Lightning Luke

[VakAttack]

I'm making my assessment of Sealey based off of my watching of him, but I admit my sample size on the high school kids is limited.

[Fadzaev2]

On 4/10/2023 at 4:38 PM, Dogbone said:

Luke Smith still has eligibility??   Man, these extra Covid years are crazy.  

My first thought exactly.

[scourge165]

On 4/10/2023 at 4:24 PM, nhs67 said:

Didn't he just try to Muay Thai knee ths shit out of Mason Gibson's cousin (Bassett a HS frosh next season) who just beat him soundly via a 4-1 Decision? 

That was...troubling. 

I got into a whole thing on another thread about how the fear or losing can be as strong as the desire to win, but you have to be able to handle your losses with grace on the mat...like Spencer Lee did.

That had to be very frustrating, but...it's a very bad look.

[scourge165]

On 4/10/2023 at 4:44 PM, Gus said:

I would add Koy Hopke to that list. He is a stud.

Hopke is one of the top 5 recruits I've seen in a VERY long time.

When he fills out...which I suspect will be at ~6'4 ish 255, I could see him winning multiple titles. Every time I see him, he just looks better and makes it look easy.

[Gus]

36 minutes ago, scourge165 said:

Hopke is one of the top 5 recruits I've seen in a VERY long time.

When he fills out...which I suspect will be at ~6'4 ish 255, I could see him winning multiple titles. Every time I see him, he just looks better and makes it look easy.

He wrestled a kid from SD, Schunke, who is a giant (over 300 during football) at hwt & legit 4 star football recruit who is ranked 4th at HWT and made it look pretty easy. 

[scourge165]

2 hours ago, Gus said:

He wrestled a kid from SD, Schunke, who is a giant (over 300 during football) at hwt & legit 4 star football recruit who is ranked 4th at HWT and made it look pretty easy. 

Right...and was just a few pounds over 220. 225 I think. 

I don't think he's lost...ANY match since 2018 or 2019. 

I'd pay to watch him and Keuter wrestle. They're both just such natural athletes. 

[Theo Brixton]

22 minutes ago, scourge165 said:

Right...and was just a few pounds over 220. 225 I think. 

I don't think he's lost...ANY match since 2018 or 2019. 

I'd pay to watch him and Keuter wrestle. They're both just such natural athletes. 

How tall is he now? Seems like he has been 220 forever. Wondering how big he is going to get.

[scourge165]

2 minutes ago, Theo Brixton said:

How tall is he now? Seems like he has been 220 forever. Wondering how big he is going to get.

I don't know him or the family but for a few very brief interactions, but I have spoke to a close friend of the family with whom he works out with pretty regularly. 

I guess they're expecting him to be 6'4, maybe 6'5. The Dad is a big guy. I think he's about 6'2 right now. He also looks like he's long arms as well.

 

I think he'll end up looking like a taller, longer Mason Parris, but I've got no clue. He just seems like a kid who's having fun, loves the sport and is an absolute hammer.

 

[nhs67]

5 minutes ago, scourge165 said:

I think he'll end up looking like a taller, longer Mason Parris, but I've got no clue. He just seems like a kid who's having fun, loves the sport and is an absolute hammer.

So basically a tactical nuke then, yeah?

Kid already looks like an absolute animal.  If he fills out to 6'4/5" and keeps that speed he is going to be lethal at the International level.

[scourge165]

12 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

So basically a tactical nuke then, yeah?

Kid already looks like an absolute animal.  If he fills out to 6'4/5" and keeps that speed he is going to be lethal at the International level.

Yeah...I think he's at least as good at the same age as O'Toole was...which...I mean, we all know what O'Toole has done, how special he is. 

I don't want to say better as people think that's a slight against O'Toole, and I get that...and really I'm just trying to articulate what it looks like Hopke is. 

[bnwtwg]

Hopke is a stud. If he goes anywhere but Minnesota or (ugh) Penn State, it would be a waste of his potential. UM because Heavyweight U, and PSU because the his motor and affinity to rack up points fits in nicely. Either way I see future senior world team at least once in his future. Just my opinion as a biased, washed up tweener heavy.

https://www.flowrestling.org/video/7937949-110-kg-final-1-2-levan-lagvilava-france-vs-koy-hopke-united-states

https://www.flowrestling.org/video/10835386-285-lbs-1st-place-match-koy-hopke-wi-vs-navarro-schunke-sd
 

[poorwrestler]

Hopke is in the gopher practice room 4x a week. Good buddies with Gavin Nelson and family. Hoping we can land him but can never count out Cael. Believe he’s considering Wisconsin heavily as well.


