Nebraska had a big day in the transfer portal on Thursday as the Huskers continue to be the biggest players in college wrestling in the transfer portal this off-season.
After picking up NCAA Champion Vincent Robinson three weeks ago to lead off the lineup at 125 pounds, Nebraska added another two-time All-American lightweight in Anthony Echemendia from Iowa State and picked up a much-needed 184-pound starter in Lucas Cochran from Penn State.
Nebraska filled its biggest need Thursday night shortly after adding an elite talent in Echemendia to compete at 149 pounds. It’s clear with these moves that Nebraska is doing everything it can do to catch Penn State and Oklahoma State.
Now, let’s get into who these guys are and what these portal adds mean.
Anthony Echemendia
Talk about a guy who’s had an incredibly interesting wrestling career with some ups and down along the way.
A Cuban native, Echemendia was a standout in the Cuban developmental system in freestyle — he won three Cadet National Championships before winning two more in the Junior division and another in U23.
While training in Guatemala with the Cuban U20 team in 2019, Echemendia snuck away and defected to the United States at the age of 18. He then wrestled for Sunnyside High School in Arizona for one season, going 22-0 and winning a state title despite never wrestling folkstyle before that.
During the summer of 2019, Echemendia really burst on the scene in America when he won U20 Fargo National Championships in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. He eventually committed to wrestle at Ohio State.
During the summer of 2020 — right after Covid led to the cancellation of the NCAA Championships and the Olympics — Echemendia competed on a FloWrestling card where he wrestled against James Green at 65 kg. Echemendia was actually leading that match 4-4 on criteria late before he was taken down and laced up by Green in a 14-4 loss. Watch that match below.
Interestingly enough, current Husker assistant Tervel Dlagnev was in the corner for Echemendia in that match. At the time, Dlagnev was on staff at Ohio State, and Green wrestled then for the Southeast RTC at Virginia Tech — after a few years back at Nebraska, Green recently announced that he’s making a return to Virginia Tech as an assistant coach and an SERTC athlete after this summer’s freestyle run. Green is currently sitting out to Final X at 74 kg, looking to make his eighth Senior World Team.
Echemendia went on to Ohio State where he never hit the starting lineup at 141 pounds. After injuring his knee during the Covid-shortened 2021 season, Echemendia redshirted in 2021-22. After facing legal trouble in a domestic violence incident with his wife in 2022, Echemendia left Ohio State and spent the 2022-23 season wrestling unattached, going 13-2 in open tournaments at 149 pounds, securing titles at the UNI Open and the Soldier Salute hosted by Iowa.
After transferring to Iowa State, Echemendia started his sophomore season at 149 before dropping down to 141, securing a Big 12 title and placing fifth at NCAAs, securing All-American honors.
In 2024-25, Echemendia started the season at 149 pounds and nearly beat Ridge Lovett at Cliff Keen (see those highlights below), but his season was derailed by an ankle injury and subsequent staph infection that ended up being life-threatening. Echemendia received a medical redshirt for the season.
This past year, Echemendia wrestled at 141 pounds and was one of the top guys in the country — he went 23-5, finishing as the Big 12 runner-up before placing sixth at NCAAs for his second career podium finish.
Echemendia comes to Lincoln with one year of eligibility remaining. It’s unclear if he’ll wrestle at 141 or 149 for Nebraska, although 149 is probably more likely at this point.
So, what does this mean for a Nebraska team that has a lot of young options at 149 pounds?
I think it means that the Huskers have pushed all of their chips to the middle and want another established guy in their lineup — they want to optimize this year’s team as they’ll be anchored by guys like NCAA Champions Antrell Taylor and Vincent Robinson. With Echemendia in the mix, Nebraska will have five starters who have earned All-American finishes at least twice — Robinson, Jacob Van Dee, Echemendia, Taylor, Christopher Minto and Camden McDanel.
I doubt that Mark Manning has promised Echemendia a starting spot — he’ll have to earn it as he battles guys like Nikade Zinkin and incoming recruit Lincoln Sledzianowski for the starting spot. Those 149-pound wrestle-offs will be really fun to watch.
Not only will Echemendia likely start for his final year of college eligibility, but he’ll also likely stick around and wrestle for the Nebraska Wrestling Training Center, providing more depth to wrestle with Lovett and Brock Hardy.
Lucas Cochran
Nebraska lost All-American Silas Allred to graduation this year and was expecting 2025 recruit Ty Eise to step in there, but Eise wanted to stay at 174 pounds (where Nebraska has NCAA finalist Christopher Minto) and elected to transfer to Oklahoma.
This left Nebraska with a major hole at 184 pounds. The Huskers have brought in a number of transfer prospects at this weight range but have been unable to secure any commitments until now.
A guy who has been in the Penn State room behind guys like four-time NCAA Champion Aaron Brooks and 2026 champion Josh Barr, Cochran should come in ready and itching to hit a starting lineup.
Cochran has spent the majority of his time in Happy Valley at 197 pounds with some at 285, but he’ll make a cut down this year for the Huskers to 184. Already a big 197-pounder, if Cochran can make the cut and be effective, he may be the biggest 184-pounder in the country this season.
While at Penn State, Cochran amassed a 26-5 career record as a backup. His career highlight in college came when he bumped up to heavyweight in a 2024 dual and earned an 8-3 decision over Rutgers All-American Yaraslau Slavikouski.
Nebraska needed a starting caliber guy here at 184 and got their guy in Cochran.
What’s Next?
Nebraska may be done in the transfer portal this year, but they also may not be.
Nebraska recently hosted three-time All-American Meyer Shapiro who has wrestled his career at 157 pounds. He plans to take a couple more visits, but Nebraska is certainly in the running for the former Cornell standout with two years of eligibility left.
I think it’s a long shot, but I could see a scenario where Echemendia goes 141 and Shapiro drops to 149 this season for Nebraska. This would give Nebraska an incredible roster.
The Huskers are also currently hosting North Dakota State 184-pounder Aidan Brenot for an official visit — he has two years of eligibility remaining. Could they add him to the fold to compete with Cochran at 184?
