A.J. Balta took a shot in the dark, as he put it.
He was looking for a school that would simultaneously allow him to keep playing the game he loved but also afforded him a chance to start a master's program in criminal justice.
Another caveat: The team needed to be good.
So Balta, who made 139 starts over the previous three seasons for Oregon and graduated in 2017, called TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle.
"I reached out to a handful of schools and TCU was obviously one of the best programs in the country so it was just a shot in the dark," Balta said.