2024 NCAA Wrestling Transfer Portal thread
- Thread starter GregPickel
- Start date
Good for him. Rider is a good program and a really nice little campus. Everything happens for a reason.
That seems like a good pickup for them. I think (not certain) Patrick McKee was out of eligibility, so they didn't have a lot of great options at that weight class. Brandon Morvari was a true freshman this past season, and was probably their best option for 2024-25.
I don't see a portal pickup coming for Penn State wrestling at the moment.
Here is the Intermat portal tracker: https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/transfer-portal-update-592024-r99202
It's current except for Rylan Rogers' commitment to Lehigh.
Of the available guys listed (bottom half of the article), only Alirez would be a possible upgrade, and IMO not enough to justify going after him. (Kerk has beaten Hendrickson, and Van Ness beat Parco.)
I guess we can never 100% rule out somebody coming on board, knowing that they would be pure depth. But I don't see Cael pursuing anybody in the portal, or necessarily encouraging them -- they'd have to sell their way in, or transfer academically and show up at Lorenzo for a tryout.
I agree with that. And, I don't see Alirez ending up at Penn State.
@GregPickel
With DT hired after the portal closed, do you feel Penn State will lose wrestlers to Ok St when the portal opens again (in June is it)?
The Ohowihate fans around me are saying PS’s reign will be over in 2 years.
Just wondering your professional thoughts.
Thank you!
OL
With DT hired after the portal closed, do you feel Penn State will lose wrestlers to Ok St when the portal opens again (in June is it)?
The Ohowihate fans around me are saying PS’s reign will be over in 2 years.
Just wondering your professional thoughts.
Thank you!
OL
Who would they lose? These kids didn't come to PSU because Taylor is the coach. Last I heard it was Cael. Taylor is a great guy, but these kids are coming to PSU because of Cael and the system he created. At best you may see a back up wrestler leave, someone who will get limited mat time. I don't remember any of the wrestlers, in any interviews ever saying " I came to penn state because David Taylor is here".
Last edited:
The portal closed on May 3rd. I don't believe there are any upcoming portal windows for winter sports, though the rules keep getting changed, so I could be mistaken on that. The only exceptions are graduate transfers and if there is a coaching change. Terrell Barraclough is the only PSU wrestler that entered the portal, and he did so on April 29 -- before DT became the Okla. St. coach. In short, I don't think PSU wrestlers are in a position to portal to any other program. Plus, unless the path to starting is blocked by others (Barraclough, Michael Beard), there haven't been many PSU wrestlers that have elected to transfer/portal out of PSU.
DT was close with some of the current PSU starters from their experience at M2 (either from offseason practice in HS, or they elected to forego their senior year of HS, moved to State College, and worked out with the NLWC and M2). That said, I'd be quite surprised if any of them left PSU for Okla. St. For example, Levi Haines was quite friendly with DT. At PSU, in 2 years of competition, he's been in the NCAA finals two times, and won this year. Plus, his family lives in PA. With those factors, what would be the logic that would make him want to leave PSU for Stillwater, OK? I just don't see it.
PSU has a plethora of talent coming in, and it's possible there will be some future logjams at certain weight classes. For the most part, CS and staff tend to work things out to the satisfaction of most of the wrestlers, while putting out the best team they can. It's possible that DT may be able to poach somebody from PSU's roster in the coming years due to a logjam, but it's not a lock that any wrestlers that elect to leave in the future are definitely headed to Stillwater, OK.
As for the tOSU fans around you, they are likely the least objective you could find (well, except for Iowa fans) concerning what will happen at PSU in the future. tOSU has recruited really well in recent years, and they are likely to be PSU's main challenger within the B1G for the next few years. Perhaps they'll be able to sneak in and finish ahead of PSU at NCAAs one year; it's tough to predict the future with so many moving parts. AB just finished his college career, and Starocci, Bartlett, and Kerkvliet have one year remaining. It's hard to replace guys that are that good at NCAAs. But the same was said when Q graduated, when DT and Ruth graduated, when Zain, Nolf, Vincenzo Joseph, and Bo Nickel graduated, but PSU somehow finds people like Braeden Davis, Tyler Kasak, Levi Haines, Mitchell Mesenbrink, etc. that lead the next wave, and PSU continues to recruit at an insane level. While I never bet on sports, I would be very tempted to place a wager that PSU will remain dominant in college wrestling past two years.
Last edited:
Tom has you covered above but just to reiterate what he said, the portal for wrestling closed May 3 and it won’t open for winter sports again anytime soon. What that date is I don’t know but it’s not June unless there’s some new guidance out there I haven’t heard about/been told about/read.
As for those around you, I get where they’re coming from, they’re excited and think all the M2 guys are coming. We’ll see. I doubt it like Tom does. But I will say that if they’re arguing the portal closed at an opportune time for Penn State, I’d find that hard to argue. The date was always set in stone, of course, so it’s not like it cheated the system or anything remotely close to that. And I’m not sure it would have mattered if the portal closed today instead, for example. But Penn State never had to find out, and that’s hardly a bad thing.
We just had the best team ever point wise, lost an Olympian, and folks are talking about us scoring more points next year. Our guy who finished 3rd can RS.
tOSU will be loaded but our staff knows how to prep for nationals.
We might lose some guys over $$, but it won’t be many.
Okie State will hurt others more than PSU.
The run we are on will come to an end someday, but we still have the best staff and it really isn’t close.
tOSU will be loaded but our staff knows how to prep for nationals.
We might lose some guys over $$, but it won’t be many.
Okie State will hurt others more than PSU.
The run we are on will come to an end someday, but we still have the best staff and it really isn’t close.
