Steelers wide receiver Levi Wentz got a chance to meet players from his former school, Pine-Richland.
Steelers wide receiver Levi Wentz got a chance to meet players from his former school, Pine-Richland.
The ties that bind football to Western Pennsylvania run deeper than what happens to the Steelers on game days, and the organization wants to do its part to help strengthen them.
From the Steelers on Sundays to Pitt and other colleges on Saturdays to the dozens of high school teams that play under the Friday night lights, football has been a thread woven into the fabric of the region’s culture. This summer, the Steelers saw a unique opportunity to help connect the different levels of the game around the area.
Five players on the training camp roster are from WPIAL schools: Jaquan Brisker (Gateway), Levi Wentz (Pine-Richland), Joey Porter Jr. (North Allegheny) Christian Kuntz (Chartiers Valley) and Eli Heidenreich (Mt. Lebanon).
That inspired Mike Marchinsky, the Steelers’ director of alumni relations and football development, to reconnect those players with their alma maters. Over the course of the Steelers’ 59th training camp at Saint Vincent College this summer, the team planned visits for the handful of WPIAL teams that had alumni on the 90-man roster.
“It was this spring and we realized, ‘Oh man, we’ve got a lot of WPIAL guys on this roster,’ ” Marchinsky told the Post-Gazette. “Maybe we could do something pretty cool.”
The Steelers were able to arrange visits for three of the five WPIAL teams — Pine-Richland, Gateway and Mt. Lebanon — to get sideline access and watch practice for a day in Latrobe. After practice, players and coaches from those schools got a moment to meet the Steeler who played at their school years ago.
The Post-Gazette got a chance to talk with players and coaches from Pine-Richland who took part in the visit, as well as Wentz.
After Steelers football management director Delbert Tyler reached out to Pine-Richland head coach Jon LeDonne to set up the visit, Rams assistant coach Mike Francis chaperoned. Dozens of teenage players lined the Steelers’ sideline in Pine-Richland’s green jerseys trying to get a glimpse of their favorite Steeler.
“They got in touch over the last couple weeks since Levi's playing out here,” Francis said of the Steelers. “It's really great to see these kids get this chance to see a guy that's from their local town out here being part of the hometown team. It’s been a great experience.”
As I walked the sidelines and observed the high schoolers take in the experience, they weren’t just focused on Wentz.
“Wow, that’s Aaron Rodgers!”
“DK Metcalf is huge!”
“Whoa, did he catch that?”
Some of the players focused on the Steelers who play their position, such as junior tight end Jack Berbenich, who was locked in on individual drills for Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington as they worked on their footwork in the passing game.
“I wanted to see how they run their routes,” Berbenich said. “It’s wild how these big human beings can just move so fast. I want to work on my craft and learn what I can from them so I can move that way.”
Berbenich’s father, Tim Berbenich, was on the field, too. He’s a Steelers offensive assistant coach focused on game management and quarterbacks. It was another cool connection.
“We're lucky enough to have Jack on our team,” Francis said. “His dad's one of the coaches for the Steelers, so we’re learning what it’s like to be ingrained in this Steelers culture and whatever we can take away from it.”
After practice, the team got a moment with Wentz, when the 24-year old wide receiver hung out, signed autographs, took pictures and imparted some wisdom.
Wentz didn’t have a traditional high school football career at Pine-Richland. Now listed at 6 feet 2, 188 pounds, Wentz didn’t start playing football until his senior year and began his college career in the Sun Belt Conference at Old Dominion.
After two years with the Monarchs, Wentz transferred to Albany for two seasons before he played his final year of eligibility at Kansas in 2025. It was a long journey to go from catching touchdowns at Pine-Richland Stadium in Gibsonia to catching passes from four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers at Steelers training camp.
That made Wentz eager to talk with the current Rams about where their own football journeys could take them.
“Being able to share some words with the kids and let them know I was in that position not long ago felt great,” Wentz said. “I just wanted to remind them that the work they put in right now matters. And that was cool to say as an NFL player.”
That message from Wentz — the opportunity for high school players to hear directly from someone who wore the same uniform as them — was just what the Steelers envisioned when they planned the visits.
“If you get one or two kids that are motivated by it, that’s why we do this,” Marchinsky said. “Whether they turn that into a chance to play D-III or D-I or work their way all the way up to the NFL, if this makes them want to commit to their craft more, then it was worthwhile to invite them up.”
The Rams took advantage of the opportunity.
“They just asked for advice,” Wentz said. “They’d ask me, ‘How do I get to where you are? What does it take?’ I told them them, ‘You’ve got to be the 1% of the 1% to make it to the NFL. If you want to get to the places beyond where regular athletes are, you can't do what regular people do.”
Francis remembers Wentz’s senior year playing for Pine-Richland, but it was an opponent. Francis coached Penn Hills then and called the chance to see him in a Steelers practice a “full-circle moment.” Francis is in his 17th year as a high school football coach.
The Steelers want to create more moments for high school players and coaches in the area.
“We’re so blessed in Western Pennsylvania, with all the schools in the WPIAL, the schools in the City League, plus you go all the way up to District 10 in Erie,” Marchinsky said. “There’s so many opportunities to make a positive impact, and we have so many good players that are good people that love giving back.”
The area has produced generations of Hall of Famers: Aliquippa’s Mike Ditka, Darrelle Revis and Ty Law, Allderdice’s Curtis Martin, Central Catholic’s Dan Marino, Hopewell’s Tony Dorsett and Woodland Hills’ Jason Taylor, to name a few.
“It's this little nook of the state with so many football legends,” Wentz said of the region. “I take a lot of pride in being from that and being able to help move it forward. When someone says, ‘Oh, we’ve got stars in Florida!’ I just say, ‘That’s cool. You guys got a whole state. We’ve got Western Pennsylvania.’ ”
Wentz’s pride reflects a football culture that Francis has experienced throughout his coaching career — no matter the level.
“It's just the importance of being a football town,” Francis said. “At the end of the day, Friday nights, Saturdays, Sundays, football is what this town’s about. The whole mood of the city is based off if the Steelers win or lose. Then it trickles down to college and from there to high school. If you don't win on Friday, you're gonna feel it till Monday.”
“It’s the history, it's the stability, it's just what Pittsburgh's always been,” Francis added.
For Marchinsky and the Steelers, the strengthening of that connection across levels is part of the organization’s responsibility to the region.
“It’s our honor to do that,” Marchinsky said. “That comes from Mr. [Art] Rooney [II] to Dan Rooney and everybody in between. It’s just super important to us.”
First Published: August 15, 2026, 9:46 p.m.