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Transfer Trends At The NCAA Championships

Transfer Trends At The NCAA Championships

A deep dive into how transfers performed at the 2022 NCAA Championships. Some results might surprise you.

Mar 29, 2022
Transfer Trends At The NCAA Championships
The transfer portal has changed the landscape of NCAA wrestling. Not only does it give us more to talk about in the off season, but coaches have had to alter their recruiting methods. This was on full display at the 2022 NCAA Championships considering almost one-fifth of qualifiers started their careers at different academic institutions.

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The transfer portal has changed the landscape of NCAA wrestling. Not only does it give us more to talk about in the off season, but coaches have had to alter their recruiting methods. This was on full display at the 2022 NCAA Championships considering almost one-fifth of qualifiers started their careers at different academic institutions. 

2022 NCAA Championships


Below is some interesting data on how transfers affected the 2022 NCAA Championships. You may think you know who is the best at picking up transfers, but have you ever considered who the same institutions let getaway along with their potential points?

I would also like to remind everyone there are many reasons for an athlete to transfer such as graduating and their current institution not offering their desired graduate degree of study. It's not always just about wrestling or "fit".

If there is anyone missing from the final table please email me: jd.rader@flosports.tv.

2022 All-Americans Who Transferred

125

1st - Nick Suriano


133

3rd - Austin Desanto

4th - Michael McGee*

6th - Korbin Myers


141

2nd - Kizhan Clarke

3rd - Sebastian Rivera


149

4th - Austin Gomez

8th - Kyle Parco*


165

3rd - Evan Wick


197 

1st - Max Dean

8th - Greg Bulsak


285

4th - Greg Kerkvliet

8th - Christian Lance

*implies wrestler’s previous institution dropped wrestling

Those are the individual transfers that performed the best. So now, which teams do the best? Below is a list of the top-10 teams whose transfers scored the most points at the NCAA Championships.

SCHOOL
TEAM POINTS SCORED BY TRANSFERS
Penn State37.5
Michigan29
Rutgers22.5
Arizona State20.5
Iowa17.5
North Carolina16
Cal Poly15.5
Wisconsin14.5
Virginia Tech14.5
Oregon State8.5

Now, which teams lost the most potential points? Below are the 10 teams whose former wrestlers scored the most points. Nick Suriano is the main chess piece here as he scored 23 points and transferred from both Penn State and Rutgers.

SCHOOL
TEAM POINTS SCORED 

BY FORMER WRESTLERS
Penn State24.5
Rutgers23
Cornell21.5
Northwestern20.5
Ohio State19
Old Dominion17
Drexel16
American16
Wisconsin14.5
Iowa State14.5

So, teams performed the best by delta (meaning points scored by transfers minus points scored by wrestlers who left)?

SCHOOL
DELTA TRANSFER POINTS
Michigan29
Iowa17.5
Arizona State16.5
North Carolina16
Cal Poly15.5
Penn State13
Virginia Tech13
Oregon State8.5
Purdue4
UNI3
West Virginia3
Oklahoma2.5
Pitt2.5
Cleveland State1
Lock Haven1
NDSU1
Rider1
Wyoming1
SDSU0.5
App State0
Bloomsburg0
Cal Baptist0
Campbell0
Chattanooga0
Illinois0
Indiana0
Lehigh0
Northern Colorado0
Wisconsin0
Central Michigan-0.5
Rutgers-0.5
Buffalo-1
NC State-1
Nebraska-1
Oklahoma State-1
Eastern Michigan-1.5
Missouri-1.5
Northern Illinois-1.5
Princeton-1.5
Stanford-1.5
Virginia-2
Utah Valley-2.5
Brown-3
Clarion-3.5
Minnesota-3.5
Fresno State-12
Edinboro-13
Iowa State-14.5
American-16
Drexel-16
Ohio State-16
Old Dominion-17
Northwestern-20.5
Cornell-21.5

There you have it, you can make a case that Cal Poly and North Carolina are better at the transfer game than Penn State, and the legend of Nick Suriano continues to grow.

Finally, a table of the NCAA qualifiers who transferred from a different D1 school sorted alphabetically by their current school. This does not include D2 or NJCAA transfers.

