Two-time All-American Chris Cannon is leaving Northwestern but staying in the Big Ten.
The question is whether he’ll be wrestling for Penn State or Rutgers next season.
Cannon, who is graduating from Northwestern this spring, announced his intent to enter the transfer portal late last month. News broke Sunday that he’s choosing between two other Big Ten schools.
Two time All-American wrestling transfer is down to two schools, one of which is #PennState.@RivalsRichie has more –> https://t.co/EX5QfDRQII pic.twitter.com/l3CtwLgaTv
— Penn State Nittany Lions (@PennStateRivals) April 16, 2023
2x All-American Chris Cannon of Northwestern is down to his final 2 after entering the transfer portal… pic.twitter.com/z6SQeKZsG8
— The Wrestling Room (Pat Mineo) (@MrPatMineo) April 16, 2023
Cannon has a 67-27 overall record and is 21-4 in dual meets over four seasons.
He’s qualified for the NCAA Championships thrice and finished seventh in 2021 and 2022.
This past year’s NCAAs could have gone better for Cannon. He went 1-2 and got eliminated with a pin by Air Force’s Cody Phippen. Cannon has yet to win a Big Ten championship but has placed fourth twice and fifth once. Cannon’s only match against a Penn State wrestler came in the 2021 Big Ten Tournament when he lost an 8-3 decision to Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young in the semifinals.
Bravo-Young is the man Cannon would replace at Penn State should he decide to join Cael Sanderson’s empire. He’d have big shoes to fill. RBY won two national championships and came one win away from getting a third this March, losing to Cornell’s Vito Arujau in a 10-4 decision. That loss ended a 56-match win streak that was briefly the longest in America thanks to Iowa’s Spencer Lee’s shocking upset loss to Purdue’s Matt Ramos in the semifinal round the night before the championship matches. Finding somebody to replicate what RBY did for Penn State might not happen for a long time.
But Chris Cannon would undoubtedly be a solid option. Another big-time Big Ten 133-pounder in the transfer portal is the man who took on RBY at the conference and NCAA Championships, Minnesota’s Aaron Nagao. Nagao entered the portal last month and is still considering Minnesota but is also looking at Cornell, Iowa and, wouldn’t you know it, Penn State.
