In his junior year, he was one spot from standing on the podium at state, and that could have been it. Instead, Wirfs came on a visit to Iowa and talked to Landan and Levi Paulsen, two more of Iowa’s many offensive linemen that had wrestling success in high school.

“I’ve grown up knowing them through wrestling, so it’s really exciting seeing that whole offense and defense just evolve, and that wrestling’s kind of at the core of some of the talents that they have,” Costello said.

After visiting Iowa, Wirfs made his decision.

He wrote Truitt a letter and sent it before Mount Vernon’s annual fall chili cook-off that year.

“He basically said, ‘Hey, you told me three years ago when I was a freshman that February 2017 is when I’ll write the final chapter of my wrestling career. I’m going to see it through,’” Truitt recalled.

The importance of what he could accomplish wasn’t lost on Wirfs.

“And I think I said, ‘I want my name up on the wall’ in the wrestling room,” Wirfs said. “That’s where our state champs are; they’re painted on the wall. So, it [was] kind of just me telling them I’m holding up my end of the bargain.”

The first step was done. Wirfs then had to lose the weight he had put on for football and would eventually need the next fall at Iowa.

At the end of football season, he weighed 325 pounds, 40 pounds over the heavyweight limit. He made the cut in four-to-five weeks, but his commitment to wrestling showed the most after the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Game, which Wirfs was selected to play in.

After taking a few days off for school and recovery, Wirfs got back into the wrestling room and Truitt asked how much time he would need to get back down to weight.

“Who do we wrestle tomorrow? Do they have heavyweights?” Truitt recalled Wirfs asking.

“Yeah,” Truitt said back.

“Well, I’ll make it tomorrow then,” Wirfs replied.

From spending the night at his head coach’s house the first time he was cutting weight to help fight the temptation of getting up in the middle of the night to eat, to being all-in committed to helping the wrestling program succeed no matter what the personal cost, Wirfs’ work ethic has transferred from the wrestling mat to the football field with ease.