The Collegiate Careers of the Last 20 #1 Overall Recruits

Earlier this week, the top recruit in the Class of 2026, Bo Bassett, announced that he will continue his career at the University of Iowa. His commitment made it the second time in the last ten years that Iowa has been able to nab the top wrestler in their respective class. Of course, Spencer Lee was that guy in 2017. 

Now that the top recruit from 2026 is off the board, it seemed like a good time to check on how the top recruits over the last 20 years have fared at the collegiate level (and beyond). 

More often than not, they have done very well. With more national tournaments available to high schoolers, it provides more opportunities for recruiting junkies like Willie Saylor to watch and make accurate evaluations. Back in the day, before recruiting rankings were as prevalent, you would have to rely on high school state tournament performance and Fargo results as your best data points. 

Before we get sidetracked, these are the #1 overall recruits from the last 20 years - grouped by the schools they signed with and initially attended. We list David Taylor for Penn State because he signed with Iowa State, but never actually enrolled. Greg Kerklivet is with Ohio State because he went there for about a semester. 

Next to each wrestler is a brief summation of their collegiate credentials, along with any Senior world/Olympic accolades - if applicable. Of course, Bassett and 2025’s PJ Duke have nothing by their names as they have not yet enrolled at their college of choice. 
 

Arizona State

Zahid Valencia (CA) - Class of 2015: 3x NCAA All-American, 2x NCAA Champion, 3x Pac-12 Champion, World bronze medalist

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