From Hokieball to Beamerball, a story of following your heart

One young athlete walked away from a baseball scholarship to fulfill his dreams of playing collegiate football, as a walk-on.

A dual sport athlete in baseball and football in high school, Tyler Fitzgerald is no stranger to athletic success. This became evident when he verbally committed to play baseball at Virginia Tech in the summer of 2012, just after his sophomore year of high school.

Even after committing to play baseball, Fitzgerald debated on which sport he wanted to play at the collegiate level, ultimately choosing to stay faithful to his baseball commitment. However, when he was redshirted his freshman year and was forced to watch from the dugout, he began questioning which sport truly had his heart.

“I started to get the feeling [to walk away from baseball] during winter break of freshman year,” said Fitzgerald. “I didn’t go to any football games because I missed it so much.”

Following the spring semester of his freshman year and an end of the year meeting with his baseball coach, Fitzgerald made the tough decision to walk away from the diamond, and his scholarship. This decision was made even more difficult after receiving news that the NCAA would begin rewarding scholarship athletes with a stipend.

“I would have gotten pocketed money,” said Fitzgerald. “So that was hard for me, but it was definitely easy to choose what makes me happy.”

Fitzgerald spent his summer months rigorously training to get his body back in football shape and after trying out in September; he successfully earned a walk-on spot on Virginia Tech’s football team.

For now, Fitzgerald’s impact is limited, as he joined the team mid-season, but he has lofty goals for his future.

“I know in spring when we're allowed to hit, that’s when you gain a lot of respect from others,” said Fitzgerald. “So I definitely want to do that and prove myself and eventually, hopefully, work up to a scholarship.”

Ultimately, Fitzgerald just wants to be apart of one of the most popular traditions in college football.

“One of my major goals right now is just to run out in Lane Stadium," said Fitzgerald.