NAMEWEIGHTPREVIOUS SCHOOLCURRENT SCHOOLTEAM POINTS AT NCAASQUALIFIER AT PRIOR INSTITUTION?
Michael McGee*133Old DominionArizona State14Yes
Kyle Parco*149Fresno StateArizona State6.5Yes
Josh Mason141NebraskaBloomsburg
No
Evan Wick165WisconsinCal Poly14.5Yes
Adam Kemp*174Fresno StateCal Poly1No
Shannon Hanna*141Old DominionCampbell
No
Domenic Zaccone133IllinoisCampbell
No
Brayden Palmer133ClarionChattanooga
No
Matthew Waddell197OklahomaChattanooga
No
Will Feldkamp197Northern IllinoisClarion3No
Marcus Robinson149BuffaloCleveland State1No
Riley Smucker165App StateCleveland State
No
Brock Hudkins125Northern IllinoisIndiana
Yes
Austin Desanto133DrexelIowa16Yes
Jaydin Eierman141MissouriIowa1.5Yes
Jarrett Degen149Virginia TechIowa State
No
Sam Schuyler285BuffaloIowa State
Yes
Anthony Noto125NC StateLock Haven1No
Ben Barton157CampbellLock Haven
Yes
Nick Suriano125Penn State/RutgersMichigan23Yes
Stevan Micic141NorthwesternMichigan4.5No
Patrick Brucki197PrincetonMichigan1.5Yes
Michael Blockhus149UNIMinnesota0.5Yes
Luke Weber165NebraskaNDSU1No
Kizhan Clarke141AmericanNorth Carolina16Yes
Alan Clothier197App StateNorthern Colorado
Yes
Mason Kauffman*157Eastern MichiganNorthern Illinois1.5No
Andrew Davison197MichiganNorthwestern
No
Tate Orndorff285Utah ValleyOhio State3Yes
Joey Prata125Virginia TechOklahoma1.5Yes
Keegan Moore184Oklahoma State/UNIOklahoma1Yes
Carter Young141NorthwesternOklahoma State
No***
Trey Munoz184Arizona StateOregon State3No
Matthew Olguin*165Fresno StateOregon State2.5No
Gary Traub285Ohio StateOregon State2Yes
Cory Crooks149Arizona StateOregon State1Yes
Max Dean197CornellPenn State21.5Yes
Greg Kerkvliet285Ohio StatePenn State15.5No***
Drew Hildebrandt125Central MichiganPenn State0.5Yes
Micky Phillippi133VirginiaPitt2No
Elijah Cleary157Ohio StatePitt0.5No
Matt Ramos133MinnesotaPurdue4No
Quinn Kinner141Ohio StateRider1No
Sebastian Rivera141NorthwesternRutgers16Yes
Greg Bulsak197ClarionRutgers6.5Yes
AJ Nevills*285Fresno StateSDSU0.5Yes
Colin Realbuto149BrownUNI3No
Brody Teske125Penn StateUNI1.5No
Haiden Drury*133Fresno StateUtah Valley0.5No
Evan Bockman197Cal BaptistUtah Valley
No**
Korbin Myers133EdinboroVirginia Tech13Yes
Nathan Traxler285StanfordVirginia Tech1.5Yes
Killian Cardinale*125Old DominionWest Virginia3Yes
Austin Gomez149Iowa StateWisconsin14.5Yes
Chris Weiler184LehighWisconsin
Yes
Jacob Wright*157Fresno StateWyoming1Yes

*implies wrestler’s previous institution dropped wrestling

**Evan Bockman transferred from Cal Baptist who is D1 but currently cannot compete in the postseason

***Carter Young and Greg Kerkvliet transferred before spending a full year at their previous institution, meaning they had no chance to become an NCAA qualifier there

Non D1 Transfers Who Qualified

John Arceri from Nassau CC to Buffalo

Ashton Eyler from Iowa CC to Lock Haven

Michial Foy from Harper College to Minnesota

Zachary Knighton-Ward from Nassau CC to Hofstra

Christian Lance from Fort Hays State to Nebraska