Tristan Wirfs (born January 24, 1999) is an American football offensive tackle for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

High school career

Wirfs played high school football at Mount Vernon High School, where he also excelled in

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. He won the state discus throw as a sophomore, and Iowa State and Iowa Hawkeyes both offered Wirfs scholarships within the next month. He committed to Iowa in winter of his junior year in December 2015, and was a four-star recruit. During his senior year of high school, Wirfs helped Mount Vernon to a state semifinal appearance in football, was named an Army All-American for football, won a state wrestling title in winter after cutting 30 pounds, and won the discus for the third straight year and shot put for the second straight year in spring at the Iowa state track-and-field championship meet. He was honored by the

Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junctio ...

as the best boys prep athlete in the state.

College career

As a true freshman, Wirfs started seven games at right tackle, becoming the first true freshman to start at offensive tackle in the

Kirk Ferentz Kirk James Ferentz (born August 1, 1955) is an American football coach. He is the current head football coach at the University of Iowa, a position he has held since the 1999 season. From 1990 to 1992, Ferentz was the head football coach at the ...

era. Through the season, he worked on being more aggressive against defenders. Before his sophomore season, Wirfs was suspended for the season-opening game against

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

for an OWI arrest in late July. After his sophomore season, Wirfs broke the Hawkeyes hang clean record held by Brandon Scherff, setting the new mark at 450 pounds. He also said a focus of his junior season would be to translate his weight room exploits to the field. An injury during spring practice caused Wirfs to miss a few weeks of practice. Following his junior season where he was selected to the First Team All Big Ten and named the conference lineman of the year, Wirfs announced that he would forgo his final season and enter the 2020 NFL Draft.

Professional career

Wirfs was drafted by the

in the first round with the 13th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

2020 season

As a rookie, Wirfs started all 16 games in the 2020 season, only allowing 1 sack to Khalil Mack of the Chicago Bears in Week 5. Wirfs played and started all four games in the Buccaneers' playoff run that resulted in the team winning Super Bowl LV.

2021 season

Wirfs started all 17 games for the Buccaneers, before suffering an ankle injury in the Wild Card round of the playoffs that kept him out the remainder of the Buccaneers' 2021 season. After another strong year performance wise Wirfs was named to his 1st career

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

, as well as garnered a 1st-Team

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

selection.

References

External links

Tampa Bay Buccaneers bioIowa Hawkeyes bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wirfs, Tristan 1999 births All-American college football players American football offensive tackles Iowa Hawkeyes football players Living people People from Mount Vernon, Iowa Players of American football from Iowa Tampa Bay Buccaneers players National Conference Pro Bowl players