NCAA Champions by Recruiting Class (Since 2001)

We’ve done a lot of talking about recruiting lately, most of it is related to the incoming freshmen from the Class of 2023. Today we’re looking back in time. Year-by-year to see which recruiting classes have produced the most national champions, going back to 2001. As you can guess, the extra year of eligibility has resulted in star wrestlers staying in college longer than in the past, resulting in the dearth of champions from the most recent graduating classes. 

2001

Ben Cherrington (Boise State)

Joe Dubuque (Indiana)

Nate Gallick (Iowa State)

Travis Lee (Cornell)

Troy Letters (Lehigh)

Steve Mocco (Iowa/Oklahoma State)

Jake Rosholt (Oklahoma State)

Shane Webster (Oregon)
 

2002

Ben Askren (Missouri)

Zack Esposito (Oklahoma State)

Johny Hendricks (Oklahoma State)

Cole Konrad (Minnesota)

Derek Moore (UC Davis)

Trent Paulson (Iowa State)

Matt Valenti (Penn)

Teyon Ware (Oklahoma)
 

2003

Phil Davis (Penn State)

Keith Gavin (Pittsburgh)

Josh Glenn (American)

Jake Herbert (Northwestern)

Mark Perry (Iowa)
 

2004

Paul Donahoe (Nebraska/Edinboro)

Dustin Fox (Northwestern)

J Jaggers (Ohio State)

Jarrod King (Oklahoma/Edinboro)

Jordan Leen (Cornell)

Steve Luke (Michigan)

Coleman Scott (Oklahoma State)
 

2005

Max Askren (Missouri)

Jay Borschel (Virginia Tech/Iowa)

Mark Ellis (Missouri)

Angel Escobedo (Indiana)

Gregor Gillespie (Edinboro)

Franklin Gomez (Michigan State)

Brent Metcalf (Virginia Tech/Iowa)

Jayson Ness (Minnesota)

Troy Nickerson (Cornell)

Mike Pucillo (Ohio State)

Dustin Schlatter (Minnesota)

Jake Varner (Iowa State)

David Zabriskie (Iowa State)
 

2006

Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska)

Darrion Caldwell (NC State)

Bubba Jenkins (Penn State/Arizona State)

JP O’Connor (Harvard)

Jon Reader (Iowa State)

Anthony Robles (Arizona State)
 

2007

Dustin Kilgore (Kent State)

Frank Molinaro (Penn State)

Zach Rey (Lehigh)

Kellen Russell (Michigan)

Cam Simaz (Cornell)
 

2008

Steve Bosak (Cornell)

Matt Brown (Iowa State/Penn State)

Andrew Howe (Wisconsin/Oklahoma)

Matt McDonough (Iowa)

Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State)

Quentin Wright (Penn State)
 

2009

Kyle Dake (Cornell)

Kendric Maple (Oklahoma)

Tony Nelson (Minnesota)

Chris Perry (Oklahoma State)

Tony Ramos (Iowa)

Ed Ruth (Penn State)

Derek St. John (Iowa)

David Taylor (Penn State)
 

2010

Jesse Delgado (Cal Poly/Illinois)

Kyven Gadson (Iowa State)

Drake Houdashelt (Missouri)

Logan Stieber (Ohio State)

2011

Cody Brewer (Oklahoma)

Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State)

Nahshon Garrett (Cornell)

Nick Gwiazdowski (Binghamton/NC State)

Nico Megaludis (Penn State)

2012

Cory Clark (Iowa)

Gabe Dean (Cornell)

Jason Tsirtsis (Northwestern/Arizona State)

2013

Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers)

J’den Cox (Missouri)

Darian Cruz (Lehigh)

Dean Heil (Oklahoma State)

Mike Macchiavello (NC State)

Isaiah Martinez (Illinois)

Zain Retherford (Penn State)

Nate Tomasello (Ohio State)

2014

Anthony Cassar (Penn State)

Drew Foster (Northern Iowa)

Seth Gross (Iowa/South Dakota State/Wisconsin)

Bo Nickal (Penn State)

Jason Nolf (Penn State)

Kyle Snyder (Ohio State)

2015

Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)

Myles Martin (Ohio State)

Zahid Valencia (Arizona State)

2016

Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)

Max Dean (Cornell/Penn State)

Mark Hall (Penn State)

Nick Suriano (Penn State/Rutgers/Michigan)

2017 

Vito Arujau (Cornell)

Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)

Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)

Nick Lee (Penn State)

Spencer Lee (Iowa)

Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)

Austin O’Connor (North Carolina)
 

2018

Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)

Aaron Brooks (Penn State)

David Carr (Iowa State)

Patrick Glory (Princeton)

Shane Griffith (Stanford)

Mason Parris (Michigan)

Gable Steveson (Minnesota)
 

2019

Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado)

Carter Starocci (Penn State)
 

2020

AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State)

Keegan O’Toole (Missouri)