Pitt WPIAL Targets Continue Exodus Out of State

With WPIAL football set to kick off this week, one of the area's most promising young quarterbacks and a Pitt Panthers target won't participate.

Last year Anthony Smith broke the single season passing record as a freshman at Southmoreland High School with 2,110 yards and 22 touchdowns. The class of 2028 QB standing at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds has drawn Division I offers from Syracuse, Sacramento State and Towson.

After transferring from Southmoreland to Seton LaSalle over the offseason ,the WPIAL Board ruled him ineligible in July and on Aug. 8 the PIAA upheld th e decision. They believe the switch involved ‘athletic intent’.

PIAA Bylaws, Article VI, Section 11 declares any transferring student ineligible for a period of one year from the date of transfer or the date of the decision, if the Committee finds the transfer in whole or in part for any athletic purpose.

Smith’s family cited concerns involving his safety around the transfer. They claim months of targeted cyberbullying and an escalating off-field incident involving a local spectator was the reason. The family has filed a lawsuit against the PIAA last week after they ruled him ineligible.

A court filing outlined how an adult man from Tarrs had allegedly harassed the family online in hundreds of posts and was even ejected from a Southmoreland game last seas on due to repeated violations of the spectator code of conduct.

Smith taking the field in the state of Pennsylvania this season is out of the question. Likely leading him to transfer elsewhere out of state where he would be immediately able to take the field.

A Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Harry F. Smail granted Smith permission to play in Seton LaSalle’s scrimmage against Plum over the weekend but he chose to sit out.

High school football is around the corner for the entire country so Smith will need to act fast. Other local highly recruited athletes transferring out of state is becoming a trend. It allows them to avoid both the WPIAL Board and PIAA.

Sa’Nir Brooks and Larry Moon both left Aliquippa. Brooks is in Baltimore, MD. with St Frances Academy and Moon is in Bradenton, FL. with IMG Academy. Both Brooks and Moon already hold offers from Pitt.