The Best of the WPIAL: 35-31

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 40-36 here. Below continues the countdown with number 35.

Nick Sukay came out of Greensburg Central Catholic as a highly-regarded safety and that trend continued as he entered the college ranks. While Greensburg’s Central Catholic isn’t nearly as well-known for its football talent as Pittsburgh’s, Sukay was an imposing 6-foot-3, 200-pound strong safety with offers from Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Michigan, and others. He eventually chose Penn State and signed with the Nittany Lions despite rumors of him wavering late. Sukay started 19 games at Penn State before a torn pectoral muscle ended his senior season and he briefly hung on to the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad.

Mike Yancich was an impressive 6-foot-1, 216-pound outside linebacker from just southwest of Pittsburgh, at Washington (Pa.) Trinity. He collected offers from programs like Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and Michigan State, along with a host of others, and eventually committed to the Nittany Lions. Yancich stayed for all five years in Happy Valley, and was named a special teams captain as a redshirt senior, but never cracked a starting lineup.

Montae Nicholson was one of the WPIAL's most highly-rated recruits in recent memory and the Gateway standout garnered offers from Pitt, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Florida State, and everybody else under the sun, it seemed. Nicholson eventually elected to be a Michigan State Spartan and has done well for himself there. The 6-foot-2, 202-pound high schooler has turned into a physical dynamo for the Spartans, playing in every game thus far in his career and starting double-digit games as a sophomore. Nicholson will move ahead as a key figure for a young Michigan State squad next season.

Paul Jones came out of McKees Rocks (Pa.) Sto-Rox as one of the country's most highly-regarded quarterbacks and one of the state of Pennsylvania's most sought-after recruits. Jones entertained offers from Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Stanford, and others before committing to Penn State over a year prior to his National Signing Day. Unfortunately for Jones, his career was a tale of what could have been. Jones redshirted one season, missed another due to academic ineligibility, was moved to tight end, left Penn State to transfer to Robert Morris, and missed another season due to academic concerns. We can only speculate what Jones could have been if his off-the-field work matched his on-the-field abilities.

Former Pittsburgh Central Catholic center Stefen Wisniewski is hardly the first member of the Vikings to be considered one of the best in the country at his position and he will certainly not be the last. Wisniewski committed to Penn State over Michigan, Boston College, and West Virginia, among others and joined his father and uncle as members of the family tree to play under Joe Paterno. Wisniewski excelled at Penn State, make first-team All-Big Ten twice and even earning some first-team All-American nods. Wisniewski has continued on to a distinguished NFL career, starting 77 career games for the Raiders and Jaguars at left guard and center. He signed a one-year deal with the Eagles this offseason to continue his career.