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[MNRodent]

New Flo article on Hopke's Recruitment.  Hard to find better practice partners than Minnesota with McEnelly and Nelson coming in, plus Brandvold and the last two world teamers Zillmer and Steveson.

When Will Koy Hopke Make His College Commitment? - FloWrestling

He is listed as 6'2" in his football profiles and weighed in at 229 the day he wrestled Schunke.

 

[scourge165]

1 hour ago, MNRodent said:

New Flo article on Hopke's Recruitment.  Hard to find better practice partners than Minnesota with McEnelly and Nelson coming in, plus Brandvold and the last two world teamers Zillmer and Steveson.

When Will Koy Hopke Make His College Commitment? - FloWrestling

He is listed as 6'2" in his football profiles and weighed in at 229 the day he wrestled Schunke.

 

Quote

 On top of that, most of the coaches that he spoke with shared their desire for him to focus on only one sport rather than trying to do both on the next level. For those reasons, Hopke has decided to focus solely on wrestling.

I'd juuuust about rule Wisconsin out based on this. It's flimsy, but Fickel...the FB coach(and arguably the best HWT in Ohio HS History) has told other recruits they can Wrestle, namely Dillan Johnson, the #1 ranked HWT(at least according to one ranking, I thought Mullens was the consensus #1).

I guess Bono would probably prefer he just Wrestle, but I would think he'd be open to letting a talent like Hopke do both. You don't draw a line in the sand if you're Wisconsin Wrestling, you do whatever you can. Hopke's the type of kid who could come in, RS in Football, come into the Wresting season and probably AA as a Freshmen, or RS and contend for a NC as a Soph as he fills out. 

And at HWT, it's not like weight is an issue. 

 

As for who he has in the room, losing Trevor Branvold was a HUGE blow for the Badgers. I don't recall if he left when Davis did, but it doesn't matter. He was an outstanding coach and he'd be a great workout partner. The one thing that made me think Minnesota may be less likely was Gavin Nelson committing to UM, but I've been told -from a family friend of Hopke who's been told from Nelson he's planning on going 197...so take that for what very little it's worth.

Not sure there's any team has a HWT in place that would make them NOT go after Hopke. I guess tOSU, OSU and Iowa would be the closest, but Keuter is a more highly regarded FB player and I suspect he'll focus on being an OLBer. And that's not through a friend of a friend of a cousin who's friend works at his favorite coffee place!

 

 

----I don't want to see this, I want to see someone contend with PSU, but with Kyle Snyder and even guys like Taylor, Varner...among others. I'd include Kerkvliet, but he seemed to have zero interest in Wrestling last year(just imagine if he had a motor like Cassioppi). Wisconsin and Minnesota both have had success with HWTs(one a TINNY bit more than the other, but UW has had a few AAs in recent history with Medberry a finalist, Hilger, Massey).

But it's hard to argue against Penn State for really any Wrestler if you're looking at the best possible training partners and international success...

[poorwrestler]

Gavin Nelson absolutely intends on going 197. HWT is a pretty big hole in MN.


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[scourge165]

25 minutes ago, poorwrestler said:

Gavin Nelson absolutely intends on going 197. HWT is a pretty big hole in MN.


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Ok, so that fits with what I've heard. I just saw that he was a 220 and...figured he'd rather grow into HWT, but I know he's close with Hopke, so really feels like UM is the leader and PSU is 2nd. Though he's saying the right things about UW as a Wisconsin prep athlete. 

Just be surprising to see UM lose their connection to Pinnacle to UW. 

And what a fix Hopke would be to that "hole" Minnesota has!

[1032004]

1 hour ago, poorwrestler said:

Gavin Nelson absolutely intends on going 197. HWT is a pretty big hole in MN.


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Any relation to Tony?

[MNRodent]

3 hours ago, 1032004 said:

Any relation to Tony?

No.  Twenty percent of the population of Minnesota is named Nelson, ya know.

[scourge165]

27 minutes ago, MNRodent said:

No.  Twenty percent of the population of Minnesota is named Nelson, ya know.

And the rest is some variation of Anderson/Andersen, or Jacobson/Jakobson vet du ikke!

[gimpeltf]

4 hours ago, MNRodent said:

No.  Twenty percent of the population of Minnesota is named Nelson, ya know.

In some states, at least that many people have the same last name (and maiden name) because they ARE related.

[scourge165]

3 minutes ago, gimpeltf said:

In some states, at least that many people have the same last name (and maiden name) because they ARE related.

And...we're saying this is a BAD thing? 

[1032004]

7 hours ago, MNRodent said:

No.  Twenty percent of the population of Minnesota is named Nelson, ya know.

Haha, I did not know that