Wrestlers who entered the transfer portal but did not transfer out?

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

I assume these wrestlers' college wrestling careers are over then?  Or do some of them get to stay on their previous team?  I'm thinking about Penn State where there were about 10 guys in the portal and only 3 or 4 of them landed on new teams.

[Wrestleknownothing]

If they get designated as outside of the 30 man limit (not sure what the official term is), they are exempt from the roster limit and their exemption from the roster limit follows them wherever they go for the rest of their eligibility so they could even return to their original school, if they will have them.

[GimJustafan]

19 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

I assume these wrestlers' college wrestling careers are over then?  Or do some of them get to stay on their previous team?  I'm thinking about Penn State where there were about 10 guys in the portal and only 3 or 4 of them landed on new teams.

great ? -  

 

 

 

 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

10 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

If they get designated as outside of the 30 man limit (not sure what the official term is), they are exempt from the roster limit and their exemption from the roster limit follows them wherever they go for the rest of their eligibility so they could even return to their original school, if they will have them.

But they wouldn't be officially part of the team, right?  Since they are outside of the 30 rostered wrestlers...

[Wrestleknownothing]

17 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

But they wouldn't be officially part of the team, right?  Since they are outside of the 30 rostered wrestlers...

They would be a part of the team and exempt from the roster limit. This was the concession the judge demanded to approve the settlement. She wanted anyone who was currently on a roster or incoming freshman to not be impacted by the roster limits. These guys are grandfathered in. But only the guys who are tagged as being above the 30 man limit. So you cannot build a team with 31 below the limit guys, but you can build a team with 30 below the limit guys and 1 above the limit guy.

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

20 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

They would be a part of the team and exempt from the roster limit. This was the concession the judge demanded to approve the settlement. She wanted anyone who was currently on a roster or incoming freshman to not be impacted by the roster limits. These guys are grandfathered in. But only the guys who are tagged as being above the 30 man limit. So you cannot build a team with 31 below the limit guys, but you can build a team with 30 below the limit guys and 1 above the limit guy.

Or in Penn State's case you can have 30 rostered wrestlers and 6-8 guys who tried to transfer out but didn't find a new team?

[Wrestleknownothing]

54 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Or in Penn State's case you can have 30 rostered wrestlers and 6-8 guys who tried to transfer out but didn't find a new team?

As it applies to everybody, and Penn State is a subset of everybody, yes it applies to Penn State.

[JimmyCinnabon]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Or in Penn State's case you can have 30 rostered wrestlers and 6-8 guys who tried to transfer out but didn't find a new team?

 

What our good friend and esteemed colleague is saying is that if PSU rosters 30 guys and those 6 guys in the portal who did not find a new landing spot want to stay at Penn State they will simply become exempt and PSU will have a roster of 36 guys. At least this is how I understand it.

It makes me wonder if anyone is going to game the system here and have like 20 guys enter the portal with the plan to fill those 20 spots with transfers, and then just have those 20 guys return as exempt from roster limits and roll with a roster of 50.

[Wrestleknownothing]

45 minutes ago, JimmyCinnabon said:

 

What our good friend and esteemed colleague is saying is that if PSU rosters 30 guys and those 6 guys in the portal who did not find a new landing spot want to stay at Penn State they will simply become exempt and PSU will have a roster of 36 guys. At least this is how I understand it.

It makes me wonder if anyone is going to game the system here and have like 20 guys enter the portal with the plan to fill those 20 spots with transfers, and then just have those 20 guys return as exempt from roster limits and roll with a roster of 50.

The way it works is that you have to name the 30 and the "outside of 30". Just entering the portal does not grant you the exempt status. But the guys in the portal now were probably told they would not make the 30 man roster BEFORE the grandfathering element was added to the settlement. 

[HRRBM]

Also worth noting that the Designated Student Athletes (those who were cut or going to be cut to get to get to the 30 wrestler roster) don't have to be brought back by their original school or by any school.  They are exempt from being counted on the 30 person roster regardless of which school they attend.  BUT the school retains the roster level choice. Made very clear in the NCAA final position to the judge. 

 

Therefore, a school can choose to just go with 30 wrestlers and not invite the Designated Student Athletes back onto the team.  Roster level is school by school choice.  I would expect many will not offer them to come back.  Although they won't count as a roster spot, there is certainly costs associated with more team members: scholarship dollars (can't lose just because cut for roster quotas), athlete dining hall, gear, travel, academic advisors, trainers, etc.  Alternatively, Notre Dame recently said they will invite ALL their Designated Student Athletes back across all their sports.

 

Note that if they had a scholarship, are cut, and stay at the school that cut them; then they still have the financial scholarship.  Rules were made that you don't lose scholarship if cut.  But if you change schools, you scholarship at original school is gone.  Many schools are looking to save money as much as possible to pay the football and other teams, so if you don't offer the Designated Student Athlete to come back, maybe they leave and that scholarship becomes available for other wrestler/recruit.  Also bringing back people could be situations of hard feelings.  I would expect a coach assessment case-by case, unless the Athletic Director makes blanket policy of don't bring anyone back.   

 

So Penn State gets to decide if they want the extra 6-8 guys to come back on the team, or just proceed without them.  Those 6-8 don't count against the cap, but are not automatically back on team unless PSU invites them back.   

[HRRBM]

Would also note that some of the wrestlers in the portal that didn't get picked up had already completed a bachelors degree and were seeing grad school or post bachelors in return for eligibility that they still had.  I would suspect in those cases that many of those folks just decided to join the job market and forgo the post bachelors degree education.  

I think Penn State might have had a few of those, that had already received an undergraduate degree in the 6-8 that were mentioned. 

[BruceyB]

4 hours ago, JimmyCinnabon said:

 

What our good friend and esteemed colleague is saying is that if PSU rosters 30 guys and those 6 guys in the portal who did not find a new landing spot want to stay at Penn State they will simply become exempt and PSU will have a roster of 36 guys. At least this is how I understand it.

It makes me wonder if anyone is going to game the system here and have like 20 guys enter the portal with the plan to fill those 20 spots with transfers, and then just have those 20 guys return as exempt from roster limits and roll with a roster of 50.

Wait, are Jimmy C and JimmyC actually different people or is this just advanced trolling?

[JimmyCinnabon]

1 minute ago, BruceyB said:

Wait, are Jimmy C and JimmyC actually different people or is this just advanced trolling?

[MPhillips]

22 hours ago, BruceyB said:

Wait, are Jimmy C and JimmyC actually different people or is this just advanced trolling?

All three are different people.  Welcome to the forum...

[ionel]

23 hours ago, BruceyB said:

Wait, are Jimmy C and JimmyC actually different people or is this just advanced trolling?

Jimmy C is not the real Jimmy of old.  JimmyC is just a fake jimmy pretending to be the non real jimmy.  Sure we still call one of em the Pastry but they are really all just weak noodles.

Edited Friday at 06:56 PM by ionel

[CHROMEBIRD]

On 6/12/2025 at 6:32 AM, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Or in Penn State's case you can have 30 rostered wrestlers and 6-8 guys who tried to transfer out but didn't find a new team?

Or what if a Penn State wrestler's best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's wife heard from a guy who knows this kid who's dating the girl who saw another wrestler try to transfer but didn't because he'd miss the Creamery? I guess it's pretty serious.

[Fletcher]

On 6/12/2025 at 9:28 AM, Wrestleknownothing said:

As it applies to everybody, and Penn State is a subset of everybody, yes it applies to Penn State.

The LSAT awaits you, my friend