Pitt FB Recruiting
Pittsburgh Central Catholic LB 2026 Colsen Gatten Earns Offer from Hometown Pitt
Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School, year in and year out, is a factory for D-1 football players and in the last week, Pitt has extended an offer to two of their young stars. Last week, the Panthers offered Class of 2025 athlete Bradley Gompers and on Sunday, they offered his teammate Colsen Gatten.
Gatten is a Class of 2026 linebacker that’s caught the eye of major programs, receiving his first three Division I offers from Pitt, Penn State and Wisconsin. That’s getting your recruiting started in a big way to say the least.
Gatten received the news today while participating in a 7-on-7 competition over at Pitt’s football facility, UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, on the South Side.
“Pitt recently came down to one of our practices once and I was able to talk with [safeties] coach [Cory] Sanders and he told me then that he would keep in touch,” Gatten said. “Then today, I played 7-on-7 for a couple of plays and then I got hurt. But after that, they took me up to [head] coach [Pat] Narduzzi’s office and gave me the news about the offer. I was ecstatic and afterwards, had a great talk with coach Narduzzi and coach Sanders. I was super impressed with everything they talked to me about, mainly about the culture of the program and how the coaches at Pitt coach. It was super cool to hear all that from their perspective.”
“I was definitely still nervous when I was asked to go to his office because I’m still new to all of this recruiting. I’m still a young kid but they made me feel very welcomed and I got the feeling that Pitt is a great place.”
The coaches at Pitt didn’t have to educate Gatten on their history recruiting his high school. The current Pitt roster has Central Catholic alums in scholarship defensive linemen David Green and Elliot Donald, along with walk-ons in offensive linemen Matt Metrosky and Matt Altsman and tight end Josh Altsman. Pitt also currently have a commitment from Class of 2024 three-star defensive end Ty Yuhas.
“Central is known for Pitt and a lot of great names have come through our school,” Gatten said. “Getting this Pitt offer is different because it’s in the backyard, it’s the hometown school. I’ve been following Pitt for a while. I’m just a hometown kid that follows the hometown school. It’s been pretty cool to see how well they’ve been doing the last few years too.”
Although schools are mainly looking at Gatten as a linebacker, he says that he’s able to play both tight end and H-Back on offense. In terms of his what he can do on the defensive side of the ball, Gatten tells Pittsburgh Sports Now that he moves his hips very well and he’s able to cover a lot of ground with his speed.
Gatten feels extremely blessed to receive this sort of attention already and has someone at home that’s going to help navigate him through the recruiting world over the next few seasons. Colsen’s father, Aaron, is a former star linebacker at Washington High School that went on to play at Penn State. That’s a pretty good resource to have.
“I honestly feel truly blessed to be in this position and feel that I’m surrounded by some great mentors and people that are guiding me in my life to take me through this recruiting process. I thank God for watching over me and my parents and coaches for everything they’ve done for me.”
“With the recruiting stuff, my dad is telling me that it’s my journey and my decision on where I want to go to school,” Gatten said. “At the same time, he gives me great pointers. I’ll come home at night and have questions and he’s always there for me and helping me out.”
It’s already out there so PSN had to ask Gatten about the talk that no matter who offers him, with his family ties to the program, that Penn State is already his overwhelming favorite and will be very difficult to beat out.
“I know that everyone thinks that because my dad played there but honestly for me, it’s going to be about what school that I love the most, where I really feel at home,” Gatten said. “It’s not going to be about where my dad went and who did this and who did that. It’s going to be about me and where I feel the most at home and feel most welcomed.”
What, zero Pat Signals after this huge recruit hosting weekend?? How disconcerting. Hope remains strong though…