One of the most notable names in the transfer portal is on the move as AJ Ferrari announced that he will transfer to North Carolina for the 2025-26 season. 
Ferrari is a two-time NCAA All-American and two-time conference champion. He won a national title in 2021 as a true freshman for Oklahoma State and amassed a 19-1 record. Since then, Ferrari had a long road back to the NCAA Tournament. He was injured in a car accident in January of 2022 and unable to compete in the postseason. Later that year, Ferrari was dismissed from the Cowboy team and did not compete in college until the 2024-25 season. 
Ferrari returned to the collegiate wrestling world this past season for CSU Bakersfield. He entered the NCAA Tournament with a perfect 17-0 record after defeating returning All-American Stephen Little (Little Rock) to claim a Pac-12 title. 
At the 2025 NCAA Championships, Ferrari showed off his stingy defense and low-risk offensive strategy in defeating his first three opponents by a 15-2 margin. That set the stage for a semifinal contest with Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan. Ferrari spent some time during the 2023-24 season training with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club at the University of Iowa, but never enrolled at the school. His younger brother, Angelo, is a freshman 184 lber at Iowa. 
Buchanan was able to give Ferrari a dose of his own medicine in a 3-0 win. After the Buchanan loss, Ferrari responded with back-to-back wins over Joey Novak (Wyoming) and Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) to claim third place. Cardenas entered the tournament as the top seed and was the Big Ten champion. He and Ferrari were briefly high school teammates at New Jersey’s Bergen Catholic High School. 
The win over Cardenas and the third-place finish gave Ferrari a 22-1 season record and ran his collegiate record to 51-2. 
Ferrari fits in well with the Tar Heels who did not have a national qualifier at 197 lbs in the 2024-25 season. UNC has six returning national qualifiers; however, two (Spencer Moore/125 and Lachlan McNeil/149) are currently in the transfer portal. 
Most observers thought that Ferrari would use the 2024-25 campaign to demonstrate that he is a changed person and not the lightning rod for controversy that he was earlier in his collegiate career, then perhaps transfer to a bigger program. That appears to be the case from everything Ferrari has said at the NCAA Tournament and a move to a North Carolina program that finished in the top 20 in every national tournament from 2018-23 represents a step up in competition. 
With Buchanan out of eligibility, Ferrari is the second-highest returning placewinner at 197 lbs (runner-up Josh Barr is the highest) and he should be one of the top contenders for a national title.

U17 Finals Matches
40 kg
Maisie Elliott (WA) over Brooklyn Henry (PA)  7-2, 3-1
 
43 kg
Madison Healey (PA) over Natalie Radecki (DE)  5-4, 5-4
 
46 kg
Jaclyn Bouzakis (PA) over Hailey Delgado (TX)  Fall 2:00, 8-1
 
49 kg
Morgan Turner (IL) over Christina Estrada (CA)  11-2, 11-0
 
53 kg
Espenesa Elison (CA) over Stevie Joyce Martin (CA)  15-4, 10-0
 
57 kg
Emma Bacon (PA) over Zorina Johnson (OR)  12-1, 13-0
 
61 kg
Taina Fernandez (MD) over Landri Von Gonten (TX)  10-0, 12-1
 
65 kg
Violette Lasure (PA) over Riley Hanrahan (WI)  0-10, 11-9, 15-4
 
69 kg
Cassandra Gonzales (MN) over Janiya Johnson (TN) InjDef, 5-1, 2-2
 
73 kg
Ella Poalillo (NJ) over Matilda Hruby (CO)  Fall 2:55, Fall 1:49

 
U20 Finals Matches
50 kg 
Audrey Jimenez (PA) over Heather Crull (IN)  10-0, 10-0
 
53kg
Abbi Cooper (CA) over Alex Waitsman (CA)  2-11, 5-5, 13-2
 
55 kg
Everest Leydecker (AZ) over Clare Booe (FL)  11-0, Fall :59
 
57 kg
Lorianna Piestewa (NM) over Carissa Qureshi (CA)  10-6, 8-0
 
59 kg
Aubre Krazer (PA) over Bella Williams (OK)  10-2, 9-0
 
62 kg
Haylie Jaffe (PA) over Lilly Luft (IA)  3-0, 4-3
 
65 kg
Daniella Nugent (MA) over Cadence Diduch (IL)  2-5, 2-2, 6-4
 
68 kg
Jordyn Fouse (PA) over Zoey Lints (NY)  Fall 1:49, 9-4, 7-4
 
72kg
Jasmine Robinson (TX) over Piper Fowler (TN)  8-2, 6-1
 
76 kg
Naomi Simon (IA) over Stella Stiegler (VA)  2:41, 2:58
 
U23 Finals Matches
50 kg
Heather Crull (IN) over Ava Bayless (PA) 12-15, Fall 2:03, Fall 2:56
 
