Hodge Finalists

[Curt Foley]

1 hour ago, Hilton Head Joe said:

Learn something new everyday. Everyone in the elite wrestling circles know a true freshman/ 18 year old kid is usually physically inferior and therefore most recommend starting your freshman year at 20 years old. Most 18 year olds don't have the horsepower to do it. Jax waiting until mid season in high school as a 19 1/2 year old just started being able to handle the strength and made the transition at the last second. So Jax really is not a true freshman. If we are gonna call guys a true freshman at 20 years old then the goal posts have surely moved. 

Are you claiming that experience (i.e. level of eligibility) is dependent on ability to horsepower your opponents?

I'm missing your point on why Jax is not a "truly" True Freshman...which he is.

[Hilton Head Joe]

Jax is NOT a true freshman. He was a double holdback in HS. He is the equivalent of a redshirt freshman. He would have been a 20 year old freshman next year had he stayed in HS this last year. He was born in 2006. Should have started college last year. A true freshman this year would have been a kid born in 2007. They were calling some 20 year old kids true freshmen which simply is not really true. Makes everyone go wow! True is a 18 year old period. Jax would have been manhandled had he competed last year. 

[charmon55]

1 hour ago, Hilton Head Joe said:

Learn something new everyday. Everyone in the elite wrestling circles know a true freshman/ 18 year old kid is usually physically inferior and therefore most recommend starting your freshman year at 20 years old. Most 18 year olds don't have the horsepower to do it. Jax waiting until mid season in high school as a 19 1/2 year old just started being able to handle the strength and made the transition at the last second. So Jax really is not a true freshman. If we are gonna call guys a true freshman at 20 years old then the goal posts have surely moved. 

Plenty of guys graduate HS at 18, turn 19 over the summer/fall, and wrestle their first year in college as a true freshman. Marcus Blaze, Duke, Jax, and Davino were all 18 years old last spring/summer when beating top senior-level competition. You have high schoolers coming into college and wrestling year-round with senior-level competition in the states and abroad. I mean Jax literally wrestled with the senior world team over the summer lol. So, saying that Jax waited until mid-season to wrestle is misleading. Also, Jax turned 19 in October, so he wasn't 19 1/2 years old coming into college. As a matter of fact, he's STILL not 19 1/2. People are just hating. Jax could've waited until next year to wrestle as a "true" freshman, and people would've been complaining then as well. 

[charmon55]

4 minutes ago, Hilton Head Joe said:

Jax would have been manhandled had he competed last year. 

Jax made the WORLD team as an 18-year-old lol. 

[Hilton Head Joe]

Dude nobody is hating. This is rampant in our sport and is down-right cheating. Those guys you mentioned are the best of the best. And Jax maybe the GOAT when all said and done. I considered holding mine back with Jax and others but we were not nearly that good so we decided not to. The pressure to hold the elite kids back is very real and even almost expected. 

Edited March 23 by Hilton Head Joe

[Hilton Head Joe]

10 minutes ago, charmon55 said:

Jax made the WORLD team as an 18-year-old lol. 

Maybe he would have won it. Jax is a Unicorn. Not the norm. I think he will be the greatest wrestler we ever had. I have known him since elementary. He has always struggled with strength. Once that is equalized a bit only injury will ever stop this kid! Most beautiful tech skills I have ever seen.  

Edited March 23 by Hilton Head Joe

[VakAttack]

Clearly should be Mesenbrink.  I think Barr, Forrest, and Haines in that order after, but I might just be caught up in the moment with Forrest.

[DiverDownBrian]

The ONLY valid vote is for Trumble. He was the only guy to not give up a point in NCAA finals :).

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

[Truzzcat]

8 hours ago, romesone said:

no. He was actually training in that room while wrestling 15-16 year olds. 

He was actively in PA from after U23's until after powerade.

[OMW]

21 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

The weights are incorrect for Mes n Haines 

[PSULou64]

3 hours ago, charmon55 said:

Plenty of guys graduate HS at 18, turn 19 over the summer/fall, and wrestle their first year in college as a true freshman. Marcus Blaze, Duke, Jax, and Davino were all 18 years old last spring/summer when beating top senior-level competition. You have high schoolers coming into college and wrestling year-round with senior-level competition in the states and abroad. I mean Jax literally wrestled with the senior world team over the summer lol. So, saying that Jax waited until mid-season to wrestle is misleading. Also, Jax turned 19 in October, so he wasn't 19 1/2 years old coming into college. As a matter of fact, he's STILL not 19 1/2. People are just hating. Jax could've waited until next year to wrestle as a "true" freshman, and people would've been complaining then as well. 

I would not say plenty of true college freshmen turn 19 over the summer between high school and college. Not those who haven't been held back a year. Turning 19 in October of your senior year in high school is in no way normal, not even close. I'm not taking away from Jax but let's not pretend here that this is normal for high school students. And from October to March is 5 months which is pretty close to half a year as well so without getting too nitpicky let's just agree he has a really great undefeated freshman season and pedal down on the kid should still be in high school stuff.

