‘Every Place That Had Success Had Depth’: David Taylor, OSU Wrestlers Discuss Cowboys’ Growing Depth

STILLWATER — Building a team with depth in any sport in the transfer portal era has to be a difficult task, but in his second year as the Cowboys’ wrestling coach, that’s what David Taylor did.

Taylor, a three-time world champion and 2020 Olympic gold medalist, wasted no time revitalizing an already proud program. Oklahoma State finished third as a team at the NCAA Championships last season, the Cowboys’ highest placing since 2021. OSU also had a pair of national champions, the first time multiple Cowboys have stood atop the podium since 2016.

Taylor’s second squad obviously has work to do to match what last year’s team did, but from the outset, this Cowboy team might be deeper than last year’s.

“If you look back at the history of wrestling, and you think about the programs that have had the most success, depth was definitely a part of that,” Taylor said Wednesday. “Every place that had success had depth. But back in the day, once a kid signs, they’re there for four or five years.

“There’s a lot of temptations that these kids are gonna face on a daily basis, and the best thing that we can do is just show them that we care about them and help them with a plan to be the best versions of themselves. People chose to come here because they believe in this place, and every day that’s just gonna continue to, I believe, be more prominent in their lives. So, we just gotta  focus on what we’re doing and focus on helping these guys just be the best versions.”

Taylor on Wednesday navigated around lineup questions like a 10-year veteran rather than a second-year coach, at one point saying “We’ll have 10 guys out there Nov. 7 (the date of OSU’s first dual).”

As part of the National Duals Invitational seeding process, OSU was required to submit a rough outline of a lineup. OSU’s submitted lineup was reportedly:

125: Troy Spratley
133: Richard Figueroa II/Cael Hughes
141: Carter Young/Sergio Vega
149: Casey Swiderski
157: Teague Travis/Landon Robideau
165: LaDarion Lockett/Kody Routledge
174: Alex Facundo
184: Zack Ryder/Brayden Thompson
197: Cody Merrill/Jersey Robb
HWT: Konner Doucet

That’s 16 guys for 10 spots with all 16 of those guys either being at least relatively proven in the college wrestling world or at the very least a blue-chip recruit.

In other sports, depth means if Player X gets hurt, Player Y can play. That’s the case in wrestling, as well, but it’s also an iron sharpens iron type of sport, meaning guys are training against the team’s depth every day.

Take OSU’s lower weights, for example.

Troy Spratley is coming off a second-place finish at nationals last season in the 125-pound weight class. Although Spratley is expected to be one of the for-sure starters in OSU’s lineup, he’s able to train alongside guys like Richard Figueroa, who won a national title at 125 in 2024 but will now wrestle at 133 pounds. The room also features Rin Sakamoto, who was Japan’s representative at the Senior World Championships last month. Oh, and while the RTC-only athletes obviously can’t compete on the college team, Spratley has the opportunity to train alongside guys like Roman Bravo-Young (a two-time NCAA champ) and Daton Fix (a four-time NCAA finalist).

“There’s killers in this room from the college guys to the RTC guys to our coaches,” Spratley said. “You can’t find a better room in the country.”

Around the middle weights, there are guys like Casey Swiderski, a 2024 All-American who missed last season with injury, working with highly regarded freshmen Dee Lockett and Landon Robideau.

Lockett was the No. 3 prospect in the 2025 class, according to Flo, and he’s already a U17 World Champion and a U20 silver medalist. Robideau was the No. 5 recruit in the class after winning three Minnesota state titles and finishing his high school with a record of 283-6.

“Robideau’s a goer,” Swiderski said. “You wrestle Robideau, you’re gonna get a little bit of yourself. Hand-fighter that’s gonna go. He’s not gonna stop. He’s ready to go. I’m excited to watch him compete.”

If Lockett wants to grab a guy carrying a little more weight, he can lock up with Penn State transfer Alex Facundo. Facundo was last a regular in a lineup in 2022-23, but that’s primarily because he was in another deep room at Penn State. He’s a one-time NCAA qualifier and took bronze at the 2018 and 2019 U17 World Championships.

Locket spoke super highly of Facundo on Wednesday.

“Facundo is one of the best 174-pounders in country, should win nationals this year,” Lockett said. “… He’s super hard to score on. He can score from anywhere, and he’s one of the best guys in the world.”

The two Cowboys listed at 184 are both young, but are overflowing with potential.

Zack Ryder was the No. 5 wrestler in the 2024 recruiting class, per Flo. He redshirted at Penn State last season and is already a three-time age-level world medalist. While redshirting last year, he won the Southern Scuffle.

Brayden Thompson redshirted last season after starting for the Cowboys as a true freshman at 174 pounds. He qualified for nationals that year, and while redshirting last season Thompson won the Bob Smith Open and the Reno Tournament of Champions.

If those two ever get tired of going at each other, the 86 kg (about 190 pounds) world champion is also at the Cowboy RTC in Zahid Valencia after Valencia held the field scoreless against him in September. And that’s just one of the RTC guys.

“With Brayden, Jersey Robb, whoever’s at my weight, it’s awesome,” Ryder said. “We’re getting to build off each other. They’re my teammates at the end of the day. They can help me out, I can help them out. I mean, Zahid Valencia, Dustin Plott, Dean Hamiti, Cam Amine, (Caleb) Fish even — just all those guys I’m wrestling with, they’re making me better. They’re like big brothers to me. We have a great bond.

“It’s great wrestling them, especially Zahid, who puts it on me, but those guys help me a lot.”