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North Allegheny receiver Garrity follows father’s path to Penn State
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By Scott Brown
Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2013, 5:42 p.m.
Updated: Friday, February 1, 2013
North Allegheny wide receiver Gregg Garrity will again follow his father when he joins Penn State's football team as an invited “run-on,” coach Bill O'Brien's term for a walk-on.
Garrity became the first player in school history to record a 1,000-yard receiving season, and he helped North Allegheny win the Quad-A state championship in 2012.
If he comes close to duplicating the success his father, Gregg, had at Penn State in the early 1980s, Garrity will prove to be quite a catch.
The elder Garrity made a diving touchdown catch in the 1983 Sugar Bowl, sealing the victory that gave former coach Joe Paterno his first national championship. The father, who started his Penn State career as a walk-on, later played seven seasons in the NFL.
The younger Garrity led the WPIAL in receiving this season with 67 catches for 1,240 yards, but Division I schools shied away from him because of his lack of size.
He is the second WPIAL product to commit to Penn State as a preferred run-on, joining former Pine-Richland quarterback Austin Whipple, who enrolled for the spring semester earlier this month.
Penn State is still recruiting a handful of WPIAL players as invited run-ons, including tight end Kevin Edwards, who was Garrity's teammate at North Allegheny.
Franklin-Regional linebacker Carter Henderson, who set a school record with 145 tackles last season, is leaning toward going to Penn State as a preferred run-on.
Penn State has 17 players in its 2013 recruiting class — five enrolled early — though none from the WPIAL.
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