While the focus is on football and men's basketball on the recruiting trail, Virginia Tech Wrestling made a splash in the transfer portal landing former Pac-12 champion Nathan Traxler from Stanford.
After 5 years & 2 degrees I could not be more thankful for my time at Stanford. I had the best coaches and teammates and I’m grateful for every opportunity they gave me. With one last year of eligibility, I am extremely excited to finish my career at Virginia Tech. Go Hokies! 🦃 pic.twitter.com/WYj8j5uOlT
— Nathan Traxler (@nathantraxler4) June 1, 2021
Traxler was the 2019 Pac-12 champion at 197 before moving up to heavyweight this past season. He was also a four-time NCAA qualifier and the 2021 Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year. He will have one season of eligibility remaining for this upcoming fall.
197 was a weak spot for the Hokies this past season which is where Traxler certainly projects to join the lineup in especially with freshman Hunter Catka growing a lot at heavyweight this past season and John Borst being a proven veteran there.
Traxler not only should boost the Hokies' lineup for dual meets but is a valuable addition to gain points at the ACC and NCAA Championships next year with Tech targeting an ACC Tournament title and at minimum, a top 3-5 spot at NCAAs while making a run at a national title.
We will have more as this story develops.