Ahead of this year’s NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, NFL Films released a documentary called “The Football Town.”
As one might imagine, the film talked about the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But that was only part of the story.
A good portion of the 53-minute documentary focused on high school and below football in Western Pennsylvania. It’s an area that has produced football legends at all positions, especially quarterback.
Johnny Unitas, Joe’s Namath and Montana, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, George Blanda.
All in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
All legends.
All grew up in Western Pennsylvania.
Roughly 18 minutes into the documentary, narrator Pat McAfee highlighted a guy who might be next in line.
“Whether they say it or not, everybody’s wondering the same thing,” McAfee said. “Is this the next great Western Pennsylvania quarterback?’
Less than three months after the documentary came out, the quarterback McAfee was talking about committed to Penn State.
James Armstrong has become just the eighth quarterback in WPIAL history to surpass 5,000 career passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards, and he could become a game-changer for PSU football.
Penn State Lands Commitment From Elite WPIAL QB James Armstrong
‘BOOBOO’
James Armstrong – Vikings Sports Now
Joe Montana was “Joe Cool” because his name was Joe and he was cool.
Joe Namath was “Broadway Joe” because his name was Joe and he was the toast of Broadway.
Johnny Unitas was “Johnny U” because, well, you can probably do the math on that one.
Armstrong, a four-star QB from Hopewell High School in the legendary football town of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, is known as “Booboo.”
How he got the nickname isn’t what Armstrong considers a fascinating story.
“My mom just used to give us nicknames,” Armstrong told Nittany Sports Now. “I was younger. My brother was ‘Boujee Bear,’ and my name is ‘Booboo.’ So it wasn’t really… there’s not really any cool backstory. That’s just always been my name since I was young.“
If the nickname doesn’t have a “cool story,” Armstrong’s play certainly does.
Just how good is Armstrong? Well, we’ll let this excerpt from “The Football Town” explain it.
“The Hopewell-Beaver game,” KDKA announcer Matt Farago said his partner, former Steeler Super Bowl champ Mike Logan, “Armstrong had…”
Fargao then started laughing while Logan stood with his jaw dropped.
“That’s not a typo…,” Farago said. “609 (total yards) in a game.
“Goodness, gracious,” Logan said.
Moments later, the film cut to a scene of a young kid asking Armstrong for his autograph on the sideline.
A junior in high school could take this praise in a few ways.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.They could embrace it, or it could scare them.
Armstrong is embracing it, and doesn’t feel the words of McAfee or anybody else adds any pressure.
“I feel like it really, honestly gives me a lot more confidence and a lot more,” he said. It makes me feel great because I put in a lot of work. I think I deserve those type of stuff. So whenever I receive it, it makes me feel great. And I feel like when I heard that, it just it was really just a cool feeling, and it made me want to work even harder. That’s one thing that happens to me whenever, you know, things are said or good things, bad things. It always just lights a fire that makes me want to work out that day or go to the field or something.”
Armstrong got his first college offer in January 2025 from the University of Pittsburgh while he was still a freshman.
Matt Mottes saw it coming long before that.
In a seventh grade game, Mottes was the defensive coordinator for a Freedom team that came in undefeated.
Armstrong and Hopewell put up 62 points and won by 41.
So who is James “Booboo” Armstrong, really?
OFF THE FIELD
Mottes describes Armstrong as “mature but childish at the same time.
“I mean, he’s just a happy, joyful person,” Mottes said. “You know, he’ll try to he’ll cheer you up even when you don’t want cheered up, which sometimes can agitate you. You know what I mean?”
So where does this come from?
“The natural thing is really just being more of a jokester and being more you know happy,” Armstrong said. “I’m a really happy guy, but definitely know how to get serious a lot of the times. Whenever I care, you know, truly about something like football and school and relationships and stuff like that. I really feel like I’ve grown throughout high school, I’ve been able to, you know, kind of find a good middle ground.”
WHY PENN STATE?
James Armstrong – Viking Sports Now
For Armstrong, it was always going to be Penn State.
“I mean, we all knew he was going to Penn State since day one,” Mottes said. “He’s a fan. He loves Coach Smith, and Coach Terry’s an unbelievable guy.”
Armstrong was already making his mark on the WPIAL when Smith became Penn State’s interim coach last season after James Franklin was fired.
“Just seeing the way he took over the head coaching job last year and just took it with pride and the love that he has for Penn State really meant a lot to me,” he said. “My cousin (Andrew Blackman) used to play for him whenever he was coaching at Gateway, so that was another connection that we had. But just, I mean, just really, it was really that whenever he took the head coaching job and the pride and just the passion he had for Penn State football, it just made me want to play for them even more.”
By the time Armstrong committed to Penn State, Matt Campbell was the head coach.
The beginning of the Campbell era in Happy Valley hasn’t always been easy, with the team going through a four-game losing streak to start Big Ten play.
But through the trials, Armstrong noticed something about Campbell.
“He’s the same whenever it’s great, and he’s the same whenever it’s bad,” Armstrong said, “and I really value that in him as just a coach.”
Armstrong still has more than a year before he signs his letter of intent, and schools have been trying to get him to change his mind.
Schools such as Michigan, Oregon and Pitt have talked to him.
But he took no visits to other schools this fall.
If Penn State isn’t a national title contender again by the time Armstrong gets there, he’s confident he can be the one who helps change that.
“It’s definitely always in my mind,” he said. “It’s definitely a goal of mine. That’s why I chose to be there. I think that it gives me a great shot just to put my name up there and you know take Penn State back to where it’s supposed to be at. I think that the school itself gives me a great platform to show how great I am, and I can’t wait to be there and just be able to um you know work harder and show it.”
