TribHSSN Preseason WPIAL Football All-Star team: Patrick Body, Gateway

By: Chris Harlan
Monday, June 28, 2021 | 7:33 PM

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The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 22 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park.

A year ago, Gateway’s Patrick Body and Derrick Davis formed one of the most talented safety tandems in the WPIAL, even if Body downplays his contributions a bit.

“Everybody likes to say we shared the load last year, but everybody knows Derrick carried most of the load,” Body said. “I’d like to say I’ll have more of that role this year.”

Davis is now a freshman at LSU, leaving Body to replace him as Gateway’s stopper in the secondary and a big-play threat on offense. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound senior will start at both defensive back and wide receiver.

Body, like Davis before him, wants to be the person his team looks to in big moments.

“I have to be able to do that,” Body said, “and be a positive role model for the younger people on the field with us.”

Body has played receiver since his sophomore year and caught 42 passes for 731 yards and eight touchdowns over the past two seasons. His highlight was a 61-yard touchdown catch in the 2019 WPIAL Class 5A championship.

He’ll continue to be a downfield threat in Gateway’s passing game, but Body said he prefers defense. He’ll likely play safety or cornerback in college.

Body in May narrowed his college options to Pitt, Cincinnati, Illinois, Rutgers and West Virginia. He visited Cincinnati earlier this month and intends to visit Rutgers soon. His father Patrick Body Sr. was a City League standout who spent time as a defensive back with three NFL teams.

Gateway has produced a number of Division I safeties in recent years, a list that includes Davis, Jeremiah Josephs (Duquesne), Jaquan Brisker (Penn State) and now Body. Gators coach Don Holl said his team decides who plays safety in much the same way Little League teams choose a shortstop.

“That’s a really, really critical portion of our defense,” Holl said, “so our best athletes go there.”

The Gators ask their safeties to adjust often, so the players in those spots must be able to multi-task. Body fits that role.

“He’s got to be versatile,” Holl said. “That was the thing with him and Derrick. He’s got a good skill set. He can go play the high-middle safety or come hit you. He can man cover and go get it when it’s in the air.

“And if we say, ‘Go lock up somebody at corner,’ he’s a tough matchup.”

To prove Body’s impact, Holl points to last year’s WPIAL semifinal loss to Peters Township. Gateway had led 19-0 before Body sprained a knee ligament before halftime. With Body sidelined, Peters Township used three second-half touchdown passes to win 20-19.

“It’s all hypothetical, but if he doesn’t twist up his knee at the end of the first half …” Holl said.

That one-point loss stuck with Body.

“I remember sitting there just thinking how it would’ve been different if I was in there,” he said. “I wouldn’t have let all that passing go on. I feel like it could have been a different outcome. I could have been getting my second ring.”

Gateway won the WPIAL his sophomore year. Adding another ring remains his focus.

“I already know,” Body said, “I can’t go out without a ring my senior year.”

Patrick Body

Gateway

Senior

6-2/175 pounds

WR/DB

Committed to: Uncommitted

Division I offers: Pitt, West Virginia, Akron, Army, Ball State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Illinois, Kent State, Liberty, Old Dominion, Rutgers, Temple, Toledo, UMass, William & Mary.

2020 statistics: 15 catches, 264 yards, 4 TDs