Overton, defensive tackle for the University of Oklahoma, is expected to join the Sooner wrestling squad, according to news reports prior to Oklahoma's 48-45 overtime loss to University of Georgia in the College Football Championships' playoff game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. New Year's Day.
The former high school mat champ confirmed he'll join the Sooners wrestling team "shortly after†football season ends, according to Eric Bailey, sportswriter for the Tulsa World.
"Spoke with Marquise Overton briefly today. The #Sooners DT said that he will begin his college wrestling career shortly after his football season ends,†Bailey tweeted on Saturday, two days before the Rose Bowl game.
Overton, a junior, has serious mat credentials. He won the Class 6A heavyweight title at the Oklahoma state wrestling championships in 2015 for Jenks High School, completing his prep career with a 37-1 record. That year, InterMat had ranked Overton as the No. 20 high school heavyweight in the nation.
According to his Sooner football bio, the 6'1†Overton tips the scales at 295, meaning he would have to drop ten pounds to make the NCAA's top weight limit of 285 pounds.
This is not the first time Overton has expressed an interest in wrestling for the Sooners. Upon winning his state wrestling title in 2015, he told The Oklahoman, "I asked (OU football coaches) if I could wrestle and they told me it's my choice. But they also said that I should know football would come first.â€
One year ago – at the conclusion of the college football season -- Overton had tweeted that planned to go out for wrestling. However, when contacted by InterMat in January 2017, the sports information director for Sooner wrestling stated he had not received any confirmation regarding Overton joining the OU mat squad.
If Overton were to make the move from football to wrestling, he'd be following in the footsteps of two other Sooners: the late Steve "Dr. Death" Williams, a four-time NCAA All-American wrestler and four-year letterman as an offensive lineman who graduated from OU in 1981 ... and Jake Hager, who, while in Norman, left the football field to focus on wrestling, becoming an NCAA All-American heavyweight. Both went on to successful pro wrestling careers (Hager as WWE star Jack Swagger, who in 2017 left pro wrestling to launch a professional mixed martial arts career with Bellator MMA).
Currently the Oklahoma wrestling team is on Christmas holiday break. The Sooners' last dual meet was on December 17, having defeated Appalachian State, 19-13, at home. The OU wrestlers will be returning to the mat Thursday, Jan. 4 for an away dual against Big 12 rival West Virginia. The Sooners' next home dual is set for Jan. 21 against Northern Colorado at Lloyd Noble Center.
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