Openly Gay College Football Player Puts On A Show, Gets Named "Special Teams Player Of The Week"

Source - It’s been quite a season so far for Wyatt Pertuset, a wide receiver and punter for Capital University in Ohio, one of seven openly gay college football players this season.

Pertuset made news by becoming perhaps the first openly gay player to score a touchdown, and then had his accomplishment featured on ESPN. This weekend, he won an honor by being named Special Teams Player of the Week by the Ohio Athletic Conference, which plays in Division III.

Pertuset was called upon to punt four times in last week’s matchup against Baldwin Wallace over Homecoming Weekend. He totaled 182 yards in his four punts and averaged 45.5 yards per boot, a new single-game high for the junior. He also set the mark for a new personal long when he cranked one punt 55 yards downfield. Three of his four punts also pinned the Yellow Jackets inside their own 20-yard line.

Good stuff. Now just keep it up so we can finally have an openly gay player in the NFL. The last thing we need is for you to be featured in an Enterprise Rent-A-Car commercial at the end of the semester. It’d be a slap in the face of gay people everywhere. If Wyatt makes it big in the NFL, Aaron Rogers and all the other gay NFL players will feel confortable enough to come out. It may be a little far fetched considering he’s playing division three, but it could happen. If it doesn’t, we still have seven other openly gay college football players (three of which are division one) with a legitimate shot of making it so it’s only a matter of time until it happens. Here’s what he had to say about the whole situation.

“I want it to be one of those images in young minds, especially for the same age as me, who might be in the closet, to work hard and just play your heart out, not only for your team but for what you stand for,” Pertuset said after scoring his touchdown a month ago. “I want this to be a turning point that proves to people that we are great athletes as well.”

Preach. As corny as it sounds, somewhere, some kid is looking up to Wyatt and that matters. Hell, maybe some of his teammates are looking up to him…YA NEVER KNOW. Seriously though, this is a cool story and it makes me happy. Congratulations to Wyatt. Wishing him nothing but the best.