2025 Wrestlers movement; portal
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
He and David Evans are joining Alex Facundo, Gary Steen, and Marco Vespa in the portal.
When does the 30 man roster limit kick in? Looks like we had 38 on the roster this year. Even schools like Lock Haven and South Dakota State had more than 30 on the roster this year. Those in the portal might have a hard time finding a DI landing spot.
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Maybe he ends up at Iowa but he can't take a bag. He's Canadian. NIL would violate his student visa.
Same for Ono.
Here is Brands pitch-
Hey McNeil come to Iowa we will take you from 6th to 16th. Did you know Spencer Lee wrestled here?? We recruited Bo Bassett he is really good Okie State and Penn State wanted him!
Penn State senior Aurelius Dunbar is the sixth Nittany Lion to hit the NCAA transfer portal since the season ended. I also rounded up how former Nittany Lions who transferred previously did at NCAAs at the bottom of this story:
www.on3.com
A sixth Penn State wrestler is in the transfer portal; how did former Lions fare at NCAAs?
Penn State wrestling has seen another member of its 2024-2025 national championship team enter the NCAA transfer portal.
I believe Penn State had 38 listed on the roster this year.
Bartlett, Kerkvliet, McHenry, & Starocci are out of eligibility. Minus 4 makes 34.
I think they have six incoming Frosh, plus Ono. Plus 7 makes 41.
Dunbar, Evans, Facundo, Fricchione, Vespa, & Steen have entered the portal. Minus 6 makes 35.
Still a ways to go to meet the new 30 man roster limit.
It will be interesting to see where they land as other schools trim down to 30. I think that only the infamous Power 5 conferences are locked in and others schools have the choice of opting in to the whole revenue sharing & new roster rules.
Casual check at roster numbers for the top 25 this year.
Penn State: 38
Nebraska: 36
Oklahoma State: 34
Iowa: 34
Minnesota: 34
Ohio State: 32
Cornell: 44
NC State: 44
Northern Iowa: 34
Illinois: 36
Virginia Tech: 36
Michigan: 32
Purdue: 28
Missouri: 39
Lehigh: 40
Pennsylvania: 43
Little Rock: 41
Arizona State: 32
Stanford: 28
West Virginia: 34
Navy: 40
Wyoming: 34
South Dakota State: 37
Indiana: 28
Maryland: 31
Oregon State: 36
Bartlett, Kerkvliet, McHenry, & Starocci are out of eligibility. Minus 4 makes 34.
I think they have six incoming Frosh, plus Ono. Plus 7 makes 41.
Dunbar, Evans, Facundo, Fricchione, Vespa, & Steen have entered the portal. Minus 6 makes 35.
Still a ways to go to meet the new 30 man roster limit.
It will be interesting to see where they land as other schools trim down to 30. I think that only the infamous Power 5 conferences are locked in and others schools have the choice of opting in to the whole revenue sharing & new roster rules.
Casual check at roster numbers for the top 25 this year.
Penn State: 38
Nebraska: 36
Oklahoma State: 34
Iowa: 34
Minnesota: 34
Ohio State: 32
Cornell: 44
NC State: 44
Northern Iowa: 34
Illinois: 36
Virginia Tech: 36
Michigan: 32
Purdue: 28
Missouri: 39
Lehigh: 40
Pennsylvania: 43
Little Rock: 41
Arizona State: 32
Stanford: 28
West Virginia: 34
Navy: 40
Wyoming: 34
South Dakota State: 37
Indiana: 28
Maryland: 31
Oregon State: 36
The new roster limits are likely to be implemented over time so that programs can gradually reach them.
Very interesting. Great research. The "elephant in the corner", so to speak, is where are all of the portal guys going to go since it seems that most other programs also will need to trim rosters. It may be wrestling rosters' version of musical chairs. Find a spot quickly because there may not be enough to go around.
Ferrari is rumored to Iowa State, and this might be an indicator.
Chittum was at Blair when the Ferraris arrived and were kicked out within a year. No love lost between them. He left Iowa when Brands imported Fredo and tried to import AJ. Allegedly he told Brands beforehand that he would leave if the Ferraris came.
We shall see. Back in the fall, PSU Women’s Soccer made some news for rescinding offer(s) in preparation for the reduction.
And, what again is the reasoning behind the number 30? I am sure I have read it, but don’t recall why, other than revenue sharing related.
Thanks
Perhaps USC and UCLA can start a program out in LA: then I can see PSU live!
It really should be easy for them to add a wrestling program. California has a huge number of high school wrestlers.
If I remember correctly, UCLA dropped their program in 1980, and USC dropped their program in 1994. Both schools have active club wrestling teams. While they would struggle initially against the top programs in the B1G, they'd have a naturally rivalry between the two of them, and they could wrestle other Western programs for their OOC programs.
I was somewhat disappointed that the B1G didn't make adding a wrestling program a requirement for the four former PAC teams as part of their joining the B1G. (FWIW, Oregon dropped their program in 2008, and Washington dropped their program in 1980.)
Willie discusses the portal, and lineups for next season, so I'm putting this program in both threads.
The deal was made to increase revenue for football and men’s basketball, nothing else. Requiring them to add wrestling was as likely as them requiring us to add water polo.
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Someone I know was at the TOSU social and said Tom Ryan announced that Welsh was coming back to TOSU! Could things have changed in a week?
It truly is crazy. First Ono, now Welsh. An already ridiculous lineup just got stupid crazy!
