For a Power 5 football program to get a transfer from an Ivy League school is unusual. To get a transfer from an Ivy League wrestler? Double unusual.
That’s the case at Syracuse, where the Orange have added Cornell wrestler Ben Honis to the roster as a linebacker.
As pointed out by Track Wrestling‘s Andy Hamilton, Honis joined the roster at the start of fall camp as a redshirt senior. The Orange list him at 6-foot even and 215 pounds, a sizable (get it?) increase from the 197 pounds he wrestled at with the Big Red.
Honis went 71-36 for his career, including a 23-7 mark with an eighth place finish at the NCAA Division I championships as a senior.
Honis did not play football at Cornell, but he did at Jamesville-DeWitt High School in Syracuse (along with lacrosse).
While Honis will be understandably rusty on the finer points of football, he won’t lack for toughness or athleticism and will provided needed depth and leadership at a position of need for Dino Babers’ club.