legacycentral bbs

Im picking up a 92 n/a sedan on saturday with a "transmission" issue. Ive read up on a lot of posts about this, but none seem to fit this issue.
The owner says that he went to leave for work, started the car and drove out of his driveway. Not 50ft out of the driveway he went to shift into 2nd, and the car just "died" the motor still running, it just didnt have any power. So he pushed the clutch in and rolled it back to his driveway where it sits. He says that he cant get it out of first gear for the life of him, but he also said he doesnt knew much about cars. It will start right up and run fine, it just will die if he lets out the clutch. Im thinking its stuck in third? He says its kills the car like taking the clutch out too soon, and the stick wont move out of its position.... Hes been driving it for a few years, so I assume he knows how to drive manual.
Im on my way back from school on Saturday and Im picking it up with my trailer, but Im trying to see if you guys have any input?
I found a tranny for cheap and I was going to pick it up anyway. Could it be the shift linkage? I wont be able to physically inspect it until the weekend, but just figured Id have some ideas when I got there.
Thanks in advance

I've had this happen on an old EA series Subaru.

Either the shift linkage has too much play and cannot physically move the shaft properly anymore, or the shift forks have worn or broken in the transmission.

Either way a new trans an good condition shifter should solve the problem.

thats what I was thinking...
Well at least I know what Im doing for the weekend!
shouldnt be too hard, the tranny Im picking up has low miles and comes out of a 93 sedan, so the final drive is the same, he has a "newer" clutch and TO bearing, but Im just picking a new one up anyways. Also thinking about getting a chromolly flywheel.... Think its worth it? JUst figured while im in there, might as well

Okay, so I picked it up this morning.
The shifter will select gears, but the car is still stuck in a higher gear. Like you can put it in first, but obviously its not in first. and you can put it in reverse, but again, the transmission isnt really in reverse. The thing I noticed though is that you can hear the tranny click into gear, but its not i the gear you want. Does this indicate broken forks?