Cody Chittum, who greyshirted with Iowa last season, ready for his first Cy-Hawk dual as a Cyclone

AMES — Cody Chittum looked different at Iowa State’s wrestling media day.

Gone were the wildly flowing, disheveled locks of hair that sprouted around his headgear as he became the nation’s top pound-for-pound grappler out of high school according to FloWrestling.

Chittum shaved it all down to mere stubble — not for looks, but to make a statement.

“I was thinking about it,” said the Cyclones’ 157-pound freshman, who hopes to help his eighth-ranked team beat No. 4 Iowa in Sunday’s 2 p.m. Cy-Hawk dual that will be broadcast on ESPN. “I was watching all those Russian dudes (in international events) and I was like, ‘Dude, those guys kick (tail), so I’m gonna shave my head.”

Simple as that. Buzz it and forget it. Chittum — who greyshirted with the Hawkeyes last season before transferring to Kevin Dresser’s program at ISU — adopted a no-nonsense approach to his nascent college wrestling career. Back to basics. No frills. All guts.

“He works hard,” said the Cyclones’ highly-decorated 165-pounder, David Carr, who will likely face Iowa’s Michael Caliendo in a top-five matchup. “He does all the right things outside the room. He’s a guy that is gonna be great.”

The same could be said for this edition of the Cy-Hawk dual, which Las Vegas oddsmakers have tabbed as a pick-em on paper. The Cyclones seek to end a painful 18-match skid in the series and eight of the 10 bouts should feature ranked wrestlers on each side.

“When you put two really good products together, you get a big-time dual meet,” said Dresser, who won a national title in 1986 while wrestling for Iowa. “And I think that’s what’s gonna happen Sunday.”

Carr’s match-up with Caliendo — a transfer from North Dakota State — appears to be the most intriguing, but several others will likely bring a huge crowd at Hilton Coliseum to its feet, including Chittum’s bout with second-ranked Jared Franek, who also transferred to the Hawkeyes’ program from North Dakota State.

“Chittum (is) high energy; loves wrestling so much and you can see it,” Dresser said. “That’s all he thinks about. That’s all he wants to do. … He’s gonna make some mistakes. He’s got to figure out some things, but I can tell you this: he’s excited. There’s probably not many times after this year that that guy’s gonna be an underdog and he’s a pretty strong underdog this Sunday.”

Carr — a four-time All-American and 2021 NCAA champion — likely won’t be an underdog of any stripe until he faces top-ranked and two-time defending national champ Keegan O’Toole of Missouri in a Feb. 25 dual in Ames. Carr, ranked No. 2 behind O’Toole, will face a fellow top-five wrestler for the second consecutive week. He beat No. 4 Dean Hamiti of Wisconsin, 2-0, last Sunday.

“We had a run (Tuesday) morning and, man, you can tell that he’s dialed in right now,” Dresser said. “And he was last week, too, so he’ll be ready to go Sunday. I know that.”

So will Chittum, whether his hair’s shortly cropped or not.

“He’s a stud,” Carr said.

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