April when Pa., native and former Ohio State wrestler Rocco Welsh picked the Lions. The one-time Buckeye, who lost to now graduated Nittany Lion Carter Starocci in the 2024 174-pound finals, took a redshirt season in Columbus in 2024-2025 to add weight with plans of competing next at 184 pounds. That’s the weight class Starocci vacates. And, it’s the one Welsh is now expected to take over for the Nittany Lions. His main competition for it, redshirt freshman Zack Ryder, hit the portal himself and is now at Oklahoma State. It’s assumed that the two moves are connected, and it gives head coach Cael Sanderson’s team an accomplished, albeit at a different weight, postseason wrestler to add to its 2025-2026 lineup.
As of May 2, the final day that the portal is open for entries, Welsh is the only transfer portal addition for the Nittany Lions. Ryder, however, is not the only member of the 2024-2025 team to move on. Gary Steen, who competes at 133 pounds, and Alex Facundo, who can go at 157 or 165 pounds, join him in moving on to the Cowboys. David Evans is now at Utah Valley. Other Penn State wrestlers to move on but not yet find a new home as of the time of this publication include Jack Kelly, , AJ Fricchone, Marco Vespa, and Aurelius Dunbar.
