Ryder and Peterson Announce Transfer Destinations

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.