Per NCAA rules (for Division I), official visits cannot take place until the first day of school for a prospective student athlete in their senior year, and off-campus contact is prohibited until July 1 after the junior year of school. There are other types of communication out there that can be used starting on September 1 of the junior year. Additionally, limited information can be communicated/sent prior.
Of course, there are gray areas within the policies, procedures, and practices. However, that does not preclude prospective student-athletes from initiating communication with schools of interest earlier in the process.
While in recent year the spring period has been limited in terms of impact wrestlers available, it was staggering at how the vast majority of top 100 and/or weight class ranked wrestlers had committed (signed) before that late period this year. In addition, the number of wrestlers to commit before the initial off-campus contact date seemed to be more than before; and the amount to commit before official visits commenced was on the rise.
For better or for worse, this is the world of recruiting in college athletics today. Just check out what's going on in football and basketball, and it's pretty darn similar.
Even considering the imperfect nature of a commit list, especially with non-seniors, the fact that 19 of the top 50 prospects for the Class of 2016 have already committed is interesting to say the least. Eighteen have committed to wrestle in college, while 40th-ranked Osawaru Odighizuwa (David Douglas, Ore.) has chosen to play football at UCLA on the defensive line. In addition, the list of other potential impact wrestlers (i.e. could be in the top 100 come the June update) that have already committed in this class is in double digits.
To compile rankings this early in the process would be patently absurd. There are so many key figures yet to make commitment decisions, and we are six months away from the early signing period with the obvious possibility of changed decisions along the way as well. However, one can look at some of the early commitments for what schools have strong "momentum".
Iowa commit Alex Marinelli defeated Penn State commit Mason Manville in the finals of the Walsh Ironman (Photo/Rob Preston)Even though all reside outside the top 50 at present, Rutgers has verbal commitments from three high-end Class of 2016 prospects in Brett Donner (Wall Township, N.J.), Alex Mackall (Walsh Jesuit, Ohio), and Brandon Paetzell (Phillipsburg, N.J.). Two other schools have a pair of notable Class of 2016 verbal commitments: Bucknell has No. 27 Luke Karam (Bethlehem Catholic, Pa.) and Drew Phipps (Norwin, Pa.); while Pittsburgh has No. 26 Jake Wentzel (South Park, Pa.) and Austin Bell (Belle Vernon Area, Pa.)
In addition to those mentioned above, the following members of the top 50 in the Class of 2016 have verbally committed at this time:
No. 8 Mason Manville (Virginia) to Penn State
No. 11 Nick Reenan (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.) to Northwestern
No. 16 Kyle Norstrem (Brandon, Fla.) to Virginia Tech
No. 20 Hayden Hidlay (Miffin County, Pa.) to North Carolina State
No. 21 Mitchell McKee (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.) to Minnesota
No. 24 Ben Darmstadt (Elyria, Ohio) to Cornell
No. 28 Jack Mueller (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.) to Virginia
No. 32 Ethan Anderson (Southeast Polk, Iowa) to Missouri
No. 35 Austin Kraisser (Centennial, Md.) to Campbell
No. 42 Matt Stencel (Oregon Clay, Ohio) to Central Michigan
No. 46 Dakota Geer (Franklin, Pa.) to Edinboro
No. 49 Hunter Marko (Amery, Wis.) to Wisconsin
Further notable commitments include the following:
Ty Agaisse (Delbarton, N.J.) to Princeton
Kevin Budock (Good Counsel, Md.) to Old Dominion
Jack Harris (Urbana, Ohio) to Kent State
Alex Herringshaw (Holland Patent, N.Y.) to Buffalo
Devin Schroder (Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Mich.) to Purdue
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