Nearly every article written about Sam Hartman’s girlfriend has at least one significant factual error. Some have several. The Washington Commanders quarterback confirmed he was in a relationship during an April 2024 podcast, fans traced the description to Wake Forest soccer defender Tyla Ochoa, and then the internet did what it always does: copied the same incomplete information in circles.
This piece goes back to the primary sources and corrects the record.
Table of Contents
The Podcast That Put It All on the Table
On April 26, 2024, Hartman sat down with Jeff Dudan on Episode 67 of On The Homefront, a 69-minute conversation covering his football career, his health battles, and life heading into the NFL Draft. Near the end, Dudan asked him directly whether he was single.
Hartman’s answer was straightforward:
“No, I have a girlfriend. She plays soccer at Wake Forest, and she’s awesome. Yeah, she’s great. She’ll be down here for the draft and everything.”
He added that she had one year of eligibility left but more seasons ahead because of a redshirt. He did not name her.
On May 2, 2024, a clip of that exchange was posted to Twitter/X and went widely viral. Fans cross-referenced the details against Wake Forest’s women’s soccer roster and landed on Tyla Ochoa, a senior defender who matched the timeline Hartman described exactly.
Neither Hartman nor Ochoa has ever publicly confirmed this connection by name.
Who Is Tyla Ochoa?
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | February 8, 2003 |
| Hometown | Encinitas, California |
| Parents | Robert and Jodi Ochoa |
| Height | 5-foot-5 |
| Position | Defender, Jersey #17 |
| College | Wake Forest University (2021 to 2024) |
| Degree | Bachelor’s in Biology, Cum Laude |
| Current Location | Charleston, South Carolina area |
| Current Role | Sales Development Representative, TEKsystems |
One correction worth making immediately: several outlets, including sources that are regularly cited across search results, list her degree as “Politics and International Affairs.” That is wrong. Ochoa’s own LinkedIn profile states she graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Biology in May 2024 and completed an Honors Thesis in biological research, which she defended in front of a faculty advisory committee.
The Politics and International Affairs error traces back to a different Wake Forest student quoted in the university’s 2024 commencement coverage. It has been recycled unchecked ever since.
Her Soccer Career at Wake Forest
Ochoa came to Wake Forest in 2021 after a standout high school career at La Costa Canyon High School in Encinitas, where she was named MVP Defender and team captain, won the CIF Championships, captained the San Diego Surf Club for four years, and won the Surf Cup Championship six times. In 2019, she ranked third in the nation in the 4×100 relay and set her school record in the event.
Her college career, sourced directly from Wake Forest University Athletics:
2021 (Freshman) Started 10 of 18 games on the backline. Logged 894 minutes. Part of a defense that allowed just 17 goals all season, a program record at the time, with 12 shutouts.
2022 (Sophomore) Started all six of her appearances. Scored her first career goal, the match-winner, in the 77th minute of a 1-0 victory over Georgia. Helped her team concede just one goal across her six starts.
2023 (Junior) Appeared in 11 matches, started six. Picked up assists against Idaho State and Rhode Island. Logged 477 minutes. Wake Forest set another program record that season, allowing just 15 goals, and went unbeaten at home for the first time since 2007.
2024 (Senior) Played 29 minutes in the season opener at Army on August 15, 2024, before suffering an injury that ended her season.
A correction that matters: Multiple outlets claim Tyla Ochoa “helped lead Wake Forest to the 2024 NCAA National Championship.” Wake Forest did win the national title in 2024. Ochoa was part of the squad. But she played no role in the NCAA Tournament. Her season ended in August. She was on the roster, not on the field.
When Did They Actually Meet?
Here is where the published record goes significantly wrong.
Dozens of articles state that Sam and Tyla “met while attending North Carolina College from 2018 to 2022.” This contains two separate errors. The school is Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, not “North Carolina College.”
More importantly, the 2018 start date is impossible.
Tyla Ochoa was born in February 2003. In 2018, she was 15 years old, a high school sophomore in Southern California. She did not arrive at Wake Forest until fall 2021 as a freshman.
Sam Hartman enrolled at Wake Forest in 2018 and played his final season there in 2022. The only period when both were on campus at the same time was 2021 and 2022.
The first public evidence of any relationship came in January 2022, when Ochoa posted TikTok videos of the two together: one of them lip-syncing as Hartman drove, another from a fishing trip, and a filter video where Hartman was matched with Maui from Moana and Ochoa with Flynn Rider from Tangled. Hartman transferred to Notre Dame at the end of that year. Ochoa remained at Wake Forest through 2024.
Life After Wake Forest
Ochoa graduated in May 2024 with her Biology degree and Honors distinction. She has since relocated to the Charleston, South Carolina area, where she joined TEKsystems in September 2025 as a Sales Development Representative, working in tech talent placement.
Her academic record, a Cum Laude biology degree and a completed Honors Thesis, reflects a profile that stands well beyond her soccer career or anything connected to Hartman.
Where Things Stand in 2026
As of March 2026, the relationship status between Hartman and Ochoa is unconfirmed in either direction.
In early 2025, fans noticed the two appeared to have unfollowed each other on social media. Around the same time, a comment on Ochoa’s TikTok asking about the relationship was deleted and the person who left it was blocked. No statement followed from either side.
There has been no confirmed breakup announcement. There has also been no public confirmation that the relationship ever officially existed by name. Both have chosen to say nothing, and that has not changed heading into 2026.
A Brief Look at Hartman’s NFL Career
For context on where Hartman stands: the 26-year-old signed with Washington as an undrafted free agent in April 2024, following a college career in which he became the all-time ACC leader in touchdown passes across five seasons at Wake Forest and one at Notre Dame.
His time with the Commanders has been spent almost entirely on the practice squad. He appeared in three preseason games in 2025, completing 25 of 46 passes for 207 yards with four interceptions. He was elevated to the active roster as the emergency third quarterback for Washington’s Christmas Day game against Dallas, with both Jayden Daniels and Marcus Mariota sidelined. He did not play.
Through the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined, Hartman has not played a single regular-season snap.
His 2026 contract carries a base salary of $1,075,000. With Mariota re-signing with Washington on a new one-year deal as Jayden Daniels’ primary backup, Hartman’s path to meaningful playing time in 2026 is as narrow as it has been at any point since he arrived.
The Bottom Line
Sam Hartman’s relationship with Tyla Ochoa, if that is who his girlfriend is, has never been officially confirmed by either person. What exists is a podcast quote from April 2024, a set of TikTok videos from January 2022, and a description that matches her circumstances closely enough that the connection has stuck.
Most of what has been written about Ochoa since then gets at least one fact wrong, whether it is her degree, her graduation date, her role in the 2024 championship, or when she and Hartman even crossed paths.
Ochoa graduated with distinction from one of the ACC’s more academically demanding universities, completed original scientific research, and built a professional career in tech sales. Whatever her relationship with the Commanders quarterback is or was, her story does not begin or end there.
