While the number of major-college football players in the WPIAL has dropped considerably in recent years, the number of WPIAL players who make the NFL is holding steady.
The WPIAL had 20 former players on active NFL rosters for the opening weekend. That’s actually two more than last year. The league had 21 players on NFL opening weekend in 2019, 19 in 2018 and 21 in 2017.
But for comparison’s sake, the WPIAL had 31 players in the NFL in 2012. The numbers include only active players on the opening weekend, and don’t count those on injured reserve or the practice squad.
Woodland Hills has three of the 20 players on this year’s NFL rosters — Rob Gronkowski of Tampa Bay, Miles Sanders of Philadelphia and Quinton Jefferson of Las Vegas. Woodland Hills has had 14 players make the NFL since it opened in 1987. That ties Monessen for the second most in WPIAL history. McKeesport is first with 15.
New Castle has two defensive backs in the league this season — defensive backs Malik Hooker of Dallas and Geno Stone of Baltimore.
Three members of the Las Vegas Raiders that beat the Steelers Sunday are from the WPIAL. Besides Jefferson, the other two are Bethel Park linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski and Kittanning tight end Nick Bowers.
Altoona’s Kevin Givens (San Francisco) and McDowell’s James Conner (Arizona) are also counted among the WPIAL’s 20 players in the NFL. Although Altoona and McDowell aren’t in the WPIAL for football now, they were when McDowell and Givens played in high school. Also, Robert Hainsey (Tampa Bay) is not counted among the WPIAL’s top 20, even though he played at Gateway through his sophomore year. He played his final two years at IMG Academy in Florida.
The other former WPIAL players on active rosters this year are Penn Hills’ Aaron Donald (Los Angeles Rams), Mt. Lebanon’s Troy Apke (Washington), Clairton’s Tyler Boyd (Cincinnati), Central Catholic’s Damar Hamlin (Buffalo), Shaler’s J.P. Holtz (Chicago), South Allegheny’s Jesse James (Chicago), McKeesport’s Khaleke Hudson (Washington), Cornell’s Dane Jackson (Buffalo), Central Valley’s Jordan Whitehead (Tampa Bay), Thomas Jefferson’s Chase Winovich (New England) and Chartiers Valley’s Christian Kuntz (Steelers).
The WPIAL players in the league last year that are not on active rosters this year are Central Catholic’s Stefen Wisniewski, Moon’s A.Q. Shipley and South Fayette’s Justin Watson. Wisniewski and Shipley retired while Watson is on the physically unable to perform list with Tampa Bay.
More NFL stuff
Here are some more notes from NFL communications about high schools of this year’s players:
• Eight high schools have five or more players in the NFL this year. IMG leads with 12 and St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida has 11. IMG is a high school team only in name. They are really an “all-star” team that gets players from all over the country.
• Sixteen high schools have four players in the NFL. Among them are Pennsylvania teams Archbishop Wood (Philadelphia Catholic League member) and Imhotep (Philadelphia Public League).
• Pennsylvania is tied with North Carolina for seventh among states with the most NFL players this year with 61. Florida has the most with 192, followed by Texas (189), California (168), Georgia (124), Ohio (78) and Louisiana (68).
A Kentucky surprise
Perry defensive end-linebacker Tyreese Fearbry made a verbal commitment to the University of Kentucky this past Saturday — and history says it should be considered somewhat of a surprise.
Over the past 35 years, Fearbry is only the ninth player from the WPIAL or City League to choose Kentucky. Before Fearbry, the last was Aliquippa’s M.J. Devonshire, who signed with Kentucky in 2017. But Devonshire transferred after two years and is now at Pitt.
A few of the WPIAL players who signed with Kentucky over the past 35 years did well. McKeesport linebacker Randy Holleran signed in 1986, was a two-time all-SEC selection and a second-team Football News All-American in 1990.
Center defensive back Ashton Cobb (2006 signee) and Bethel Park running back-defensive back Duce Williams (1989) were four-year lettermen.
Longest streak in country
The high school team with the longest winning streak in the country is now in Pennsylvania.
Caledonia High in Minnesota recently had its 71-game winning streak snapped. Besides being the longest current streak, it was the ninth longest of all time.
That means Southern Columbia’s 64-game streak is now the longest in the country. Southern Columbia, which has won four consecutive PIAA Class 4A titles, is two wins away from Clairton’s state-record streak of 66 games.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: September 23, 2021, 9:00 a.m.
Updated: September 23, 2021, 1:13 p.m.