PITTSBURGH — Clearfield Area High School senior dual-sport athlete Colton Ryan was selected as the Clearfield Bison representative to take the stage during the third day of the 2026 NFL Draft. Ryan and over 100 players from different high school programs around western and central Pennsylvania took the stage to honor the legacy of NFL player producing programs across the region.
Clearfield Bison Head Football Coach Myles Caragein received word his program would be able to send one current football player from his program to represent Clearfield Bison football. To do right by his captains, he randomly generated a name from the four and Ryan was the lucky recipient of the opportunity, a chance he certainly made the most of.
From connecting with players from around the state on stage and behind the theatre, meeting the host of the draft for ESPN Laura Rutledge, and even snapping a quick selfie with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell before his time on stage ended, it was a day Ryan will never forget and is perhaps one of the last times he will ever sport the Bison jersey. “The amount of people was insane and so was the atmosphere. Despite the rain and departing for Pittsburgh at 4:30 a.m. to try to avoid the traffic, it was a day I’ll always be grateful for.”
As a Steelers fan and with the draft being in Pittsburgh, it made for a surreal moment to see fellow Pennsylvania native Eli Heidenrich from the United States Naval Academy (Navy Midshipmen) get picked in person to a roaring ovation from the crowd. A Mount Lebanon High School graduate, it’s a homecoming for the standout who was a genuine leader for Navy football over the last four years.
Seeing this selection and the picks from the first two days on stage was something that made him optimistic of the future with the organization now under the leadership of only their fourth head coach since 1970. Pittsburgh native Mike McCarthy is a Super Bowl winning coach who in his first draft with the Steelers surprised some people. However, his pedigree speaks for itself and on paper, this could be one of the best Steelers offenses since the “Killer B’s” faction of Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, and Le’Veon Bell graced Pittsburgh with their services all in the primes of their careers.
In addition to Ryan’s optimism about the Steelers draft, he remains optimistic about his own football future. During the summer, he will be playing in the Lezzer Lumber Classic, an all-star football game with rich ties to Clearfield County. However, he also plans to walk-on to the Penn State Nittany Lions football team and hopes to suit up for first year coach Matt Campbell, who the program signed over the winter in a deal that saw him go from the Cyclones of Iowa State University to the Nits of Penn State. Ryan is considering majors of landscape architecture, turfgrass science, or possibly even education.
Though the future is uncertain for Ryan at Penn State, for Penn State football, and for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Colton Ryan soaked in a moment that few can say. Very few thousand people have ever been on an NFL stage in any capacity, and Clearfield’s Colton Ryan will always be able to say he is one of the few. With his community behind him, he made the most of it and made memories with his family and friends that he will always cherish. “Next year is in Washington D.C., and I’d love to go to that. And especially would love to check out being at a draft again on the first day. That’s always something I thought would also be cool to attend,” he said.
