Sometimes, the portal taketh away, even from Cowboy Wrestling.
FloWrestling reported Thursday that Christian Carroll has entered the transfer portal with a “Do not contact” tag and four years of eligibility left after redshirting his only season at Oklahoma State. Pistols Firing has confirmed Flo’s initial report.
Carroll never saw the mat for the Cowboys but was expected to drop down from heavyweight to start at 197 pounds this season and had a lot of promise as a highly touted recruit. He was the top pound-for-pound recruit in the 2023 class out of Jimtown High School in Elkhart, Indiana. Most of his success came in freestyle, though, making the U20 United States World Team as a high schooler and winning the 2023 U.S. Open.
Once in Stillwater, Carroll redshirted this past season while Konner Doucet started at heavyweight for the Cowboys. With two-time heavyweight All-American Wyatt Hendrickson transferring to OSU, Carroll was expected to drop to 197 to start as a redshirt freshman this upcoming season. He recently competed at 92 kg (about 203 pounds) at U23 Nationals earlier this week, finishing in third. Earlier this summer, Carroll won the 97 kg bracket at the Last Chance Olympic Team Trials Qualifier to earn a berth to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Carroll became the third Cowboy to enter the transfer portal this offseason and second since David Taylor was named head coach after John Smith’s retirement. Sammy Alvarez was the first and only starter from this past season to do so. Alvarez split time at 149 pounds before bolting for Rider after one season in Stillwater. AJ Heeg announced via X last week that he was transferring to Northern Colorado.
On the flip side, OSU has added four from the portal, including multi-time All-Americans Hendrickson, Dean Hamiti and Cam Amine.
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.