The class, which is made up of Earl Hall (Miami, Fla.), Steven Rodriguez (Fox Lane, N.Y.), Anthony Perrotti (Caldwell, N.J.), Doug Hamann (Jackson, N.J.) and Billy Smith (High Point, N.J.), is ranked as one of the best in the nation by InterMat.
“We're really excited about this class,†said Goodale. “It's a great class. There are five really, really good wrestlers in there. They're coming into a program where there is some depth now so they're going to have to fight everyday but I think that all of them have tremendous upside and I think you'll see that the first two or three weeks.â€
Hall, who InterMat ranks as the 14th best 119-pound prospect and 84th overall, comes to RU after an extremely successful high school career at South Dade and Homestead where he won an unprecedented four Florida State Championships. In addition to his success on the high school level, Hall was the NHSCA Sophomore Nationals Champion at 103-pounds in 2009 and a Dapper Dan team member. Hall projects to a 125-pound wrestler at RU.
“Earl is one of the most decorated high school wrestlers to come from South Dade High School,†Goodale said. “He's won at every level, is extremely explosive and has tremendous upside. We look forward to getting him into a room with solid workout partners. We think he has a really high ceiling.â€
Rodriguez, who is ranked the 15th best 130-pound-prospect and 90th overall by InterMat, is a 2011 New York DI State Champ at 130-pounds. A projected 133 or 141-pound wrestler for the Scarlet Knights, Rodriguez finished third at New York DI's in 2010 and second in 2009. The Fox Lane, N.Y. native is also a 2010 FloNational Runner-up and a 2010 Super 32 fourth-place finisher.
“Rodriguez has a motor, that's the best way to describe him,†Goodale said. “He's nonstop and loves to train. His work ethic is going to be contagious to the whole wrestling room. I think that's going to rub off on all of our guys, including the upperclassmen.â€
A 2011 New Jersey State Champ at 130-pounds, Perrotti comes to RU from West Essex High School in Caldwell, N.J. Perrotti, who became just the second wrestler in West Essex history to win a state title, also won back-to-back county, district and region championships this season. In addition to his success on the scholastic level, Perrotti placed sixth at the 2010 Super 32. Perrotti is projected to wrestle at 133 or 141-pounds during his career “On the Banksâ€.
“Perrotti has what we call the X factor,†said Goodale. “He's tremendous on top. He's a great mat wrestler who does a lot of neat things from the top position that allows him to score a lot of points. He's a good ole Jersey boy, just a blue collar tough kid. He has a ton of upside.â€
A projected 157 or 165-pound wrestler for RU, Hamann is a 2010 Beast of the East fourth-place finisher. Hamann, a Jackson, N.J. native, was a standout wrestler for Jackson High School where he compiled several key dual victories for the Jaguars. Unfortunately for Hamann, an injury caused him to miss the New Jersey State Tournament his senior season, where he was seen as one of the favorites.
“Dougy Hamann has the ability to wrestle at an extremely high level,†Goodale said. “He wasn't really able to show that because of his injury. I thought he was going to be the favorite to win the state title, but that doesn't matter since we signed him before that. We signed him because we think that he can be very, very, good at this level. The one thing with him is that he's hungry. He's going to be hungry because he doesn't have some of the accolades that some of the other guys have so he has something to prove and has a chip on his shoulder.â€
Smith, InterMat's fourth best heavyweight and 36th overall prospect, arrives “On the Banks†after a very successful high school career at High Point where he wrestled for Coach John Gardner. During his tenure at High Point, Smith garnered many accolades including going undefeated and winning the 2011 New Jersey State Championship at heavyweight. Additionally, Smith finished third at the State Championships in 2010 while competing at 215-pounds and was a two-time Region I Champion.
“I love our heavyweight, Billy may be the gem of this class for the fact that he really wrestles,†said Goodale. “He grew up wrestling at 145-pounds, 171-pounds, 215 as a junior and now is a heavyweight who weighs 255-pounds. He's a big kid who can wrestle, very similar to DJ Russo (Netcong, N.J.), and he does a good job of winning because of conditioning. We love his work ethic and he comes from a great high school program in High Point, the No. 1 team in the state of New Jersey. He's been a part of winning teams so he's excited to come here and feed off of our guys and in turn hopefully all of his winning rubs off on them as well.â€
Rutgers finished the 2010-11 season with a school-record 21 dual wins and No. 9 national ranking. The Scarlet Knights also saw a school-record nine wrestlers place at the 107th EIWA Championships, including a champion in 165-pounder Scott Winston (Jackson, N.J.), and sent a school-record tying eight wrestlers to the NCAA Championship. The future looks bright for RU as it will return seven starters and eight NCAA qualifiers for the 2011-12 season.
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