UNC wrestling head coach Rob Koll got a late pickup for his 2027 class when Braylon Reynolds committed to the Tar Heels this past weekend.
Reynolds, a senior out of Brownsburg, Indiana, has mostly wrestled in the 144lb category; he last competed in the Fargo Nationals in July. He made it to the championship match before ultimately falling to Jesse Grajeda by tech fall and settled for second in his weight class. Reynolds has been a highly-touted recruit most of his high school career and was ranked as high as fifth in the 144lb division earlier this year. He’s a top-35 overall recruit according to Flo Wrestling; he finished with a 40-3 record last season and won the Indiana State Championship. Reynolds looks to wrestle in the 149lb category for UNC.
Reynolds’ addition brings the number of new faces to the UNC wrestling team to 10. The Heels will add seven freshmen to the squad in addition to Reynolds. Five of those freshmen are ranked as top 100 recruits, giving Koll a nice influx of talent to mold into the program. Carolina also will add transfers Brendan McCrone (125lbs) from Ohio State and Christian Hansen (184lbs) from Cornell. McCrone in particular should make an immediate impact; he has NCAA tournament experience and has wrestled for Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament for the past two years.
It’s also possible you might see Tar Heel wrestling commit Christian Alvarez a little sooner than the rest of the UNC wrestling squad. Alvarez was a three-sport athlete in high school and looks to play on UNC’s offense line this season as well.