Being in the portal is a joke, the top kids are being actively recruited way before they even consider entering the portal. The ncaa is now the wild wild west.
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2025 Wrestlers movement; portal
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
Being in the portal is a joke, the top kids are being actively recruited way before they even consider entering the portal. The ncaa is now the wild wild west.
Expecting him to go Poke. Apparently Taylor and OKST boosters have been in his ear since we added Welsh.
I trust Cael knows what he’s doing but I don’t love PSU recruiting over their home-grown talent.
Hate hate hate it!
I liked Ryder more than Welsh
oh well- I didn't get a vote
I liked Ryder more than Welsh
oh well- I didn't get a vote
Seeing comments that PJ Duke and he are best friends- hope that doesn’t mean we lose him too
I believe Duke and Welsh are friends as well. Welsh mentioned talking to him already in his announcement video. I could be wrong but thought I saw all 3 went to HS together?
Welsh is from PA. Duke is from NY. They did not go to HS together.
Same. I had a bad feeling from the start about the Welsh rumor. It is uncharacteristic of Cael. They bring in a top guy with 3 years left and lose a top guy with 4 years left. I don’t like it at all. It feels too greedy and has the makings of a slow downfall. I hope I am wrong.
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Welsh said he and duke trained together and talked before welsh commited.
That sums up my thoughts also. Cael does know what he’s doing including having a pretty good sense of the relative high end for both of these warriors. OTOH, this isn’t a good look for potential recruits that even if your pedigree is as blue chip as they come, Cael will bring in a portal guy if given the opportunity.
Now there’s Taylor and Okie State willing and able to lure away guys who believe, right or wrong, that they’ve been dealt with wrongly.
And, how is Taylor any different when he lures Zyder to Okie State to recruit over their wrestlers at 74 & 84 wrestlers? @LB99
Not any different in that sense. Taylor is now the “enemy”. He believes he needs to do anything he can to shrink the gap between Okie State and Penn State as quickly as possible. Penn State is in the very fortunate position of being far out in front.
Yep. Just like when players go pro. They are the enemy if they are not on the Steelers. And, players from buckeyes etc are now friends.
No different. But this is a bit slippery slope. Taylor is a brand new coach. He’s trying everything he can to get talent to Stillwater and most of the guys on the roster he did not recruit. He is largely starting fresh. FWIW, Ryder spent the last two years in State College training at the NLWC. I’m sure Taylor, Kennedy, and Gilman know him very well. It’s a no brainer to go after him.
This didn’t trend well. Put this guy in timeout.
Regardless of any unknown back story, perception matters & these are the objective facts: Ryder - 6th ranked recruit in his class. Picks PSU because told he will shirt, wrestle unattached, & then be in line to take Carter’s spot for 4 years. He moves to State College. Does everything they ask him & waits his turn, & does great in world tournament. Rocco enters portal & we take him. Leaving Ryder with no choice. Totally not a PSU move & you can bet David Taylor & others will retell this story a million times. Looks bad even if a back story.
In the world of high stake sales, all kinds of stories can and will be told. The fact is that with the advent of NIL and the transfer portal, it changes everything.
Cael's pitch is: We have more NCAA champions, World champions and Olympic champions than any program in the USA. Nobody can hone your skills better than PSU. Nobody's job is secure. Only the very best survive and flourish. You either buy into this, or not.
Regardless of what the optics are and its not leaving him with no choice --- if Im Ryder why do I care who they bring in??? If I know I can do the job...for all we know Rocco was going to be the training partner and would have to prove himself other wise (see CStar's take)...and to think Cael would not have had any discussions with Ryder? Of course he did....so after all that ---Ryder enters in the portal --- so its personal choice (not no choice) whatever that is for him.... just like Bassett
It's anyone's guess what goes on outside the public eye. Maybe Ryder was already considering OkSU before Welsh announced his move. Maybe Cael knew this and felt he needed to fill that hole. There are always things we don't know.
Here's my take on it....I have no sources or proof of any of this. Cael brought in Welsh knowing he and Ryder would battle it out. Ryder is generally ok with it, but the slightest of doors opens to listen to elsewhere. This allows someone, probably Ok St, to come in and offer a ton of money, much more than PSU will do. The combination of all of this is why Ryder leaves.
Rightly or wrongly, the optics will be used in recruiting. Maybe there’s a backstory we don’t know. Maybe T Boone Pickens money was too much to pass up for Ryder. Who knows? This just doesn’t feel like a PSU move.
I liked Ryder a lot from what I saw of him. We didn’t need Welsh, but he wanted to be here and came on his own without NIL incentives. He wanted to train with the best to be the best. If that’s his mentality, I’ll take him all day long. Ryder had a decision to make and he made it; you can’t fault him either way, whether it was to stay and compete or leave for whatever his reasons were. We have plenty of top end guys in the upper weights and I don’t see this having an impact in the short or long term.
It’s not what we’re used to seeing, but we’re not used to seeing the portal, or how Cael would adapt to it…
Cael didn’t draw the line in the sand…
He just decided which side of it to stand!
Cael has 12 national titles and he gets second guessed on this board. Franklin doesn't have a chance!
Ryder did have a choice. He could have stayed and won the spot. Him transferring tells me that he probably got a very good offer from Ok. St. and that he didn't think he could beat Rocco. If he thought he would be the starter, I think the would have stayed.
Not at all. I like Franklin and defend him on here. I love Cael. This just feels different.
Psu has done it in the past. Dean over beards. There room pretty much has an open door policy, you want to come they will take you. Unless there is a major issue.
Said he could have got a lot more money elsewhere.
Ok. Didn’t say he was coming completely on his own dime. Just “could” have got more. Maybe DT rolled that offer towards Ryder.