He's a social science/economics major at USC. His brother, Kurt, is a redshirt freshman center at USC. His father, Norman, was a 2-year starting center at Arizona (1978-79), while his uncle, John Katnik, started at center for USC in 1986 and 1987. He was born in Tucson, Ariz. He likes to play golf. His sports hero is ex-USC All-American and current NFL star offensive tackle Tony Boselli.

He was picked to the 1998 Super Prep All-Farwest and All-Century League first team as a senior at Foothill High in Santa Ana (Calif.). He played on both the offensive and defensive lines.

He also played baseball at Foothill. Current Trojans Kurt Katnik, Billy Hart and Mike Brittingham prepped at Foothill, while current Trojan Billy Hart also spent part of his prep career at Foothill.

Katnik redshirted as a freshman in 1999, his first year at USC. He began the season as an offensive tackle, was moved to tight end in fall camp, then to center by mid-season.

Katnik was a reserve center as a redshirt freshman in 2000 (he was also available at guard, tackle and tight end). He also was a backup long snapper on punts behind Zeke Moreno. He appeared briefly in 2 games (as a snapper against San Jose State and at tight end versus Arizona). He made 1 tackle (versus San Jose State) in 2000.

Katnik started at all 3 line offensive line positions as a sophomore in 2001. He started 10 games in 2001: at center versus Oregon, Washington, Arizona State and Notre Dame, at guard against San Jose State (left), Stanford (left), Arizona (right), Oregon State (left) and UCLA (left) and at left tackle (California). He came off the bench at left guard against Kansas State and Utah. He was moved from center to tackle in 2001 spring drills, then went back to center to open 2001 fall camp before also working at guard and tackle.

Katnik started at center for the first 11 games of his 2002 junior season and peformed solidly. He played (but did not start) against Notre Dame and Iowa in the Orange Bowl after suffering a left ankle sprain at UCLA. He played both center and left guard against Iowa. In the spring of 2002, he had surgery to repair torn ligaments in his thumb.

Katnik, who has played every position on the offensive line, started at center for his second season as a senior in 2003 (his third year as a starter on the line) and had an impressive year. He was 1 of 6 finalists for the 2003 Rimington Award and was named to the 2003 Collegefootballnews.com All-American third team, as well as the All-Pac-10 first team. He also made the Collegefootballnews.com All-Pac-10 first team. He participated in the Hula Bowl.

He is currently is a National Football League Center for the New York Jets He previously played for the San Francisco 49ers.