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When Will Duff signed with Vanderbilt Baseball his senior year of high school in 2019, he said he was ready to explore somewhere new.
“I wanted to get out of Springfield, and Vanderbilt’s baseball program goes unsaid. They’re an amazing program,” Duff said at his signing day that year.
So the Springfield Catholic star went off to Nashville, appearing in ten contests his freshman year and racking up a pair of multi-hit games for the Commodores.
Then the pandemic cut that season short.
Fast-forward to this past season and Duff found himself on a very crowded Vandy roster loaded with top-tier talent.
“There’s a harsh reality to being on a team as good as Vanderbilt and as special as it is and I wasn’t playing,” Duff said.
But he wasn’t ready to stop playing altogether, so he decided to take a new path.
It’s a path that is leading him back home to Springfield.
“When that decision was made, there was no better choice than to go to Missouri State,” he said.
Duff says he considered several schools like Duke and Southern Illinois.
Still, Missouri State was always a top option. Duff says he has a strong relationship with the Bears program from when they recruited him in high school.
MSU wasted no time showing that interest was still there.
“[Missouri State ] Coach [Keith] Guttin was the first guy to call me,” Duff said. “I think it was 30 minutes after my name was in the [transfer] portal, I already had a call from Coach Guttin.”
It was a clear sign that MSU wanted Duff back in Springfield.
That’s something his family and friends can relate to.
“They would be excited about wherever I ended up, but I think they’re even more excited that I’m going to Missouri State,” Duff said with a smile.KY3’s Mark Spillane reached out to Missouri State for a comment from Coach Guttin.
Missouri State says Guttin is unable to discuss Duff’s transfer situation at this time because of NCAA regulations.