53 kg
Elena Ivaldi (CA) over Sydney Petzinger (NJ)  10-7, 12-6
 
55 kg
Cristelle Rodriguez (CA) over Amani Jones (GA)  12-6, 5-3
 
57 kg
Cecilia Williams (MI) over Alyssa Mahan (DE)  6-6, 10-0
 
59 kg
Alexis Janiak (IL) over Bella Williams (OK)  3-0, 5-0
 
62 kg
Adaugo Nwachukwu (CO) over Katerina Lange (MN)  14-3, 7-5
 
65 kg
Isabella Mir (NV) over Nina Makem (MN)  2-1, 2-2
 
68 kg
Brooklyn Hays (MN) over Shannon Workinger (WA)  Fall 4:32, 13-2
 
72 kg
Jasmine Robinson (TX) over Elleni Johnson (UT)  Fall 2:18, 12-0
 
76 kg
Tristan Kelly (CO) over Kalila Shrive (CA)  12-1, Fall 3:54
 

Friday afternoon proved to be a busy time for a pair of notable names in the transfer portal! Dean Peterson and Zack Ryder both announced their transfer intentions today and both are heading to 2025 NCAA trophy-winning teams. 
The veteran, Peterson, will use his final year of eligibility wrestling for the University of Iowa. Peterson is a three-time NCAA qualifier at 125 lbs. In 2023 and 2025, Peterson advanced to the NCAA Round of 12 and came up a match shy of earning All-American honors. The latest time saw Peterson fall to Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado), who had to mount a third-period comeback to get the 6-4 victory. 
In his three years starting for Rutgers, Peterson amassed a 61-28 record. During the regular season, Peterson handed the eventual NCAA third-place finisher, Luke Lilledahl (Penn State), his first career loss. 
Though Iowa saw Joey Cruz qualify for nationals at 125 lbs, most saw the weight as one that the Iowa staff might look to upgrade in the offseason. Cruz was the #29 seed in Philly and went 0-2. Peterson is the third notable transfer to commit to Iowa in less than two weeks since the NCAA Tournament. He joins Nasir Bailey and Jordan Williams as new additions to the Hawkeye lineup in 2025-26. 
With Peterson in the mix, Iowa should be able to redshirt their top recruit #8 overall Leo DeLuca (Blair Academy, NJ) this season. 
As many expected, Zack Ryder will reunite with his old club coach, David Taylor, who is now leading the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Ryder, the #6 overall recruit in the Class of 2024, entered the transfer portal shortly after 2024 NCAA finalist Rocco Welsh transferred in from Ohio State. 
A three-time age-group world medalist, Ryder redshirted in 2024-25 and went 8-0 with two open tournament titles. Half of his eight wins came over NCAA qualifiers - headlined by a fall over 2024 All-American TJ Stewart (Virginia Tech). 
Ryder will be another strong option at 184 lbs for the Cowboys in 2025-26. They will be looking to replace four-time All-American Dustin Plott who is now out of eligibility. Fellow top prospect, Brayden Thompson, was seen as the potential front-runner at 184 lbs for Oklahoma State. 
Once Ryder committed to Penn State, he moved to the State College, Pennsylvania area and trained with Taylor at his old M2 Training Center. Because of the familiarity, a reunion was highly anticipated after Ryder entered the portal. 
Ryder is one of three ex-Penn State wrestlers to declare transfer intentions to Oklahoma State this week. He’ll join Alex Facundo and Gary Steen on the way out west. Additionally, Oklahoma State has already added transfer Casey Swiderski to their lineup from Big 12 rival Iowa State. Though Taylor’s team loses six starters from their 2025 NCAA third-place team, they should be in the trophy hunt again after restocking through the portal.