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Cowboy Wrestling landed a big addition out of the transfer portal — figuratively and literally. Former Air Force heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson announced Sunday on The Barn Session Podcast that he has committed to Oklahoma State with one year of eligibility left. He visited Stillwater at the end of April before also taking trips to Minnesota and Michigan this month. He posted Friday via Instagram that Michigan would be his third and final visit after originally saying he would make four stops before a decision. “I made my decision based off what I felt was right, kind of be able to take away the external things that I can’t control, and I was like, ‘What can I control and where would I want to be regardless of situations like that?’ And I just thought Oklahoma State was the best place for me,” Hendrickson said on the podcast. Despite competing at a weight known for a lack of action, Hendrickson has still led the country in falls the past three seasons. Of his 84 wins during that time, 53 were pins. Two of those seasons Hendrickson was awarded NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler honors, which is given to the wrestler who earns the most points for their team during the season. He didn’t get the honor at the end of this past season, but he still received the Don Henderson Outstanding Wrestler Award. Hendrickson was 25-2 in 2024 with 16 falls. Hendrickson was a two-time All-American at Air Force, placing third at heavyweight the last two NCAA Wrestling Championships while reaching the national tournament all four seasons of his career so far. He is also already familiar with the conference as a two-time Big 12 champion. He was Most Outstanding Wrestling after winning his first conference title at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships in 2022. Hendrickson beat OSU’s Luke Surber in the finals that year. Surber started at 197 pounds for the Cowboys this past season. Coming from Air Force, Hendrickson was unable to use his extra year of eligibility because of COVID at the academy and had to receive clearance from the United States Air Force to transfer in order to use that last year of eligibility. FloWrestling talked to Air Force coach Sam Barber, who detailed some of that complicated process here. This will also be the first time Hendrickson can benefit from NIL, which is prohibited at service academies because of federal law. Before going to Air Force, Hendrickson was a two-time state champion at Newton High School in Kansas. He was also a four-time USA Wrestling Junior National Freestyle and Greco Roman All-American. Hendrickson’s high school accolades had him tabbed as the third-best recruit in his weight class in the country by FloWrestling. Hendrickson is OSU’s third addition from the transfer portal this offseason, joining 165-pounders Dean Hamiti and Caleb Fish. Like Hendrickson, Hamiti is also a two-time All-American from Wisconsin. Fish was a three-year starter at Michigan State. However, Hendrickson is the first commitment of the David Taylor era. He visited OSU before Taylor took over, though, while Coleman Scott was in charge as interim head coach after John Smith’s retirement. “It was shocking at first because I had a good relationship with the current coaching staff, all those guys — they’re still keeping Tyler Caldwell — but obviously I went through my visit with them,” Hendrickson said. “But I gotta say it was for the better because David Taylor was really the guy who made me love wrestling.” Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
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Thanks for stopping by – here’s your daily dose of Oklahoma State sports news. ScoresSoftball: Cowgirls 6, Northern Colorado 0 Three Thoughts• Pokes really need a scorer and it appears they landed one of Gotham’s finest (PFB) • Love what David Taylor is doing blending his Pennsylvania roots with the OSU tree (PFB + X) • The Cowgirls took a convincing first step at the Stillwater Regional – does it feel like underachieving if the Cowgirls don’t make it back to OKC for the World Series? (PFB) Two Quotes• OSU is one of eight schools to have a cover athlete for Madden Football and NCAA Football (X) • What a catch by one of OSU’s receiver commits (X) One Question• Where would you put the Cowboys’ current trio (Alan Bowman – Ollie Gordon – Brennan Presley) among the others under Mike Gundy? Non-OSU Bullets• Indiana judge rules that tacos and burritos are sandwiches (in case you’ve been arguing with someone about this) • Solid take on biblical priorities (faith-based) Like this news – OKC reporter saying the new Thunder stadium will functionally be in the area where Prarie Surf Studios is (great location) Fredrik Backman on writing/creativity was pretty funny/insightful: Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
