The Best of the WPIAL: 25-21

The Best of the WPIAL is a feature series running through the most highly-rated players from the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League – or high school football in the greater Pittsburgh area for the uninitiated – in the Rivals.com era. Rivals began releasing lists of the nation’s 100 best prospects in 2002 and the Rivals250 followed that in 2006. This list contains only the top 40 players by high school ranking, not college or NFL production.

Western Pennsylvania has always been a cradle to some of football’s most outsized talents and personalities and many of them come within recent memory. You can read the introduction to the series here, and see numbers 40 through 36, 35 through 31, and 30 through 26. Below continues the countdown with number 25.

Penn Hills (Pa.) defensive back Cullen Christian had a very bright future coming out of the WPIAL in the class of 2010. The 6-foot, 180-pound cornerback was heavily recruited, garnering offers from Ohio State, Michigan, Pitt, West Virginia, UCLA, and others. Christian ultimately chose to attend Michigan for his college career, but he was hardly done choosing at that point. Michigan was only the first school on his three-stop tour. Christian left Ann Arbor following his freshman year to attend Pitt after Rich Rodriguez was fired and replaced with Brady Hoke. He played three seasons for Pitt and got his degree from the school before taking a graduate transfer to West Virginia for his final season. He was academically ineligible for the Liberty Bowl, the final game of his college career.

Ryan Mundy was one of the earliest stars to come out of the Pittsburgh area in the Rivals.com era. Mundy was a star at Woodland Hills during some of the program’s most productive years, and the defensive back earned offers from Pitt, Penn State, North Carolina State, and Virginia before committing to the Michigan Wolverines during the Lloyd Carr era. Mundy was a solid college player, if never a dazzling one, playing at Michigan for four years before taking a graduate transfer to West Virginia for his final campaign. It was from there that he embarked on his long NFL career as a sixth-round draft selection of the Steelers in the 2008 NFL Draft. Mundy played professionally in Pittsburgh through the 2012 season and was a member of the practice squad when the team captured its most recent Super Bowl in February of 2009. Munday has gone on to play for the New York Giants and Chicago Bears. He has yet to re-sign for the 2016 NFL Season following the end of his most recent contract with the Bears. Mundy has totaled 310 tackles and six interceptions in his eight year NFL career.

New Kensington (Pa.) Valley Senior is not well-known as a traditional powerhouse or Division I pipeline in the WPIAL, but the class of 2017 produced highly-recruited wide receiver Toney Clemons. Clemons was offered by Pitt, West Virginia, Rutgers, Purdue, Colorado, UConn, and Cincinnati before choosing to accept a scholarship to attend Michigan. He announced his commitment to the Wolverines in the fall of his senior year. Clemons followed his cousin Steve Breaston to Michigan, but he did not quite have the same level of success as Breaston. He eventually transferred to Colorado, becoming the first player to play in the Big Ten, Big XII, and Pac-12 during his college career. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and hung around on practice squads for a few years before heading to the CFL.

Many prospects are labeled as “athletes” coming out of the high school ranks and many show versatility that can make them exceptional in high school. However, few have the abilities to play multiple positions at the college ranks and extend that versatility. West Allegheny’s Dorin Dickerson was one of the few that can make that claim. The 2006 signee picked Pitt over Penn State, Michigan, Tennessee, and Iowa and then went on to play wide receiver as a freshman and linebacker as a sophomore. Dickerson finally settled in at tight end as a junior in 2009, excelling for Pitt and earning multiple All-American considerations. Dickerson continued as a tight end in the NFL, but he has not distinguished himself in the pro ranks to the same extent that he did at college. Still, the Pittsburgh native has strung together a six-year professional career and may continue going in 2016 if the opportunity presents itself.

(Note: the player pictured in the above profile is not Andrew Johnson) Andrew Johnson was a standout talent out of the Pittsburgh early on in the Rivals.com era. The running back from the class of 2004 played at Central Catholic for three years before transferring to North Hills and was highly recruited. He was well-known for his blazing speed, which made him a highly-coveted prospect. Johnson was offered by Pitt, Miami (Fla.), Florida, Ohio State, and UCLA and initially committed to the Panthers. However, Johnson eventually flipped to the Miami Hurricanes. While at Miami, Johnson was often plagued by knee injuries and eventually transferred to Akron. He was later implicated in the Nevin Shapiro scandal at Miami, but flatly denies all allegations.