A third Nittany Lion will now wrestle for the Cowboys.
Zack Ryder, a 184-pound freshman at Penn State this past season, announced his commitment to Oklahoma State on Friday. Ryder went 8-0 while redshirting in Happy Valley. He has four years of eligibility remaining.
OSU coach David Taylor will be plenty familiar with Ryder. Ryder forewent his senior season at Minisink Valley High School (New York) to train at the M2 Training Center that Taylor started.
Ryder wasn’t in the Nittany Lions’ lineup this past season, but there’s good reason for that: he was behind the first five-time national champion in the sport’s history in Carter Starocci.
While redshirting this past season, Ryder shared a Black Knight Invitational title with Starocci. Ryder pinned Michigan State’s Cory Thomas in the first round before beating a ranked Brian Soldano 4-2. Ryder met Rutgers’ Shane Cartagena-Walsh in the semis. Cartagena-Welsh would go on to be the 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but Ryder beat him 4-1 before a no-contest final against Starocci.
Then Ryder won the Southern Scuffle, beating former Cowboy AJ Heeg in sudden-victory in the final. That tournament saw Ryder pin Virginia Tech’s TJ Stewart, who was an All-American in 2024, in the semifinals. Ryder also beat a ranked DJ Parker (OU) 9-2 at the Southern Scuffle. Parker made it to the blood round in last month’s NCAA Championships. Ryder’s performance at the Scuffle earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
He is already a decorated freestyle wrestler. Ryder has won a U.S. Open title the past three years (two at the U17 level and the most recent as a U20). That means he’s also been to the past three World Championships, finishing second in the U20 division in 2024 after bronze finishes at U17 in 2022 and 2023. His 2023 and 2024 U.S. Open runs were via the M2 Training Center that Taylor started.
Ryder was the No. 6 wrestler on FloWrestling’s High School Big Board for the 2024 class.
It was presumed Ryder would slot into Penn State’s 184-pound spot going into next season, but Penn State hit the portal and brought in Ohio State transfer Rocco Welsh, who didn’t wrestle this past season but made the NCAA finals at 174 pounds in 2024.
Dustin Plott has been the Cowboys’ 184-pounder the past two seasons but finished out his eligibility this past year. Brayden Thompson, who qualified for NCAAs in 2024 at 174 pounds, and Jersey Robb are other 184-pounders on OSU’s roster.
Ryder is the third transfer to join the Cowboys this offseason and the third from Penn State. Iowa State transfer Casey Swiderski got the ball rolling before Penn State’s Alex Facundo and Gary Steen joined the fold.
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