Rider Wrestling All-American Sammy Alvarez looks for future prospects with latest transfer portal update

Rider Wrestling All-American, Sammy Alvarez, has entered the NCAA transfer portal for the fourth time in his collegiate career. Though the transfer portal closed on Friday, Alvarez qualified as a graduate transfer, making him eligible.

Alvarez had a strong 2024–25 season with Rider Wrestling, finishing 25-7 at 149kg. He secured All-American honors with a seventh-place finish at the 2025 NCAA Championships, defeating former Oklahoma State teammate, Jordan Williams, 5-0.

Recently ncaa.wrestling.updates shared information regarding Alvarez's addition to the transfer portal on Instagram. They captioned the post:

Rider's All-American Sammy Alvarez has entered the transfer portal. Alvarez coming off a huge season will have one more year of eligibility remaining. Even though the transfer portal closed, Alvarez is considered a graduate student allowing him to transfer. Where do you think Alvarez lands?

Alvarez’s collegiate career has taken multiple turns. He initially committed to NC State after high school but withdrew before enrolling. He then enrolled at Rutgers in 2019, completing his freshman year with a 26-10 record, and qualified for the NCAA championships at 133kg. However, they got cancelled because of COVID-19.

He concluded with a 3-0 record in the 2020-21 season and an 8-2 record the following year. In the 2022-23 season, he placed a 13-2 record at 141kg, but weight management issues affected his postseason eligibility.

In January 2023, Alvarez transferred to Oklahoma State University. He competed for the Cowboys at 149kg and finished the 2023–24 wrestling season with a 15-5 record. Later in March 2024, he joined Rider University and finished 7th in the 149kg weight class at the 2025 NCAA Championships.

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Sammy Alvarez opens up about All-American honors at NCAA wrestling Championship

Sammy Alvarez at 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship - Source: Getty

After securing a 7th-place finish at the 2025 NCAA wrestling championship, Sammy Alvarez opened up about how he felt about the moment and Rider wrestling. (via InterMat Wrestle)

“It feels like everything—from fourth grade to this very moment—hours and hours, days, months, years have been poured into this. Thousands of shots, right? And there’s not much I feel besides excitement and gratitude for everyone who poured resources into me. Support from my coaches—from Rutgers to Oklahoma State to Rider.

He added,

I just want to say, amen. That’s all. I did it. Amen. And that’s it. I don’t have a spiel, you know? I’m not gonna be the prototypical wrestler and thank the Lord above—because, you know, amen, like I said. But this was all me. My sweat equity. Everything I put into it.

He concluded by addressing the criticisms he had faced and how people doubted his work ethic and discipline. Despite the negative comments, he has never responded to them.