Gallagher will play football at WVU
Staying near home is deciding factor
Laurel Highlands High School’s Rodney Gallagher announced his college choice Wednesday and he decided he wants to stay close to home to play football.
Pitt is close … but West Virginia is even closer.
Gallagher, considered one of the top players in the state in the class of 2023, announced in the gym at Laurel Highlands that he has made a verbal commitment to West Virginia.
Pitt and Penn State were among Gallagher’s finalists. The others on his final list of eight were Notre Dame, Oregon, Oklahoma State, Texas and Virginia Tech, but he said the decision came down to West Virginia, Notre Dame, Penn State and Virginia Tech.
Although Gallagher plays in the WPIAL, he actually lives a lot closer to West Virginia than Pitt. Laurel Highlands is a Fayette County school nestled in the shadows of the Allegheny Mountains. Gallagher’s home, which has a Uniontown mailing address, is only 27 miles from West Virginia’s Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Heinz Field is 59 miles from Gallagher’s home.
“It was just the right fit for me in everything,” Gallagher said of West Virginia.
Gallagher made his announcement with his sisters and father at his side. About 200 classmates and Laurel Highlands fans sat in the bleachers to hear his announcement. Gallagher said being close to his family played a big role.
His father, Rodney Gallagher II, said, “[West Virginia coach] Neal Brown calls him a hometown kid, even
though we live in Pennsylvania. … I thought Notre Dame had come in and stole the forefront for a minute. I really thought for a little bit it was going to be Notre Dame.”
Young Rodney Gallagher said he wasn’t sure of his choice until recently.
“My head was everywhere, man,” Gallagher said. “I really liked Penn State. I really liked Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. I just really didn’t know where I wanted to go. Then about a week-and-ahalf ago, I realized West Virginia was really for me. I put things on a board and broke it down. I looked at what fits you, what do I like, what do I not like? West Virginia was just best for me.”
Gallagher ( 5- foot- 11, 170 pounds) played quarterback and defensive back for Laurel Highlands last season but was recruited as a receiver, a position he played as a freshman and sophomore. He is one of the best two-sport athletes in the state. He is a standout point guard in basketball who made the Post-Gazette Fabulous 5 and allstate as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
Originally, Gallagher talked about playing both football and basketball in college. Although he had a few Division I offers in basketball, he was recruited much heavier for football and announced in December that he would only play football in college.
For West Virginia, Gallagher is a big catch. Rivals rates him a fourstar prospect, the No. 103 player in the country for the class of 2023 and No. 1 in Pennsylvania. West Virginia hasn’t signed a WPIAL player in the past four recruiting classes, and Gallagher is one of the highest-rated players from the WPIAL or City League in decades to choose WVU.
Since Rivals started ranking players in the early 2000s, the only other WPIAL player in the top 200 to choose West Virginia was Aliquippa defensive back Dravon Henry, who was rated No. 167 in the country and also had scholarship offers from Pitt, Penn State, Ohio State, Alabama and Michigan, among others.
Henry and former Brashear linebacker Mike Booth are the only other two WVU recruits from the WPIAL or City League who had a national reputation comparable to Gallagher.
Booth, a 1989 Brashear graduate, was selected to the prestigious Parade All-American team and picked West Virginia over Pitt and Michigan State.
This past season, Gallagher became only the 12th player in WPIAL history to pass for 1,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in the regular season. He finished 104 of 179 for 1,365 yards and 12 touchdowns passing and rushed for 1,130 yards on 169 attempts and scored 20 TDs, leading Laurel Highlands to the first WPIAL playoff win in school history.
Then he helped Laurel Highlands’ basketball team win a WPIAL title for the second time in three seasons.
He will not enroll early at West Virginia.
“West Virginia wants me to play my last basketball season [at Laurel Highlands],” he said. “I want to get another championship and try to be even more legendary here in this community.”