Jax Forrest to Stillwater Confirmed, Joining Oklahoma State Program Next Week

STILLWATER – The top recruit in the 2026 wrestling class is headed to Stillwater early. In an anticipated move, Jax Forrest is officially making the move to Stillwater for the spring semester. 

The U23 world champion made the announcement official on Tuesday. 

“I’m going down [to Stillwater)] next week and grayshirting, redshirting,I’m deciding between those two,” Forrest told FloWrestling. “But know I’m going down there. I’m gonna be in the room, depending on if it’s just RTC or if it’s in the college room on the team. It’s something that, I’m gonna go down there, test the waters a little bit, see how I’m feeling and then make a decision, but regardless of what I do, I know it’s for my best interests. I’m excited.”

Taking a grayshirt would mean Jax would still be in Stillwater to train with Cowboy RTC but wouldn’t be a full-time student. A redshirt means he’d enroll at Oklahoma State and could compete for the Pokes if the coaches deemed him able. As you read in the quote from Forrest, that decision will be made by next week.

Had he been able to make it to Stillwater a week earlier, it’s possible David Taylor and Co. would’ve seen Forrest to the Southern Scuffle this weekend. 

Here’s the group of Cowboys headed to Tennessee.

The rumors of Forrest graduating early from Bishop McCort in Johnston, PA, started to make the rounds last month as he has spent a ton of time in Stillwater training since the summer.

This has been a monster year for the soon-to-be college freshman. Forrest won the U.S. Open at 61kg in the senior division earlier in the year as he beat former NCAA champion Seth Gross. The win qualified Jax for the Senior World Championships in September, where he finished in fifth place. Not too shabby for a kid who had just begun his senior year in high school. 

In May, Forrest won gold at the senior Pan-American Championships in Mexico, where he outscored his opponents 31-0. 

Whether Jax and the Cowboy staff think he should grayshirt and improve or redshirt with a chance of competing in the spring, this is an impressive move for Jax, who became just the seventh four-time Powerade champion on Tuesday.