[Hurricane Wrestling]

MM leading big in early balloting, followed (surprisingly?) by the two Cowboy true frosh.

https://www.win-magazine.com/2026-dan-hodge-trophy-results/

[peanut]

1 hour ago, Hurricane Wrestling said:

MM leading big in early balloting, followed (surprisingly?) by the two Cowboy true frosh.

https://www.win-magazine.com/2026-dan-hodge-trophy-results/

The fan vote currently has Barr in sixth place. If it stays that way, the fan vote has lost all credibility. 

[boconnell]

4 minutes ago, peanut said:

The fan vote currently has Barr in sixth place. If it stays that way, the fan vote has lost all credibility. 

Fan vote never had credibility.  It's regionalism and rooting interests and which guy didn't hurt the feelings of a team I root for.  It should have nothing to do with the Hodge.  

I wish we had an award that the 330 wrestlers voted on.  Because I don't trust media or coaches much more than fans.

Barr already earned the award that matters the most.

Edited March 24 by boconnell

[Psalm 1 guy]

1 hour ago, peanut said:

The fan vote currently has Barr in sixth place. If it stays that way, the fan vote has lost all credibility. 

I would like to see it go to ranked choice voting. That makes more sense when you have multiple wrestlers, especially from the same team.

[Hurricane Wrestling]

Mesenbrink still in the lead, but it looks like Jax has closed the gap quite a bit.  Josh Barr currently in last place, which is ridiculous IMO.

Apparently, lots of fans vote on who's their favorite wrestler without that much regard to the Hodge criteria.

https://www.win-magazine.com/2026-dan-hodge-trophy-results/

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Obviously vote splitting is a big reason for why Barr is in last.

Honestly, he had the 2nd most dominant season and if he wrestled for any other team aside from Penn State he would be in second place in the fan voting.

[lu1979]

On 3/23/2026 at 12:45 PM, Hilton Head Joe said:

Jax is NOT a true freshman. He was a double holdback in HS. He is the equivalent of a redshirt freshman. He would have been a 20 year old freshman next year had he stayed in HS this last year. He was born in 2006. Should have started college last year. A true freshman this year would have been a kid born in 2007. They were calling some 20 year old kids true freshmen which simply is not really true. Makes everyone go wow! True is a 18 year old period. Jax would have been manhandled had he competed last year. 

Jax would have been manhandled if he competed last year? You mean if he competed a few months before he beat 2X NC & World Champ Vito A 2 to 0 to make the world team?  Smart take

[Perry]

On 3/23/2026 at 11:53 AM, Hilton Head Joe said:

Dude nobody is hating. This is rampant in our sport and is down-right cheating. Those guys you mentioned are the best of the best. And Jax maybe the GOAT when all said and done. I considered holding mine back with Jax and others but we were not nearly that good so we decided not to. The pressure to hold the elite kids back is very real and even almost expected. 

It's not rampant in our sport, it's part of a growing cultural trend of starting boys in school a little later. Every boy in my daughter's kindergarten class minus one is a full year older than her and the other girls in her class. It's become quite common now.

[CoachB]

[Perry]

35 minutes ago, Hurricane Wrestling said:

Mesenbrink still in the lead, but it looks like Jax has closed the gap quite a bit.  Josh Barr currently in last place, which is ridiculous IMO.

Apparently, lots of fans vote on who's their favorite wrestler without that much regard to the Hodge criteria.

https://www.win-magazine.com/2026-dan-hodge-trophy-results/

All the penn state fans are all in on messenbrink. He's the victim of herd mentality more than anything else.

[Perry]

On 3/23/2026 at 1:12 PM, VakAttack said:

Clearly should be Mesenbrink.  I think Barr, Forrest, and Haines in that order after, but I might just be caught up in the moment with Forrest.

I think you got this list perfect tbh

[Hurricane Wrestling]

1 minute ago, Perry said:

I think you got this list perfect tbh

Those would be my top four also - in the same order.

[BigTimeFan]

On 3/23/2026 at 12:45 PM, Hilton Head Joe said:

Jax is NOT a true freshman. He was a double holdback in HS. He is the equivalent of a redshirt freshman. He would have been a 20 year old freshman next year had he stayed in HS this last year. He was born in 2006. Should have started college last year. A true freshman this year would have been a kid born in 2007. They were calling some 20 year old kids true freshmen which simply is not really true. Makes everyone go wow! True is a 18 year old period. Jax would have been manhandled had he competed last year. 

These are all good points. I think about it in reverse: if someone skipped a grade and started college at 16 or 17 and won NCAAs without redshirting, you better believe people would be making a big deal about how he was a true freshman BUT so much more too.

Edited March 25 by BigTimeFan