It was the ultimate "takes-one-to-know-one" moment.

Pitt's legendary running back, all-time leading rusher and 1976 Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett sat at a table yesterday flanked by Pitt's current superstar running back, LeSean McCoy.

Facing about a dozen media inquisitors, one asked Dorsett to describe McCoy.

Without hesitation, Dorsett fired back, "Greatness is greatness."

There you have it -- it takes one to know one.

Dorsett took time inside the Panthers' UPMC South Side facility to applaud the greatness that was McCoy's freshman season last fall. McCoy set freshman records for points (90) and rushing touchdowns (14), two marks that had been held by Dorsett. McCoy also set a Big East Conference freshman rushing record with 1,328 yards and led all freshmen nationally with a 110.67 yards per game.

A calligrapher's pen inscribed those feats onto a commemorative football Dorsett presented to McCoy.

"I am here to congratulate a young man for breaking some records that stood for a long time," Dorsett said. "I am hoping that he is able to break quite a few more and, if he is able to do that, we know that Pitt is going to be back to prominence."

Dorsett then said, as he extended one hand to shake McCoy's, and the other to hand him the football, "There's a lot more records that I hold here. And I hope that you break them all."

This was the first time Dorsett and McCoy have met. While many Pitt fans regale the memories of Dorsett zipping through the secondary for touchdowns in the 1970s, it was McCoy's brilliance during his freshman year -- and the potential of what can be for his sophomore year and beyond -- that excites this generation of Pitt football diehards.

It also excites Dorsett, the only player in the history of football with these five career achievements: a collegiate national championship, a Heisman Trophy, a place in the College Football Hall of Fame, a Super Bowl victory and enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"This is a special young man," Dorsett said of the visibly humbled McCoy. "I watched him play, and I have to say that since leaving the university, we have had a lot of backs that have come here and people have said, 'This kid reminds me of Tony Dorsett.' ... But, this is the first guy who I have seen that reminds me of Tony Dorsett."

And while they did not meet, Dorsett got a chance to see the way McCoy has invigorated Pitt's running game when he attended the Navy game last season. In that early October matchup, a double-overtime loss, McCoy wowed Dorsett with a 165-yard, three touchdown night.

"I saw him at the Navy game, but I didn't get to meet him," McCoy said. "But, I couldn't keep my eye off him the whole time."

Dorsett quickly interjected, "And I couldn't keep mine off of him, watching him out there running."

Before the ceremony yesterday, McCoy spent some private time with Dorsett inside Pitt's football offices. McCoy came away with a simple, yet pertinent piece of advice from Dorsett.

"The biggest thing I picked up is to do all the little things right," McCoy said.

"When you hear it from a guy like Mr. Dorsett, it touches you. It makes you say, 'Man, all those little things really matter.' "

Asked how he would compare himself to Dorsett, McCoy's face contorted in obviously deep thought.

He struggled twice to begin a sentence.

That was when Dorsett swooped in, saying, "Let me answer that for him, LeSean is LeSean. He is his own player. ... We can see that his upside is so very large. He has a lot of things that he can accomplish. Comparing him to me, no, he is LeSean, let him be LeSean."

The thing is, if he continues to be LeSean, the comparisons to Dorsett will be inevitable -- and well-deserved.