2027 Freshman Starters by WS Rank

[Truzzcat]

Matt botello UNC 133

Noah Ninninger v-tech 157/165

Daniel Zepeda Michigan 157

Seth Mendoza Missou 149

David Gleason Missou 157

Christian Castillo ASU 125

Jake Hockaday Nebraska 141

Karson Brown Ohio state 141 (I think he beats Bouzakis)

Joey jeter Cornell 184 (not sure he is big enough)

some guys I have not seen mentioned quite as much I am excited about.

[Simpleman424]

7 hours ago, Tyler Perry said:

Could see Waylon Cressell making some noise for UNI at 184.

Tyson Martin snatches Luke Rasmussen’ spot at SDSU?

Tyler Dekraker AA threat at 149? 

How do guys like Perentin, Rath, Heiser, and Jake Hockaday look?

Army has a bunch of stud ‘26 guys coming in. Uhorchuck, Besmer, and LaPlante all have legitimate bids to get into the lineup

Dekraker certainly seems like he could slide in on the back end of AA…sure would have been nice to have him stick with Ohio State. Not sure how that would have affected getting the Brown brothers in the fold, might not have changed Kade’s transfer at all but you never know.

[Ryan0315]

As a Rutgers fan excited to see what Anthony Knox and Brandt Harer can do this year. Truly think Knox can win the whole thing, but he should be able to AA. 

[BigRedFan]

3 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

Joey jeter Cornell 184 (not sure he is big enough)

Grey shirt, er, gap year, er, red shirt, most likely.  If he comes in for 2027-28, he'll have soph Perentin at 165, senior Ruiz at 174, and junior Cerchio (and maybe soph Diakomihalis) at 184 to contend with.

[BloodRound]

38 minutes ago, Ryan0315 said:

As a Rutgers fan excited to see what Anthony Knox and Brandt Harer can do this year. Truly think Knox can win the whole thing, but he should be able to AA. 

My worry with Knox is while he can AA and possibly win it all, how long will he stick around RU afterwards?

[Simpleman424]

There is absolutely no way Knox wins a title…I can’t believe that

[Ricketycricket]

3 hours ago, BigRedFan said:

Grey shirt, er, gap year, er, red shirt, most likely.  If he comes in for 2027-28, he'll have soph Perentin at 165, senior Ruiz at 174, and junior Cerchio (and maybe soph Diakomihalis) at 184 to contend with.

Unless there is a really late birthday, it won't make sense to grey shirt. 

[BigRedFan]

1 hour ago, Ricketycricket said:

Unless there is a really late birthday, it won't make sense to grey shirt. 

If you aren't going to be a starter as a freshman, then does it make sense to pay Cornell tuition?  Maybe, maybe not.

[Spartacus]

With 5 for 5, aren’t all these redshirt guys the same as the true freshman who wrestled last year?  They all have 4 years left, correct?

[jackwebster]

On 7/13/2026 at 12:18 AM, Tyler Perry said:

Army has a bunch of stud ‘26 guys coming in.

Word.

Question: I know Nickerson was hired in June of last year, so which of these new guys are his guys?

[MoveCountermove]

7 hours ago, Spartacus said:

With 5 for 5, aren’t all these redshirt guys the same as the true freshman who wrestled last year?  They all have 4 years left, correct?

Idk the rules well enough, but would they be allowed to still choose the old rules to go by, since they were already impacted by the change of rules due to accepting red shirts? I thought it was discussed before that some kids could elect to continue under the old rules if they were already enrolled in college, at least until they all faze out…?

[Ricketycricket]

16 hours ago, BigRedFan said:

If you aren't going to be a starter as a freshman, then does it make sense to pay Cornell tuition?  Maybe, maybe not.

That isn't a grey shirt or red shirt. You are burning a year of eligibility. 

[MoveCountermove]

3 hours ago, jackwebster said:

Word.

Question: I know Nickerson was hired in June of last year, so which of these new guys are his guys?

I have no support for this, but according to an AI bot, Nickerson deserves a lot of the credit. Potentially the precious staff started relationships and identified recruits and such, but Nickerson was instrumental in closing, it seems. Anyway, excited to see Army have a nice class and maybe they can build off of it

[MPhillips]

1 hour ago, MoveCountermove said:

I thought it was discussed before that some kids could elect to continue under the old rules if they were already enrolled in college, at least until they all faze out…?

New kids new rules. I believe the rest get to choose.

[Spartacus]

1 hour ago, MoveCountermove said:

Idk the rules well enough, but would they be allowed to still choose the old rules to go by, since they were already impacted by the change of rules due to accepting red shirts? I thought it was discussed before that some kids could elect to continue under the old rules if they were already enrolled in college, at least until they all faze out…?

