Before we all decide whether or not former Pitt quarterback Luke Getsy should be burned at the… Before we all decide whether or not former Pitt quarterback Luke Getsy should be burned at the stake for packing his bags, let’s take a step back and examine the situation.

A strong case can be made for all of those who want to call Getsy a traitor or a quitter, but was his decision to leave Pitt really such a bad one?

I know he’s going to be stuck paying for his own tuition this year, and he’ll have to sit this season out, but isn’t sitting out one year better than riding the pine for three?

There’s a lot that can be said for getting a free education, but let’s face it: Getsy didn’t come to Pitt for academics. He came with hopes of one day becoming the starting quarterback. After head coach Walt Harris decided that Tyler Palko was the man at QB, Getsy really had no reason to stick around.

I know Palko had already signed with Pitt before Getsy made his decision, but you can’t fault Getsy for taking a shot. He accepted his best scholarship offer and believed that he would have the talent and ability to beat out Palko.

This year’s quarterback competition will be the last for Palko. Once he was named the starter, Getsy had virtually no shot at unseating him. The bottom line is that if Getsy had decided to stay at Pitt, he would have given up any chance at ever being a starting quarterback — likely for the rest of his life.

That’s a lot to swallow for a kid who was named to the first team of The Associated Press Small School All-State Team. Getsy threw over 6,000 yards at nearby Steel Valley High School, and was also the first four-year starting quarterback in the school’s history.

Getsy’s decision to transfer is certainly not in the best interest of Pitt’s football program, but you can’t call him a selfish traitor for jumping ship. It’s not like he was named starter and then decided to transfer to Penn State. He’s going to Akron where he will likely be the starter next year. I don’t care how many quarterbacks are on their roster — Getsy has more talent.

And it’s not like he’ll be starting from scratch at Akron. Former Pitt offensive coordinator J.D. Brookhart is in his first year as head coach of the Zips. Don’t you think there were a few conversations that took place between the two before Getsy made the decision to go to Akron?

Getsy might not be National Football League material just yet, but he is good enough to be a starting quarterback on many Division I rosters. So shouldn’t he have that chance? Getsy put in more than two years of hard work at Pitt and got to play one half of football for his efforts.

Can you blame him for wanting to go somewhere where he can actually play?

Ryan Walker is the sports editor of The Pitt News and can be reached at [email protected].