{"id":230928,"date":"2026-04-14T08:24:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/230928\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T08:24:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:24:26","slug":"former-ivy-leaguer-ty-bartrum-set-for-next-challenge-at-ucf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/230928\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Ivy Leaguer Ty Bartrum set for next challenge at UCF"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF<\/a> safety Ty Bartrum is well aware of the curious glances he gets when he mentions that he attended Harvard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to tell them I\u2019m not a wizard, I\u2019m the same as you,\u201d Bartrum said recently. \u201cI had a great education, but it was a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Football remains the same, whether you\u2019re playing in the Ivy League or the Big 12, which is part of the reason Bartrum decided to continue his athletic career at UCF.<\/p>\n

As a redshirt senior, Bartrum started 30 games for the Crimson, amassing a total of 244 tackles, including 8 tackles for loss, 5 interceptions, 2.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery along with 13 passes defended.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is just to play at the highest level I can,\u201d said Bartrum. \u201cComing here and doing this, this has been great and everything I learned at Harvard, I\u2019m going to bring here at the end of the day, it\u2019s football. Not a lot of things change. So just put my best foot forward and keep doing what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Bartrum is among eight new defensive backs joining the roster this offseason. He, along with fellow safeties Caleb Flagg (Houston Christian) and Matt Irwin (Idaho), along with cornerback Jailen Duffie (North Dakota State), are the latest veterans to join the secondary for the Knights.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s another experienced, older guy,\u201d said defensive coordinator Alex Grinch<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve referenced within the coaching room that the adult table is a lot bigger than it was a year ago, using the Thanksgiving example. We\u2019ve got the kids table and the adult table and there are a lot of people at the adult table now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of those other adults include returning starters Antione Jackson, Jayden Bellamy and Braeden Marshall, coupled with returners Demari Henderson, DJ Bell and Jayden Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Scott Frost lauds UCF\u2019s toughness, gives spring update on QB Alonza Barnett III<\/a><\/p>\n

UCF finished last season ranked third in the Big 12 in passing defense, allowing just 185 yards through the air. The Knights allowed just 13 passing touchdowns, but managed only nine interceptions.<\/p>\n

Bartrum\u2019s presence not only adds experience, but also brings a leadership component.<\/p>\n

The Ohio native earned the honor of being the sole captain of Harvard\u2019s team last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a team-first guy,\u201d said Bartrum. \u201cI try to get the best out of my teammates because if I\u2019m doing that, they\u2019re going to get the best out of me. There are a lot of great guys on this team to build off of and ultimately, you get the best out of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that leadership that\u2019s made Bartrum a favorite among special teams coordinator Pete Alamar<\/a>, who cast him in the role of personal protector on punts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy has played a lot of football and he\u2019s been a great communicator as a defensive back,\u201d said Alamar. \u201cSo, it\u2019s pretty natural for him to stand in there and communicate. I love the leadership that he\u2019s shown on his previous film and love what he\u2019s done here in the offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see where Bartrum gets his approach to the game.<\/p>\n

His father, Mike, played long snapper and tight end at Marshall before eventually spending 13 seasons in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. He went on to become an assistant coach and currently coaches football at Rio Grande, an NAIA program.<\/p>\n

His brothers, Zach and Cody, also played football at Ohio Dominican and Charlotte, respectively.<\/p>\n

Bartrum drew interest from several Ivy League schools before choosing Harvard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought about going to the Ivy League. I didn\u2019t know much about it,\u201d he said. \u201cI hopped on a couple calls with a couple guys, and then a couple alumni from Harvard, and I realized the amount of sacrifices my family\u2019s made for me coming up. It would be a disservice for me not to pursue this for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartrum\u2019s next challenge is ultimately trying to win a championship with the Knights. He\u2019s not worried about the jump in talent from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to play against the best and be with the best,\u201d said Batrum. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of hungry guys, and that can be dangerous in terms of how we can excel coming into the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. Sign up for the Sentinel\u2019s Knights Weekly<\/a> newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UCF safety Ty Bartrum is well aware of the curious glances he gets when he mentions that he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[111,28,114,1335,139,141,140,76046,110,3865],"class_list":["post-230928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-college-sports","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social-sports","tag-sports","tag-ucf-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}