When a college athlete decides to transfer, the decision isn’t taken lightly … especially when you’re at a quality Division II Program like Cal (Pa.) U.
Even more so when your father played quarterback for the same team in the early 1990s. There’s tradition there. History.
But that’s just the movie former Linsly three-year starter Wyatt Hirt made recently. Hirt redshirted his freshman year and began weighing his options.
His current major, management, wasn’t quite the career path he envisioned. Hirt isn’t afraid of a little QB competition either. But with incoming junior Noah Mitchell entrenched as the Vulcan’s starter for the third year in a row, Hirt opted for the transfer portal.
He talked with his coaches and the university and later made his decision public in late May.
Again, Hirt received multiple offers. Where he decided on will feel more like home than playing in his native Pennsylvania.
Hirt and his former teammate—and current Vulcans’ teammate and roommate — Bastian Gerher are both headed to Marietta College.
There they will join fellow former cadets Vic and Gage Giovengo, Chance Knight and Trevin Tush. Wirt and Gerher will bring the total to six.
The college also features a major more to Hirt’s liking.
Keep in mind, these decisions were made prior to the recent announcement by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference that it is forgoing sports for the remainder of 2020.
The Ohio Athletic Conference has yet to fold, only opting for conference-only play.
A decision Hirt likely toiled with for months looked like the right decision before that announcement. But if there was any doubt, the PSAC’s decision answered those doubts.
Obviously, you made your decision long before the PSAC’s announcement. What brought it about and given your dad’s playing for Cal, did that make the decision more difficult?
Yeah, Cal U was a great place and I made a lot of great friends there my first year. It was a tough decision to leave such a strong program. However, I ultimately decided that it was the best for me to try and find a school with the degree I was looking for and planning to pursue. As far as how my Dad reacted, he is always supportive of my decisions and is excited about my future at Marietta.
You had multiple offers, but what ultimately led you to pick Marietta? They have a number of former teammates of yours there and the pipeline seems to only be expanding.
Marietta really stood out to me based on the atmosphere of the town/campus and also the great petroleum engineering program they have.
Marietta has a number of your former teammates already there and a few more coming for this season. Did that factor into your decision?
Also being able to play alongside 5 of my best friends and former high school teammates is going to be a lot of fun. Along with Trevin, Chance, Vic, and Gage, also my roommate from Cal U, Linebacker Bastian Gerher is also transferring to Marietta to play ball. I am definitely excited to see what the future holds for the program with such great players joining the team.
Looking back now, given the PSAC canceled all sports for the remainder of 2020 and, as of now, the OAC plans to go ahead as originally scheduled (with the exception of conference games only) it probably looks more and more like the right call.
Yeah, I really felt for my buddies at Cal when I heard the news about the PSAC cancelling their fall sports. Luckily the OAC has not cancelled their season and I really do think it is the right decision in moving forward with what has been going on for the past couple months. Excited to get on campus!
Have you already started practicing with the Pioneers down in Marietta? Were you able to keep working out as best as possible during the early stages of the pandemic restrictions?
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to go down to train with some of the guys in Marietta, however I have been working out with Vic Giovengo and Trevin Tush who are both playing ball at Marietta. I was thankful for having workout equipment at my house when quarantine first hit and the gyms closed, so I was staying in shape. Now that Gyms have opened back up my training has basically gone back to normal.