Correct, but either way all last years Redshirts only have 4 years left as last year was Yr 1.  So all the guys that wrestled as True Freshman will choose new rules leaving them 4 years of eligibility as well.

[MoveCountermove]

11 minutes ago, Spartacus said:

Correct, but either way all last years Redshirts only have 4 years left as last year was Yr 1.  So all the guys that wrestled as True Freshman will choose new rules leaving them 4 years of eligibility as well.

Wait how was last year year 1 if they just made the change a month ago? Seems like anyone from last year is getting shafted by that since they red shirted prior to the rule being a thing. Kind of inadvertently burned a year of eligibility that way

[Spartacus]

5 hours ago, MoveCountermove said:

Wait how was last year year 1 if they just made the change a month ago? Seems like anyone from last year is getting shafted by that since they red shirted prior to the rule being a thing. Kind of inadvertently burned a year of eligibility that way

Yeah unfortunate timing, VT HC Roby kinda alluded to it in his Flo interview.  Obviously if they had knew the rule change was coming a bunch more guys would have wrestled, as it stands now all those redshirts have 4 years eligibility left just like they thought, but the guys that wrestled can choose new rule and start the 5 years from last year, so they also have 4 more years left…

[juniorvarsity]

On 7/13/2026 at 10:47 AM, Ryan0315 said:

As a Rutgers fan excited to see what Anthony Knox and Brandt Harer can do this year. Truly think Knox can win the whole thing, but he should be able to AA. 

Harer ought to start. 149 is deep next year, so I'm not sure where he is at against the field - 8 former AAs and 3 of the 8 being former Champs, plus Kyler Larkin, Seth Mendoza, Jaxon Joy, Sergio Lemley. 

I think it's possible for Knox. He definitely seems like an AA. Lilledahl didn't look like a world beater last year. He had a few close matches but went *undefeated*. Would've been nice to see them wrestle this summer. 

[jackwebster]

20 hours ago, MoveCountermove said:

I have no support for this, but according to an AI bot, Nickerson deserves a lot of the credit. Potentially the precious staff started relationships and identified recruits and such, but Nickerson was instrumental in closing, it seems. Anyway, excited to see Army have a nice class and maybe they can build off of it

I see a couple of "under-the-radar types" with some really solid wins, Senati in particular. Seems like he has been hurt on and off but got some high-level upsets nonetheless.

[tjhart]

It seems most  on this thread already have Cortez penciled in at '33 for Cornell. I believe they already have a pretty ggod starter there who may prove to be a problem 

[huskerlucas]

On 7/9/2026 at 9:37 PM, flyingcement said:

I agree, but they used up more than the allowed number of events for him last year.  He had seven events:
Bison Open
Brown dual
Missouri dual
Oklahoma State dual
Soldier Salute
Hasting Open
Greyhound open

Although... maybe he wrestled those last two events unattached to preserve his year of eligibility and it just hasn't been captured yet in WS.

2nd half events didn't count towards his redshirt

[Spartacus]

3 hours ago, huskerlucas said:

2nd half events didn't count towards his redshirt

What does it matter now?  Last years freshman class all have 4 years eligibility left whether they wrestled as true freshman or redshirted.  The ones that wrestled will go by new rules, the ones that redshirted will use old rules.  

 

I think there may be possible some get a medical, so they could choose new rules and get 5 years eligibility left? 

[Husker]

7 hours ago, Spartacus said:

What does it matter now?  Last years freshman class all have 4 years eligibility left whether they wrestled as true freshman or redshirted.  The ones that wrestled will go by new rules, the ones that redshirted will use old rules.  

 

I think there may be possible some get a medical, so they could choose new rules and get 5 years eligibility left? 

It matters for the OP’s ranking justifications which did not include Ziola on the ranking list….

[Ricketycricket]

9 hours ago, Spartacus said:

What does it matter now?  Last years freshman class all have 4 years eligibility left whether they wrestled as true freshman or redshirted.  The ones that wrestled will go by new rules, the ones that redshirted will use old rules.  

 

I think there may be possible some get a medical, so they could choose new rules and get 5 years eligibility left? 

If they get a medical that would mean they are using the old rules. For freshmen who redshirted last year, the old rules are more advantageous. 

[GimJustafan]

On 7/13/2026 at 10:47 AM, Ryan0315 said:

As a Rutgers fan excited to see what Anthony Knox and Brandt Harer can do this year. Truly think Knox can win the whole thing, but he should be able to AA.