Editor’s note: This is part of our monthlong football previews of teams and players.
PIEDMONT — Piedmont football coach John Trotman describes towering offensive tackle Patrick Selna as “one of those kids that doesn’t come around too often.”
Indeed, Selna, who is 6-foot-7 and a trimmed-down 275 pounds, brings a lot to the table.
“With his size, his motor, his athletic ability — he’s a gifted athlete — he’s going to do well wherever he goes,” Trotman says. “I’ll be really excited for him this year.”
Selna recently tore it up at the Yale and Penn camps during an Ivy League circuit. A center on the Highlanders basketball team and a football captain, he recently visited Cal Poly and was set to visit Tulane. He has received offers from Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico State, Wyoming, and San Jose State.
Several Pac-12 schools, including Cal, UCLA, Arizona State, and Oregon State, have been on campus for unofficial visits.
“I’m just trying to open every door possible to see if I can get a hold of the best opportunity,” Selna says.
Selna comes from an athletic, success-oriented family that loves sports. His aunts and uncles are all competitors. His sister, Camille, is a volleyball standout at College of Alameda. Patrick’s parents are both attorneys with sports backgrounds. His dad, Steve, a Piedmont Boosters Club liaison, has even helped Trotman land grants for the program.
“He’s been a godsend, a big part of the program,” Trotman says of Steve Selna, who went to Cal and played football as a freshman.
For his part, Patrick Selna has grown into a well-rounded leader.
“He’s a fun kid to be around,” says Trotman, in his second year as Piedmont’s head coach. “He’s definitely stepped up his leadership role. He’s learned that being a leader doesn’t mean just being vocal but actually leading.”
Patrick says he experienced a “big change” physically and mentally in the past year and a half as he became a more serious-minded athlete interacting with coaches and recruiters. His second year on the varsity basketball team helped him “slim down and develop a mindset to attack more with speed and size and integrate more into my game,” he says.
Moreover, Selna is excited about Piedmont football. The Highlanders appear poised to take a step forward this season with 25 juniors up from an unbeaten junior varsity squad. His positive nature shines through.
“It’s going great,” he says. “I’m feeling really good about what we’ve got going on here, feeling good about everything.”
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