Iowa's Lineup Could Feature Major Firepower In 2024-25

It looks like a pair of heavy hitters will be joining the Iowa lineup next season. On Tuesday, (May21) there were two announcements that brought the Hawkeye faithful to their feet. First, Nelson Brands announced that he would be back next season then about 30 minutes later Kyle Parco, who entered the transfer portal a month ago, announced he would be joining the Hawkeyes next season as well. Parco comes to Iowa City with a 91-18 career record (according to Wrestlestat) and four All-America finishes of 6th ('21), 8th ('22), 4th ('23), and 5th ('24) last season all coming at 149-pounds. He was also a three-time Pac-12 champion while at ASU. Brands, who is coming off a one-year suspension after being involved in the widely talked about gambling situation, makes things very interesting. The 2023 NCAA All-American will be part of a bit of a log jam in the Hawks lineup at 174/184 next season. Of note, Iowa returns Patrick Kennedy, who manned the spot at 174, as well as Gabe Arnold, who had some very impactful moments during his true freshman redshirt year at both 174 and 184. Add in top-10 recruit Angelo Ferrari who projects to be a 174/184 as well. While the Hawks definitely got stronger with the pair of Tuesday evening announcements, it got a little difficult as well. Iowa's Lineup Possibilities So, what could the Iowa lineup look like next season with all this middleweight firepower? Let’s take a look some of the possibilities. 125: Drake Ayala – ‘24 NCAA runner-up 133: Cullan Schriever – wrestled both 133 and 141 in 23-24 season 141: Cade Siebrecht – competed at 149 in his two seasons at Iowa 149: Kyle Parco or Caleb Rathjen or Victor Voinovich – Parco earned 4th AA at ASU; Rathjen went 1-2 at ’24 NCAAs; Voinovich was a qualifier in ’23 at OK State 157: Parco or Rathjen or Voinovich or Cobe Siebrecht – Siebrecht was a qualifier in ’23 165: Michael Caliendo – 2x NCAA All-American 174: Nelson Brands or Patrick Kennedy or Gabe Arnold or Angelo Ferrari – (Notes above) 184: Brands or Kennedy or Arnold or Ferrari 197: Zach Glazier – ’24 NCAA qualifier 285: Ben Kueter or Bradley Hill – Hill went 1-2 at ’24 NCAAs; Kueter looked promising coming off first football season Focusing on 141, 149, 157 first. Someone at 149 will have to drop and someone will have to go up. Parco could go up and contend for the spot at 157 against Cobe Siebrecht, a 2023 NCAA qualifier, while Rathjen and Voinovich, battle it out at 149 with whoever loses the wrestle-off dropping to 141. At 174 my guess is it will probably come down to Brands vs Kennedy for the spot with Arnold taking over fully at 184 next season. The easiest approach to Ferrari is for him to redshirt, despite his want to be in the lineup as a true freshman. And speaking of Ferrari, it’s yet to be determined (or officially announced) if his older brother AJ, the 2021 197-pound NCAA Champion, will be sporting the black and gold next year. Right now, the only indicators are pictures of him and Kueter flexing in the Iowa room or videos of him working out in their room. If he joins the squad that will make things tough at 197 with Glazier returning as well. We all know how that interaction went down at the Soldier Solute. In the end, next year’s Iowa lineup could be very dangerous, it’s just a matter of who will be manning the battle stations in a few key spots.

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Iowa's Lineup Could Feature Major Firepower In 2024-25

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