South Side's Ryan Navarra tackles Fort Cherry's Matt Sieg during Friday's Class 1A WPIAL championship game. Sally Maxson / USA TODAY NETWORK

Pitt Hosting WPIAL Star, Penn State Commit

Originally posted on Pittsburgh Panthers on SI
By Karl Ludwig | Last updated Oct 16, 2025 4:20 PM ET

PITTSBURGH - The firing of Penn State head coach James Franklin has opened the door for a handful of top recruits, and the Pitt Panthers are sliding in.

According to a report from Mike Vukovcan of Pittsburgh Sports Now, Penn State commit Matt Sieg will be taking an official visit to Pitt when the Panthers host North Carolina State on Oct. 25. He added that Sieg is considering Indiana and Notre Dame.

Sieg - a 6-foot-1, 170-pound four-star athlete from Fort Cherry in McDonald, Pa. - committed to Penn State last November, and while he's still committed, he re-opened his recruitment following the firing of Franklin.

It will be tough to lure Sieg completely out of State College, as he's close with interim head coach Terry Smith and grew up supporting the Nittany Lions, but the Pitt coaching staff will do its best.

Sieg only took one official visit, to Penn State since he had previously committed to the Nittany Lions, but he holds offers from Akron, Alabama, Buffalo, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pitt, RMU, Rutgers, Stanford, Syracuse, Temple, USC, Vanderbilt, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Pitt has been recruiting Sieg heavily since the beginning, extending his second official offer in 2023, and he's been attending games at Acrisure Stadium since it was still Heinz Field.

He last made a trip to the South Side facility for a spring practice last year.

Sieg is dominant on both sides of the ball at Fort Cherry. And while he's set the WPIAL yardage record this season, he's likely a defensive back at the next level.

Sally Maxson / USA TODAY NETWORK

He's helped Fort Cherry clinch a division title already this season, sitting at 9-0. He's completed 16-of-24 pass attempts for 403 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception through the air and 81 carries for 980 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground - along with a dominant display defensively.

The Pitt coaching staff has had success putting defensive backs in the NFL, and with a few older safeties in the room, there would be a potential opportunity with the Panthers quickly. But regardless, he would be a nice pickup.

247Sports rates Sieg as the 80th-ranked recruit in the class (ninth-ranked safety and second-ranked recruit from Pennsylvania) while On3 rates him as the 187th-raked recruit (19th-ranked safety and sixth-ranked recruit from Pennsylvania).

Pitt currently has one safety commitment in the class of 2026 (Isaac Patterson), and Sieg would be the perfect addition to the class. He would join fellow WPIAL commits Reston Lehman, John Curran and Lincoln Hoke.

This article first appeared on Pittsburgh Panthers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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