What’s Possible for Oklahoma State in Its First Season Under David Taylor? ‘National Champs’

After only a few months as a Cowboy, Wyatt Hendrickson scoffed in confidence when asked about his new team.

It didn’t take long for Hendrickson, Cameron Amine and Dean Hamiti to realize the caliber of team they joined. The three All-Americans transferred to Oklahoma State this past offseason, adding to an already stacked wrestling room up on the second floor of Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Hamiti, from Wisconsin, committed to OSU when John Smith was still leading the program, but only weeks later, Smith announced his retirement after a 33-year coaching career. David Taylor was then hired for his first college coaching job and recruited Amine and Hendrickson, who had already visited Stillwater during OSU’s coaching search.

“Wrestling each other in this room is crazy,” Hendrickson said. “Coach Taylor teaches both sides of everything every time we do something. I think we just don’t realize how actually it like, how much we’ve sharpened our sword, how sharp our edge is. Wrestling each other is like, when there’s a scramble, no one’s conceding any points, so these scrambles are long. When we go out there and wrestle people, they’re not gonna have that ability that we do. I think it’s gonna be a shock to us.”

Wyatt Hendrickson literally scoffed in confidence when asked about this #okstate team. This should give Cowboy fans something to look forward to. pic.twitter.com/8YFjdYWsal

— Dekota Gregory (@dekotagregory) October 15, 2024

Combined, those three transfers bring in seven All-America honors. They also have a combined 12 years of college experience. They joined fifth-year senior Dustin Plott, who was an NCAA runner-up at 184 pounds last season, as returning All-Americans on this roster. There’s also Troy Spratley, Tagen Jamison and Teague Travis, who all cracked the starting lineup for the first time last season and qualified for the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Former top recruits Cael Hughes and Cody Merrill could also emerge as stars this year.

“No. 1, for sure, that’s what we’re going in thinking,” Hamiti said. “Probably the best team I’ve ever been on with multiple All-Americans and probably, I think, national champs in the future.”

The first year of the David Taylor era in a historic program will begin Nov. 15 at Utah Valley. It will end in Pittsburgh at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in March. So what’s possible for these Cowboys during that time?

“National champs — 100%,” Amine said. “I think we believe it. I think people around us believe it. I think the country believes it. We just gotta go out and compete and keep trusting the process, believe in the coaches and just do what we know what to do.”