Chris Wuestner was coming off a year of inactivity due to an injury and knew, yet again, he’d be used mostly on special teams. When training camp at Pittsburgh started in August, his fears were realized.

“It came down to my last go around at football, and I wasn’t really excited where I was,” the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Wuestner said. “I didn’t feel like I was getting the looks I should have been in camp.”

Late in August, Wuestner decided to transfer to Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania to get more playing time. The adjustment hasn’t been easy. But in less than a month, the receiver has posted nearly 350 yards in the Crimson Hawks’ first four games.

Wuestner played in 22 games at Pitt in his first two seasons but didn’t see much action on offense. His lone catch in 2013 came in the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl against Bowling Green. He caught another pass the following season in a win over Delaware. After contributing to the Panthers almost solely as a special teams player, Wuestner missed the entire 2015 season with a torn spleen and liver.

While he sat out with the injury, Wuestner considered his options at Pitt. He knew that head coach Pat Narduzzi would likely use him only on special teams if he returned. But Wuestner wanted to play more wide receiver in his final season.

Wuestner waited to make his final decision until late in the 2016 preseason, when he received an offer from IUP.

IUP wide receivers coach Mike Shanahan was a senior wide receiver at Pitt when Wuestner joined the team in 2013, and coached the Panthers as a volunteer assistant and graduate assistant the next two years. He remembers how passionate the young receiver was when he joined the Panthers, and that Wuestner would fit well with the Crimson Hawks.

Courtesy of Keith Boyer/IUP

“I hired Shanahan in the spring, and we got a call in the middle of camp, out of nowhere, about (Wuestner),” IUP head coach Curt Cignetti said. “He didn’t like where he stood (at Pitt). We had a need at the wide receiver position, so we brought him almost at the very end of camp.”

The transfer wasn’t official until late August, and Wuestner wasn’t able to start working with the Crimson Hawks until early September. Shanahan said the biggest difference between Division I and Division II is that players don’t get as much gear and the schools aren’t as “materialistic” with their facilities.

Adjusting to IUP’s offense has been the hardest transition for Wuestner, who played in a pro-style offense at Pit. He’s now tasked with running a no-huddle at IUP. Shanahan was at Pitt through five different head coaches, so he has been using that experience of learning new offenses to help Wuestner adjust.

In IUP’s no-huddle offense, Wuestner has feasted on big plays or lacked targets. In Sept. 24’s game against Edinboro, he saw almost no passes come his way. But he also has two 140-plus-yard receiving games. He’s had to adjust to looking toward the sideline for play calls and memorizing signals rather than huddling for play calls.

Boasting two years of experience at a Power 5 school, Wuestner has become a leader at IUP, and many of the players look up to him. It’s ironic, Cignetti said, because Wuestner has been with the team for only a month.

“I’ve had the privilege to play behind some guys that are in the NFL right now, and learn a lot from them,” Wuestner said. “Just to kind of help and teach any way I can, it’s really important to me to help the guys (at IUP) out.”

Published on October 5, 2016 at 11:22 pm

Contact Matt: mjfel100@syr.edu