Chattanooga Adds 2x NCAA Qualifier Chittum

On Friday morning, the Chattanooga athletic department confirmed that two-time NCAA qualifier Cody Chittum has been added to the Mocs roster after transferring from Iowa State. Chittum is a Tennessee native, so this will be a homecoming, of sorts. 

It is quite the circuitous route to Chattanooga as Chittum initially went to Iowa City and trained with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club with plans to enroll at the University of Iowa. Those never materialized and Chittum ended up across the state wrestling for the Cyclones. Once Chittum went into the transfer portal, he announced he was transferring to Ohio State. Those plans fell through and rumors began to surface that Chattanooga might be Chittum's landing spot. 

While at Iowa State, Chittum made two trips to the NCAA Championships. As a freshman, he was a Big 12 finalist at 157 lbs. He lost in an epic overtime bout against Northern Iowa's Ryder Downey in the finals. Earlier this year, Chittum was sixth at the Big 12 Championships, but won a pair of bouts at the NCAA Tournament. In both appearances, he was given a top 16 seed. 

At one point, during his high school career, Chittum was tabbed the number one overall recruit in the Class of 2023. He later reclassified up a year and didn't appear in the final rankings. 

With Chittum's addition, the Mocs get another jolt in the arm from the transfer portal. Earlier this offseason, Kyle Ruschell's team added two-time national qualifier Cooper Flynn, Class of 2024 top 50 recruit Carter Neves, along with Hunter Mason, Mason Reiniche, and Billy Meiszner. They could head into the 2025-26 campaign as the team to beat in the SoCon.