It is roughly 2,439 miles from Los Angeles to Winston-Salem, NC. It’s an additional 300 miles from the East Bay in Northern California. But two Wake Forest redshirt freshmen made the journey in hopes of having a big college football career for the Demon Deacons.
With both having had a good Spring camp, quarterback Steele Pizzella and running back Jamar Searcy have put themselves in a position for playing time this season. Pizzella comes out of camp with a firm grip on the QB2 spot behind probable starter Gio Lopez. Searcy has established himself at a position that is likely to be running back by committee. It just took a lot of miles for both of them to get there.
According to the admissions department at the school, Wake Forest has 229 undergrad students from California for the 2025-26 academic year. That is roughly 4% of the total undergrad population.
Wake Forest Redshirt Freshmen Are Living the Cross-Country Journey
That mirrors the Wake football program. There are six players on the roster who originated in California. But four of them made stops along the way to Winston-Salem. Receiver Carlos Hernandez went from Monrovia, CA, to Washington State and then followed head coach Jake Dickert out to Wake Forest. Eli Gilmour went from San Diego, CA, to Nevada to Wake. Linebacker Frank Cusano went from Granite Bay, CA, to Washington State to Wake Forest. Reserve quarterback Billy Johnson left Atherton, CA, to go to Wagner College in New York before going south to Wake Forest.
Direct from CA to NC
That leaves Pizzella and Searcy as the two on the roster who made the direct, non-stop (so to speak) journey from CA to NC. It’s a long journey. And a very different one for each of them. Yet, here they both are, on the other side of the country from home, looking for a chance to play and to have an impact on the season.
Searcy’s Journey
Searcy is from Pittsburg, CA. It is a town of about 78,000 people (about 1/3 the population of Winston-Salem) in Contra Costa County, and is built on the manufacturing industry. Searcy’s high school football team is one of the most prominent in the area. The Pirates won the No Cal Division 1AA championship in Searcy’s senior year. He was the San Francisco Chronicle Metro Player of the Year in 2024 after gaining 1,666 yards and 26 touchdowns on the ground.
Searcy signed with Washington State in December of 2024, intending to play for Dickert. But he never made it to Pullman. Dickert was hired at Wake Forest, triggering an automatic release from any of the Cougars players into the portal for 30 days. That included any recent signees. Searcy got a late push from SMU, but ultimately chose Dickert for a second time.
Pizzella’s Path
Pizzella’s starting point was quite different. He went to high school at Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks, CA. The city’s population is only 72,000, but it is in the heart of the San Fernando Valley in the northern part of LA County. You already know the city’s notoriety, even if you don’t realize it. Think Mark Rattner leaving his post at the Galleria movie theater to try to meet Stacy over at Perry’s Pizza while Mike Damone was trying to scalp some concert tickets. Yes, 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High had its moments right there at the Sherman Oaks Galleria.
Pizzella was considered one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in California his senior year at Notre Dame. He had thrown for 4,797 yards and 51 touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons combined. But he also had a 1,000-yard rushing season in his senior year, in addition to clocking 10.64 in the 100-yard dash for the track team as a junior.
He was also set to go to Washington State until Dickert made the move east. And so went Pizzella.
Making the Move
Leaving the family in CA to play in Pullman, WA, is one thing. Doing so to play on the other side of the country is a whole venture of a larger magnitude.
“I knew I was going to miss them,” Pizzella said of his family. “But I go where the opportunity is. I think that’s the biggest thing,” he told us when we met with both of them at the conclusion of Spring camp. “Being able to come out here and come here when he’s [Dickert] building this program for Wake Forest is amazing, and I knew I couldn’t pass up that opportunity.”
It was a big adjustment for Searcy as well. “I miss my family, being on the other side of the country. I’d never been on this side of the country,” he said. But then there are the teammates. “I miss my family, but I know I have a second family here at Wake Forest.”
Answering the Wake Forest Questions
The school, in fact, the city, was a bit of a mystery to both of them, going through the recruiting process, post-Washington State. “I didn’t know much about Wake Forest and had not really looked too much on the East Coast side of the country,” Searcy said.
“I’m a big research guy,” Pizzella said. “So, I dove in and researched the school.” He came away with strong impressions of the Riley Skinner quarterback era at Wake (2006-2009), particularly the 2006 Orange Bowl team.
Searcy says being away from home has also allowed him to focus on school and football. “I really didn’t have the confidence last year. I have matured more being here and have built my confidence to do what I need to do to compete.” With Demond Claiborne now being in the NFL, Searcy said he believes the running back job is open. “Now I have to go take it.” He said he feels a sense of community in Winston-Salem and is happy to have fewer distractions in the smaller town.
Big Picture
The Pizzella family was already mobile for the sake of their sone’s football future. They originally lived in Simi Valley, north of Sherman Oaks. It is “only” about 30 miles away, but in Los Angeles area traffic, they could easily be a 90-minute commute each way. With Notre Dame being a private school, the rules about living within a given school district are different from those for public schools. Still, a move, in fact multiple moves, were necessary. The family settled in Northridge, CA, about a 20-minute drive from the Notre Dame campus.
“I can’t thank my parents enough for giving me those opportunities,” he said. “It was the way it needed to go in order for me to present myself for opportunities.”
Both of them cited Wake Forest academics as an additional reason to follow Dickert from the West Coast. “We make sure everyone is doing right in the classroom. Not everyone is going to get a chance to play football after their last year of college,” Searcy said, noting that he is a Psychology major at Wake. Pizzella has a 4.0 GPA as he has been getting all of his general education classes out of the way before entering Wake’s business school in the Fall.
The One Thing CA Still Has
The opportunities to get back home to California are rare. College football has become a year-round sport in terms of players working on their own development outside of the official practice/training times. Searcy has family in Maryland, so that has helped when he needs that familial vibe. Pizzella talked about how the opportunities are few. “Only during the big breaks. Like after the bowl game.” There were another two weeks left before the next semester started, after Wake won the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in early January. They both will get a little bit of time in late May before the team is expected to return for workouts after Labor Day weekend.
While adjusting to a different lifestyle in Winston-Salem, the rigors of Wake Forest academics, and the hard work of college football, there is one thing from California that Searcy and Pizzella insist cannot be replaced. “In-N-Out!!” They both blurted out the answer as we barely got the question out about their burger preference between Cook Out and In-N-Out. Pizzella said he already has plans to get his burgers when he goes back to Southern California later this month. It is, after all, a long journey in each direction.
Main Image: Tony Siracusa
