Vets Returning from Planned Redshirts for the 2025-26 Season

As we assembled our preseason rankings, there were many wrestlers who didn’t compete at the 2025 NCAA Championships who needed to be considered. Some missed chunks of the 2024-25 season due to injury, others were on a planned redshirt. The latter category is what we’re looking at today. Veterans who planned to take the year off and redshirt are now back on the scene. Wrestlers coming off an injury is an idea for another article in the future (hint, hint). The group we’re focusing on today features a handful of All-Americans. Some wrestlers that will be considered title contenders in 2025-26. Some didn’t wrestle in open tournaments, others feasted on competition at those events. A few even made their mark internationally. So, just because we didn’t watch these wrestlers at Philly, don’t forget about them! Gable Strickland: Lock Haven (133) Gable’s back! Not the heavyweight, but the two-time national qualifier for Lock Haven. Strickland combined to win 64 matches during his sophomore and junior seasons and captured a pair of MAC titles along the way. He’s yet to have a deep run at the NCAA tournament. With a year away, maybe Strickland takes that step during his final year of eligibility. Last season, while redshirting, Strickland went 11-3 with a win at the Mat-Town Open. He didn’t have any marquee wins, but beat the wrestlers you’d expect him to beat. Forecast: Strickland starts the preseason ranked #20 in the nation. 133 lbs is a rather deep group, yet he could quickly move up a few slots. Luke Stanich: Lehigh (141) Did anyone’s proverbial stock rise with a redshirt year more than Luke Stanich? Stanich won the EIWA champion and finished fifth in the nation at 125 lbs as a freshman. He took the year off to put on size and grow into a 141 lber. From the first week of the season, it was evident that size wouldn’t be much of an issue for Stanich. He defeated Michigan’s Sergio Lemley and suffered his only loss of his redshirt year to the returning champion Jesse Mendez. Throughout the season, Stanich earned two wins over returning AA’s, CJ Composto (Penn) and Kai Orine (NC State). After the season, Stanich outlasted young phenom Bo Bassett for a spot on the U20 world team. In his first age group world championship event, Stanich grinded out close wins all tournament and eventually came away with a world title. Forecast: Stanich starts the preseason ranked third behind the two finalists - Mendez and Brock Hardy (Nebraska). We’ll see how Stanich responds to being viewed as a title contender and having a target on his back. Also, can he close the gap on Mendez? Tom Crook: Virginia Tech (141) With senior Sam Latona moving up to 141 lbs and using his final year of eligibility, it was the perfect time for Tom Crook to take a redshirt. During the previous season, the Virginia Tech staff tried to give Crook a redshirt, but none of the freshmen at 141 were able to grab hold of the starting reins. That led to Crook coming out of redshirt in January. Though he needed an at-large berth to qualify for the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Crook did end up winning two matches along the way. Forecast: 141 is a weight where there’s a quick drop-off after the top nine or ten wrestlers at the weight. Crooks starts at #20. It doesn’t take much imagination to think that Crook could establish himself as an outside podium contender and quickly move into that 10-15 range in the rankings. Joe Zargo: Wisconsin (149) Since teammate Braxton Amos took the year off due to injuries, it was also a good time to let Joe Zargo get a redshirt, himself. Now, with the pair back and the emergence of their lightweights, Wisconsin could be a very “tough out” in 2025-26. Zargo is a three-time NCAA qualifier who has gone 1-2 at the NCAA Tournament on two occasions. He has never finished higher than seventh at the Big Ten Championships, but that could change in 2026. We don’t have much new information to use, as Zargo did not compete in 2024-25. Forecast: Like 141 lbs, there’s a severe drop after the first tier of talent at 149 lbs. Zargo might have the best resume out of anyone in the 10-16 range. He’s another one who should get into the podium threat category. Daniel Cardenas: Stanford (157) After getting onto the NCAA podium with a fourth-place finish in 2024, Cardenas sat out the 2024-25 campaign. In his only appearance during the redshirt year, Cardenas won a title at the Soldier Salute. In the process, he earned a win over one NCAA qualifier (Jared Hill - Wyoming). Through his first two years at Palo Alto, Cardenas amassed a 51-11 record and earned a Pac-12 title. Forecast: Cardenas starts the preseason ranked #4 at 157 lbs. He did post a win over #3 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) at the NCAA Championships; however, Shapiro evened the score later in the tournament. Cardenas is on the short list of wrestlers who could reasonably win a title this year at 157 lbs. He’ll also lead a Stanford team that could be tough as nails up and down the lineup. Max Brignola: Lehigh (165) If Lehigh teammate Luke Stanich improved his stock more than anyone else in this group, Max Brignola might be second. Unlike a lot of wrestlers on this list, Brignola competed early and often and notched a perfect 22-0 record, competing for the first time at 165 lbs. Brignola’s best wins came over Julian Ramirez (Cornell) and Brock Mantanona (Michigan), but altogether he ended up with five victories over national qualifiers. Brignola has previously qualified for the NCAA Tournament at 149 and 157 lbs. In both instances, he went 0-2. Forecast: The big redshirt season has Brignola ranked #11 in the preseason. We’ll see if he takes another leap forward this year. As it stands now, Brignola has to be considered a great developmental success for the Lehigh staff. Rocco Welsh: Penn State (184) Not only does Rocco Welsh re-emerge from a redshirt, but he also does it at a new spot. Welsh made the 2024 NCAA finals as a true freshman for Ohio State. Now, he’ll remain in the Big Ten but compete for Penn State. Welsh went 15-0 last season with wins at the Clarion, Cleveland State, and F&M Opens. During that redshirt season, Welsh was able to open up his offense more and earned bonus points at a nearly 87% clip. That’s a huge number to try and maintain during a regular season, but the move to Penn State will help in those efforts. Forecast: Welsh starts the year ranked #2 in the country at 184 lbs. This is a weight class that’s wide open with young talent, so there will be a lot of interesting challengers that emerge. There might be some question as to whether Welsh wins or maintains this spot in the lineup, as highly-touted Connor Mirasola is rumored to be eyeing 184 lbs. Aaron Ayzerov: Columbia (184) With a new head coach in place for the 2024-25 season (Donny Pritzlaff), two of Columbia’s top wrestlers took a grayshirt for the year. Ayzerov had a breakout year in 2024, winning an EIWA title and qualifying for his first NCAA Tournament. He ended up with the #13 seed and went 1-2 in Kansas City. Ayzerov only saw action in one event over his grayshirt season, so there isn’t much that can be gained by looking at the results. Forecast: There are only a handful of seniors in the top 15 at 184 lbs and Ayzerov is one of them #13. He started to show some consistency in 2023-24, if he continues to move in that direction, he’ll get into the top 10 relatively quickly. I’m anxious to see how he’s improved working with Pritzlaff and crew. Justin Rademacher: Oregon State (197) Justin Rademacher is another wrestler whose stock and Q rating shot up significantly since the last time he took the collegiate mats. As a true freshman, Rademacher was a Pac-12 runner-up and won a match during his NCAA Tournament debut. Rademacher’s only collegiate competition in 2024-25 saw him win the Reno Tournament of Champions and defeat mega-prospect Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State) in the process. In freestyle, Rademacher really shone. He won a gold medal at the Senior level at the Pan-American Championships and another gold at the U20 World Championships. Rademacher now has two U20 world medals (he won bronze in 2024). Forecast: Rademacher should be a contender at 197 lbs. He starts the preseason ranked #9, but that’s because of college results not potential. I’d expect him to quickly rise above that ranking. One thing to consider is that Rademacher’s world title came at 97 kg (213 lbs), so hopefully making this weight on a regular basis is not too difficult for him. Jack Wehmeyer: Columbia (197) The other Columbia upperweight wrestler who grayshirted in 2024-25 was Jack Wehmeyer. Similar to Ayzerov, Wehmeyer had a breakthrough season the last time he competed for the Lions. He was fourth at the EIWA Championships and wrestled in his first national tournament. Wehmeyer did not compete unattached during the 2024-25 campaign. Forecast: 197 is a weight that cleared out a lot of seniors from the 2025 tournament. That makes Wehmeyer the preseason #15 wrestler at the weight. Unlike Ayzerov, he has two years of eligibility remaining. That’s a significant upgrade from 2024, when he was seeded #28 at the national tournament.

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Vets Returning from Planned Redshirts for the 2025-26 Season

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