The Immediate Recruiting Impact of David Taylor at Oklahoma State
Recruiting is the lifeblood of a collegiate wrestling team. To make a significant impact at the NCAA Tournament you need to have the horses. As college wrestling has evolved, we find out who the real thoroughbreds are earlier and earlier. Looking at the 2024 NCAA finals, 14 of the 20 finalists were ranked in the top ten overall in their respective recruiting classes. Only one wrestler was from outside of the top-50 (Mitchell Mesenbrink) and he would have been much higher had the class rankings dropped a month later.
Detractors of Penn State’s dynasty have often said, “They just get the best recruits,” as if it were a jab at the staff’s ability to coach and develop. I look at it as them being great at an area that accounts for a large portion of the coaching duties.
Now bringing this topic to current events - David Taylor was officially announced as Oklahoma State’s next head coach on Monday night. Some skeptics of the hire were unsure how it would work having a head coach at a power program in his first collegiate coaching gig. I’m confident he’ll hire an experienced staff that can help fill in the gaps as he learns on the job; however, one area in which I think he’ll excel immediately is recruiting.
We’ll discuss a couple of ways that Taylor can improve an already strong Oklahoma State program by recruiting. Yes, these days, recruiting isn’t necessarily limited to kids coming out of high school.
Wrestlers in the Portal
Although the portal is closed for the season (aside from anyone looking to leave during a coaching chance), there are plenty of big names already entered. One of which has already visited Oklahoma State pre-Taylor hire - two-time All-American heavyweight, Wyatt Hendrickson. Sometimes you have to look at fits and personalities with transfers, but in this instance, the Air Force star is probably one that will fit in anywhere. He was interested in Oklahoma State before, I don’t see that going down and I can’t see Taylor being opposed to the best bonus-point scorer in the country.
The only returning national champion in the portal is Andrew Alirez. Oklahoma State is rumored to be one of the schools that interest him. With Tagen Jamison (141) and Jordan Williams (149), returning, there isn’t a great need in Alirez’s weight range; however, he’s an undefeated national champion, so you probably figure out a way to make it work. This move could be dependent on a coach in Alirez’s range.
Not on the same level as the two previously mentioned All-Americans is Penn State’s Terrell Barraclough. Barraclough entered the portal as a graduate student and has excelled when needed for the Penn State staff - anywhere between 157 and 174 lbs. With only one year remaining and never having a shot at the postseason before, Barraclough will probably pick his destination very carefully. With the addition of Caleb Fish and Dean Hamiti, there isn’t much of a need in this area; however, we thought it would be appropriate to mention Barraclough.
Collegiate Wrestlers Not in the Portal
Nobody likes poaching and trying to entice otherwise happy and satisfied wrestlers to enter the portal. Well, maybe a few people do, but by and large fans and coaches would prefer this element go away from the sport. We’re not trying to influence wrestlers seeking a transfer and I’m sure Taylor is conducting business on the up-and-up. That being said, the reality is that either some signees or existing Penn State wrestlers may want to follow Taylor to Stillwater.
Two of Penn State’s current stars, Levi Haines and Tyler Kasak, did not wrestle at the high school level as seniors. Instead, they trained with Taylor’s M2 Training Center in order to have a smoother transition to college wrestling. Another Class of 2024 signee, Zack Ryder, moved from New York to do the same. He recently won U20 nationals in freestyle and is a two-time U17 World bronze medalist.
Since wrestlers from the Class of 2024 haven’t hit collegiate campus’ just yet and the portal is closed, it’s more likely in the short team that you’ll get a commitment from someone who has signed an NLI and is requesting to back out of it to potentially pursue Oklahoma State.
Future Recruiting Classes
We are just over a month away from the first day (June 15th) that collegiate coaches are permitted to have contact with recruits in the Class of 2026. That should work out perfectly for Taylor as he has some time to lock up a staff, and work on securing commitments from wrestlers in the Class of 2024 and 2025 that have already committed to wrestle at Oklahoma State. Then he can move forward and work on the Class of 2026.
The Class of 2026 has some huge names and three of the top-four wrestlers in that class are from Pennsylvania. Two of them are high school teammates, Jax Forrest and Bo Bassett of Bishop McCort. The two have already proven their mettle in freestyle at the Senior Level and could be game-changers in college. Forrest already has an interest in Oklahoma State - though that could have been driven by a relationship with Coleman Scott and Bassett is open. Both have had some sort of a relationship with Taylor through M2. The fourth member of this class is Adam Waters, an upperweight who trains with Chance Marsteller. Landing some combination of the three, along with existing talent, would make for an imposing Cowboy lineup in the future.
Those are just the blue-chipper’s with Pennsylvania backgrounds. With the combination of Taylor’s name recognition and Oklahoma State’s status as a wrestling blue blood, Taylor should be able to draw recruits from all over the country.
We glossed over the 2024 and 2025 classes to talk about 2026, but there is plenty in the cupboard with both classes and Taylor’s staff will need to work hard to ensure those wrestlers head to Stillwater, as planned.
The 2024 Class is rather small but has some big names. First and foremost is #2 overall Cody Merrill, who appears to be the Cowboys heavyweight of the future. Merrill is a two-time Junior National freestyle champion and was in the 2023 Fargo finals alongside fellow Class of 2024 recruit JJ McComas.
The 2025 Class also has the #2 overall recruit committed to the Cowboys in Ladarion Lockett. Just a few weeks ago, we saw Lockett dominating Cornell freshman sensation Meyer Shapiro at the Olympic Trials. Lockett leads a group that includes three other top-100 recruits who have committed to OSU.
As far as the Class of 2025 goes, most of the top, top wrestlers have been spoken for and are committed to other institutions. Taylor’s arrival may change one or two of those wrestlers' thought processes. The only huge name from the Class of 2025 that is available is #3 Marcus Blaze. Blaze’s most recent top-six list did not include Oklahoma State - does Taylor’s presence change anything?
Some of the recruits who have already committed to Oklahoma State are local kids in McComas and Lockett. We’ll have to see if any previous staff members are retained in any shape or form and if that has an impact on the kids like those two who have already spent significant time around the program.
