The Best of the WPIAL: 20-16

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, 30 through 26, and 25 through 21. Below continues the countdown with number 20.

Delvon Simmons played a premium position coming out of McKeesport (Pa.) in 2011, and the 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive tackle was highly coveted in recruiting. Simmons collected 18 scholarship offers in total throughout his process and had one of the more intriguing recruitments in recent memory. The McKeesport star took official visits to Rutgers, Oregon, USC, Iowa, and Texas Tech, seemingly his final five, before committing to… North Carolina? It was a stunner, but Simmons’ life as a Tar Heel was short-lived and he soon requested (and was granted) a release from his National Letter of Intent, and he ended up choosing Texas Tech over USC and Pitt the second time around. Simmons made the Rivals.com Big 12 All-Freshman team in his first season and started 13 games for the Red Raiders as a sophomore, seemingly destined for the path to success. Then indecision hit Simmons again and he chose to transfer to Southern Cal, starting 24 games over 27 opportunities for the Trojans in his final two seasons. Simmons got first-team All-Pac 12 recognition as a senior after posting 57 tackles, four sacks, 10.5 TFLs, and two forced fumbles, but missed the cut in the 2016 NFL Draft. Simmons has since signed on as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts.

Kevin McCabe looked like a big-time quarterback when he was coming out of Pine-Richland High School in the 2003 recruiting class. A prototypical pocket passer at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, McCabe was recruited by Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, and Virginia before signing with the Cavaliers. McCabe threw for over 4,000 yards and 51 touchdowns at Pine-Richland in his three years as a starter, but never replicated the same level of success at the college ranks. McCabe was never able to start for Virginia and attempted less than 50 passes in three seasons as a backup quarterback. For his senior year, the Pittsburgh native transferred closer to home and shattered records at California University of Pennsylvania. McCabe tossed it for over 3,200 yards and 32 touchdowns for Cal U, completing passes at a 65% clip and leading his team to the semifinals in Division II. McCabe played for the Pittsburgh Power for a season, but has since retired from football.

There’s little for me to say about Monaca (Pa.) Central Valley all-everything standout Jordan Whitehead that Pitt fans wouldn’t already know. The standout defensive back was highly coveted and schools from across the country poured into western Pennsylvania to try and steal Whitehead away from the hometown team. Alabama, Ohio State, Penn State, West Virginia, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Georgia – everybody who was anybody was trying to pry Whitehead from Pitt until the eleventh hour, but he chose to stick with Pitt and it’s paid off in spades. Whitehead was dominant in his first season at Pitt, starting every game as a freshman but his first at strong safety. Along the way, he racked up an astounding 109 tackles (the most by a freshman in school history and the team’s leader for the season), six tackles-for-a-loss, six pass break-ups, an interception, and a fumble recovery. His performance was good enough to take home the ACC’s Rookie of the Year distinction and also made him a consensus Freshman All-American. Whitehead has received some preseason All-American nods, while also being named to watch lists for the Jim Thorpe Award, Paul Hornung Award, and Bronko Nagurski Award. He’ll have the chance to be one of the greatest defensive players in school history when his Pitt career is finished up.

Robert Hainsey is the only recruit on this list that you’ll see listed as attending high school outside of the state of Pennsylvania. The talented Rivals100 offensive tackle in the class of 2017 began his career and college recruitment at Monroeville (Pa.) Gateway before transferring down to Brandenton (Fla.) IMG Academy in search of better training, coaching, and development opportunities. Hainsey has shot up through the rankings since that transfer and was heavily recruited by Penn State (where he’s a legacy), Pitt, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State, but chose to join the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Hainsey could play tackle or guard at the next level and has impressed with his athleticism and competitive mean streak on the football field and at the Rivals Five-Star Challenge. Notre Dame’s offensive line recruiting has been stellar and Hainsey could be one of the jewels of their class.

The youngest name on the Best of the WPIAL countdown belongs to 2018 Gibsonia (Pa.) Pine-Richland dual-threat quarterback Phil Jurkovec. Jurkovec is a 6-foot-5, 190-pound pure athlete at the quarterback position who has drawn comparisons to another lanky, prolific Pennsylvania dual-threat in Terrelle Pryor in terms of style of play. It would be difficult for anybody to live up to Pryor’s high school accomplishments, but Jurkovec has already posted prolific numbers. The western Pennsylvania standout has already finished up his recruitment, committing to Notre Dame over Pitt, Ohio State, and Penn State, which will give him plenty of time to chase Pryor’s unbelievable career numbers on the field.

At the time of publication, Jurkovec is a member of the 2018 Rivals100 watchlist, but has not yet been ranked in order in an official Rivals250. Due to that, the quarterback is being ranked as the lowest of the four-star prospects with a 6.0 Rivals rating (the closest thing to a fifth-star). He’ll have plenty of room for upward mobility if he continues to maximize his impressive physical tools, but there is a long time to go until Jurkovec’s ranking is complete and he’ll also have to continue improving to maintain this spot.