OSU Wrestling: Three-Time NCAA Falls Leader Wyatt Hendrickson Commits to Cowboys

Cowboy Wrestling landed a big addition out of the transfer portal — figuratively and literally.

Former Air Force heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson announced Sunday on The Barn Session Podcast that he has committed to Oklahoma State with one year of eligibility left. He visited Stillwater at the end of April before also taking trips to Minnesota and Michigan this month. He posted Friday via Instagram that Michigan would be his third and final visit after originally saying he would make four stops before a decision.

“I made my decision based off what I felt was right, kind of be able to take away the external things that I can’t control, and I was like, ‘What can I control and where would I want to be regardless of situations like that?’ And I just thought Oklahoma State was the best place for me,” Hendrickson said on the podcast.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Wyatt Hendrickson (@wyatt_hendrickson)

Despite competing at a weight known for a lack of action, Hendrickson has still led the country in falls the past three seasons. Of his 84 wins during that time, 53 were pins. Two of those seasons Hendrickson was awarded NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler honors, which is given to the wrestler who earns the most points for their team during the season. He didn’t get the honor at the end of this past season, but he still received the Don Henderson Outstanding Wrestler Award. Hendrickson was 25-2 in 2024 with 16 falls. 

Hendrickson was a two-time All-American at Air Force, placing third at heavyweight the last two NCAA Wrestling Championships while reaching the national tournament all four seasons of his career so far. He is also already familiar with the conference as a two-time Big 12 champion. He was Most Outstanding Wrestling after winning his first conference title at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships in 2022. Hendrickson beat OSU’s Luke Surber in the finals that year. Surber started at 197 pounds for the Cowboys this past season.

Coming from Air Force, Hendrickson was unable to use his extra year of eligibility because of COVID at the academy and had to receive clearance from the United States Air Force to transfer in order to use that last year of eligibility. FloWrestling talked to Air Force coach Sam Barber, who detailed some of that complicated process here. This will also be the first time Hendrickson can benefit from NIL, which is prohibited at service academies because of federal law.

Before going to Air Force, Hendrickson was a two-time state champion at Newton High School in Kansas. He was also a four-time USA Wrestling Junior National Freestyle and Greco Roman All-American. Hendrickson’s high school accolades had him tabbed as the third-best recruit in his weight class in the country by FloWrestling.

Hendrickson is OSU’s third addition from the transfer portal this offseason, joining 165-pounders Dean Hamiti and Caleb Fish. Like Hendrickson, Hamiti is also a two-time All-American from Wisconsin. Fish was a three-year starter at Michigan State. However, Hendrickson is the first commitment of the David Taylor era. He visited OSU before Taylor took over, though, while Coleman Scott was in charge as interim head coach after John Smith’s retirement.

“It was shocking at first because I had a good relationship with the current coaching staff, all those guys — they’re still keeping Tyler Caldwell — but obviously I went through my visit with them,” Hendrickson said. “But I gotta say it was for the better because David Taylor was really the guy who made me love wrestling.”