Revisiting Team Recruiting Rankings from 2020

Earlier this week, we re-ranked the high school Class of 2020 based on their collegiate accomplishments. Now, it’s time to revisit the team rankings. In this version, we’re not necessarily doing 1-10 style rankings, but identifying notable classes based on a couple of different categories. Wrestlers are listed with the schools they initially signed with; however, the numbers next to their names refer to their “re-ranking.” We’ll close with a reminder of the team recruiting rankings as they were published in 2020. The Elite Missouri: #1 Keegan O’Toole, #5 Rocky Elam, #32 Josh Edmond, #38 (tie) Colton Hawks NC State: #8 Anthony Noto, #13 Ed Scott, #14 Isaac Trumble, #16 Ryan Jack Whatever tickles your fancy in determining the “best” recruiting class from 2020 works for me. As long as it includes these two teams. Missouri’s class is headlined by two four-time All-Americans (O’Toole 5x) and a multiple-time national champion (O’Toole, again). Both started immediately for the Tigers and became cornerstones of the Mizzou lineup. Josh Edmond and Colton Hawks both have advanced to the NCAA Round of 12 and each has another year of eligibility. NC State, on the other hand, signed four eventual All-Americans. Four. Four is a ridiculous number. Now, the elephant in the room is that Anthony Noto redshirted and then transferred to Lock Haven where he twice finished in the top four at NCAA’s. A potential difference between NC State and Missouri is that the Tigers have that bona fide superstar in O’Toole. None of the Scott, Trumble, Jack triumvirate has made a national final. Trumble and Jack still have a year of eligibility and it could happen. Like Mizzou, this group helped continue NC State’s dual and ACC tournament dominance during their tenure. Freakish recruiting classes like Penn State’s 2014 group have destroyed the curve on “what is a good recruiting class.” Getting multiple four-time AA’s or four All-Americans in one signing class is something that any coach in the country would gladly accept. Yes…..but Oklahoma State: #2 AJ Ferrari, #4 Dustin Plott, #28 Luke Surber Minnesota: #18 Isaiah Salazar, #20 Aaron Nagao, #34 Andrew Sparks Back in 2020, Oklahoma State was deemed to have the best class in the nation. In addition to the three mentioned above, you had #21 Trevor Mastrogiovanni, #47 Jakason Burks, and #110 Konner Doucet. Just looking at AJ Ferrari, Dustin Plott, and Luke Surber - that generally makes a strong recruiting class. Plott was who you hoped he’d be - a four-time All-American who ended up being trapped in some loaded weights. Ferrari won a title as a true freshman. On the flip side, Ferrari never appeared in another national tournament for the Cowboys and Mastrogiovanni and Burks combined for two NCAA Tournaments. At the end of the day, you’d probably still rank this as the second or third-best recruiting class….but. In a similar vein, Minnesota inked a pair of wrestlers who ended up on the podium in Isaiah Salazar and Aaron Nagao, along with a valuable contributor and four-time qualifier in Andrew Sparks. At the same time, Nagao transferred after making the B1G finals and finishing fifth in the country as a redshirt freshman. Multiple AA’s North Carolina: #7 Lachlan McNeil, #24 Gavin Kane Rutgers: #10 Dylan Shawver, #21 John Poznanski Signing a pair of All-Americans from the same recruiting class is a pretty solid feat. If you consistently do it, your program will be in good shape. Especially if they are the types that are consistently in the mix, rather than a one-tournament wonder. Both North Carolina and Rutgers had two All-Americans who were staples of their respective programs. In addition to the All-Americans, North Carolina also signed two-time national qualifier Sonny Santiago in 2020. Rutgers had a pair of qualifiers in Andrew Clark and Connor O’Neill. Don’t Forget About Appalachian State: #35 Tommy Askey, #38 Ethan Oakley The Mountaineers were not initially mentioned in the recruiting rankings from 2020. That being said, head coach JohnMark Bentley and staff did what they typically do and found some diamonds in the rough. Tommy Askey was the #176 overall recruit and Ethan Oakley was not on the Big Board at all. Each developed into excellent collegiate wrestlers. Askey was a two-time NCAA Round of 12 finisher and Oakley has qualified for nationals three times. Of course, because of the current landscape of collegiate wrestling both ended up transferring to higher profile programs, but don’t let that overshadow the recruiting and development at Appalachian State. The Strength of One Penn State: #3 Beau Bartlett West Virginia: #6 Peyton Hall Once all the smoke clears four or five (or six or seven) years after a recruiting class, in most cases, there are only one or two wrestlers that end up having a significant impact on the mat. But, if the impact is “that” great then it can make for a strong class. That’s the case with Penn State and West Virginia in 2020. Those schools obviously had other signees in 2020, and they made various contributions, but none could come close to the accomplishments of their superstar. If we had to rank these teams based on the accolades of Beau Bartlett and Peyton Hall, I’d probably put West Virginia over Penn State. Hall’s impact on a West Virginia team trying to get back into the top 20 on a consistent basis, is probably more than Bartlett on a record-setting Penn State squad. Hall’s accomplishments have made him one of the top wrestlers in the history of WVU wrestling. Team Recruiting Rankings (from 2020) 1. Oklahoma State 2. Missouri 3. Nebraska 4. North Carolina 5. NC State 6. Virginia Tech 7. Penn State 8. Iowa 9. Cornell 10. Ohio State 11. Lehigh 12. Rutgers 13. Northern Iowa 14. Wisconsin 15. Minnesota 16. Michigan 17. Michigan State 18. West Virginia 19. Navy 20. Campbell 21. Army West Point 22. Purdue 23. Lock Haven 24. Columbia 25. Iowa State

Sign In

Revisiting Team Recruiting Rankings from 2020

User Feedback

Recommended Comments

Create an account or sign in to comment

Create an account

Sign in

Categories

Rankings

Browse

Activity

Support