;s coming at you. D-tackle, anyone can come from anywhere. It&#8217;s just crazy. &#8230; After that first practice, I told myself I wasn&#8217;t going to let that happen again, just get pushed around like that. After that I just took it and ran with it and did everything I had to do.&#8221;</p><p>In turn, the Panthers now have an opportunity to clinch nine wins for the first time since 2009, when Pitt finished 10-3 under Dave Wannstedt. With a victory over Northwestern, the Panthers will have won their first bowl game since Soto&#8217;s freshman season.</p><p>In Pittsburgh&#8217;s biggest win of the year, a 43-42 upset over then-No. 2 Clemson, Soto wasn&#8217;t even expected to play.</p><p>Nursing an ankle injury, he dressed as an emergency backup, but after an injury to a fellow defensive tackle, he was thrust into action and saw 70 snaps. He finished with three tackles and broke up a pass in the win.</p><p>&#8220;Before the Clemson game, you know everyone thought we were going to lose that game, but (coach Narduzzi) was like, &#8216;Nah, we&#8217;re going to win this game. We&#8217;re the only ones that would be able to win this game, so let&#8217;s do it,&#8217;&#8221; Soto said. &#8220;That was our motto, to just go out there and shock the world, and that&#8217;s what we did. We played with heart and energy and we just didn&#8217;t give up.&#8221;</p><p>After Wednesday&#8217;s bowl game, Soto will quickly turn his attentions to the NFL draft. He will play in College Gridiron Showcase &amp; Symposium, a five-day college football all-star event Jan. 7 to Jan. 11 in Bedford, Texas, before he prepares for Pitt&#8217;s pro day and a possible NFL Scouting Combine invite.</p><p>The 22-year-old believes his versatility and ability to play both defensive end and defensive tackle will help make him a desirable prospect come the spring.</p><p>&#8220;After this bowl game&#8217;s done I have to make a couple decisions,&#8221; Soto said. &#8220;This is life changing the next couple months. There&#8217;s a lot of work put in with training and stuff. I&#8217;m excited to go down there and play in that all-star game, be down there with different guys and talk to scouts and stuff. Be down with a whole bunch of dudes that are going to work and push each other.&#8221;</p><p>Wiedlich also believes Soto&#8217;s versatility could make him stand out. He was even playing linebacker for the Grenadiers at points.</p><p>&#8220;Hopefully that will get him his crack at the next level,&#8221; Wiedlich said.</p><p>Whatever happens to Soto in April, he&#8217;s just excited at the prospect of taking the next step in his football career.</p><p>But for now, he&#8217;s embracing his last few days as a Pitt Panther.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m from Wilkes-Barre. I had a really rough upbringing and just to be able to (get drafted). If you can make it out of Wilkes-Barre, you can make it out of anywhere,&#8221; Soto said. &#8220;It&#8217;s just crazy to think about the four years I&#8217;ve been through. I&#8217;ve met great people, we&#8217;ve beat really good teams.</p><p>&#8220;If I was to go back, I definitely wouldn&#8217;t have picked another school. I&#8217;d still pick Pitt.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pittsburgh's Elijah Zeise (25) and teammate Shakir Soto (52) celebrate with fans on the field after defeating Clemson 43-42 in an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, in Clemson, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Shakir-Soto1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pittsburgh's Elijah Zeise (25) and teammate Shakir Soto (52) celebrate with fans on the field after defeating Clemson 43-42 in an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, in Clemson, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Shakir-Soto2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Delaware quarterback Trent Hurley (2) recovers a snap fumble in front of  Pittsburgh's  Shakir Soto (52) in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Shakir-Soto2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Delaware quarterback Trent Hurley (2) recovers a snap fumble in front of  Pittsburgh's  Shakir Soto (52) in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Shakir-Soto3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams (12) evades Pittsburgh defensive lineman Shakir Soto (52) and gets away to make a touchdown pass to North Carolina wide receiver Ryan Switzer (3) in the second quarterof an NCAA college football game, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Shakir-Soto3.jpg</photo2><caption2>North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams (12) evades Pittsburgh defensive lineman Shakir Soto (52) and gets away to make a touchdown pass to North Carolina wide receiver Ryan Switzer (3) in the second quarterof an NCAA college football game, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Shakir-Soto4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams (12) evades Pittsburgh defensive lineman Shakir Soto (52) and gets away to make a touchdown pass to North Carolina wide receiver Ryan Switzer (3) in the second quarterof an NCAA college football game, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Shakir-Soto4.jpg</photo3><caption3>North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams (12) evades Pittsburgh defensive lineman Shakir Soto (52) and gets away to make a touchdown pass to North Carolina wide receiver Ryan Switzer (3) in the second quarterof an NCAA college football game, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)</caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>GAR grad gears up for Pinstripe Bowl with Pitt</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>PINSTRIPE BOWL</strong></p><p>Wednesday</p><p>ESPN &#8212; Pittsburgh vs. Northwestern, 2 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

GAR grad Shakir Soto suits up for one last game with Pittsburgh