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Redshirt freshman wrestler Charlie Alexander made a verbal commitment Tuesday to transfer to Western State College of Colorado next year.
Alexander will wrestle and play football for the Division II Mountaineers, something Alexander said they offered him out of high school as well. Alexander hasn't played football since coming to Oregon to wrestle.
"I'm excited to get to play again," he said. "It's been awhile."
"We look at him as an impact player for us," said Mountaineers football coach Pat Stewart. "I know he hasn't played football for a couple of years but he's obviously been very active at the highest level as a wrestler and he has tremendous gifts that we're excited to have."
The Mountaineers run a defense that features three defensive lineman, an alignment which makes nose guard, Alexander's position, a focal point. The starting nose guard will be returning for next season, but Stewart expects Alexander to help solidify the position and be an impact player right away.
"He's extremely explosive," Stewart said. "We expect him to come in and compete immediately, and then become a real dominating type of player."
Alexander is from Central Point, the southwestern Oregon wrestling hotbed that has fed the Oregon wrestling program with national-caliber wrestlers for years. Alexander said he came to Oregon because of that history, including recent NCAA champion Shane Webster.
"Shane won a national title here and I was hoping to do the same thing," Alexander said. "It sucks."
But Alexander moves on to a perennial national contender on the Division II level in wrestling, as the Mountaineers were ranked No. 1 in the country for much of last year.
"I really liked it there. The coaches were really nice and they offered me a pretty good deal to come there," Alexander said. "Hopefully I can go out there and help them win a team title. That would be pretty sweet."
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