Cornell Wrestling All-American Jacob Cardenas commits to Michigan

Two-time All-American Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) committed to Michigan out of the transfer portal, he announced on social media.

Since Cardenas is out of eligibility to compete at an Ivy League school, he had to use his final season elsewhere. Once he entered the portal, he had a plethora of suitors.

But after landing Michigan State’s Chase Saldate (157), the Wolverines got another big fish in their next 197 pounder.

“Taking this show on the road,” Cardenas wrote on Instagram. “Thank you Ithaca for the lasting memories. Next stop Ann Arbor.”

Cardenas finished 4th at 197 at the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships. He was 27-8 this season en route to his second All-American finish.

He placed 8th in 2023 and qualified for the tournament back in 2022, going 1-2 at those championships. Cardenas is 70-22 in his career and should be on the shortlist of national title contenders in 2025.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.