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The Cowboys pulled a 15-point-per-game scorer from the Atlantic 10. La Salle transfer Khalil Brantley on Friday announced his commitment to Oklahoma State. A 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior for the Explorers this past season, Brantley averaged 15 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists a game. If Brantley’s name sounds familiar, it might be because he was on OSU’s radar coming out of high school. Mike Boynton offered Brantley, a fellow New Yorker, a scholarship back in April of 2020. Brantley averaged 34.2 points, nine rebounds and four assists a game as a high school junior at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn before transferring to Our Savior Lutheran in the Bronx as a senior. He ended up committing to La Salle over offers from Creighton, Georgetown, Seton Hall and others. He has been with the Explorers since. Brantley made an instant impact as a freshman during the 2021-22 season, playing in 29 games and making four starts. He averaged eight points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists a game as a freshman. He then took a big step forward as a sophomore, making 30 starts and playing in 32 games where he averaged 14.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists a game. His 3-point percentage took a jump, as well, going from 27% as a freshman to 34% as a sophomore. He shot 33% from 3 this past season. Brantley was a volume scorer for La Salle, as this past season he led the Explorers in scoring while shooting 81 more shots than his next closest teammate. But Brantley also did that while wracking up 137 assists, the second-most on the team. He also led the Explorers in steals and was third in rebounds despite his 6-1 stature. He was also La Salle’s leading scorer as a junior, a season in which he also led his team in assists, steals and was second in rebounds. Brantley has scored 20 or more points a dozen times in the past two seasons. He put up a career-high 30 against Southern Indiana this past season. He has three career double-doubles, including a 29-point, 14-rebound game against Temple this past season. Brantley ought to provide the Cowboys a scoring punch (which I put on a wishlist) but still seemingly fits the mold of do-it-all guards new OSU coach Steve Lutz seems to be after. Brantley is the seventh portal addition Lutz has added since taking over in Stillwater, joining Arturo Dean (FIU), Robert Jennings II (Texas Tech), Marchelus Avery (UCF), Davonte Davis (Arkansas), Brandon Newman (Western Kentucky) and Abou Ousmane (Xavier). That brings OSU’s available scholarships down to only two. Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. New Oklahoma State wrestling coach David Taylor added a former teammate to his first coaching staff. Taylor announced Friday that Bryan Pearsall will join the Cowboy Wrestling staff as recruiting coordinator. Taylor and Pearsall were teammates at Penn State, where Pearsall was a four-year starter and a part of three NCAA championship teams in 2011, 2012 and 2013. “I’m incredibly excited to be a part of the next chapter of Oklahoma State Wrestling,” Pearsall said in OSU’s release. “I believe in Coach Taylor and his vision for the program and know that I can contribute towards Cowboy Wrestling reaching new heights. There is a high standard of success in Stillwater, home of the most decorated Division-I wrestling program in history. We aim to raise those standards and act accordingly every single day. I can’t wait to get to work.” Most recently, Pearsall was an assistant and associate head coach at Penn since 2017. He was on staff at Army West Point from 2014 to 2017 before moving to Penn. Pearsall’s college coaching career started at Rutgers, where he was during the 2013-14 season as part of the Scarlet Knight Wrestling Club. Pearsall is Taylor’s third addition to his coach staff since taking over May 6. Taylor named Jimmy Kennedy as associate head coach and Thomas Gilman as an assistant only three days after being announced as OSU’s wrestling coach. Former Cowboy wrestler Daton Fix will also still be around the program, but his exact role still hasn’t been announced. Last season, former OSU wrestler Gary Wayne Harding served as the Cowboys’ recruiting coordinator after Tyler Caldwell was promoted from the role to assistant coach. Caldwell had been recruiting coordinator since 2017 and was the first recruiting coordinator to ever serve under John Smith. Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. |
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