Toughest Freshmen

[blueandgold]

First and foremost, I apologize if this topic has already been posted. I haven’t kept up with college wrestling much this year and I know rankings don’t tell the whole story, but beyond Ryan Crookham, who are some of the toughest freshmen this year that can make deep runs at NCAAs or potentially win?

[Zahnarzt]

Mitchell Mesenbrink, Gabe Arnold, Braeden Davis, Luke Stanich, Meyer Shapiro, Rocco Welsh, Dylan Fishback and Nick Feldman all come to mind. 

[1032004]

Spratley, Nasir Bailey, Bouzakis, Sergio Lemley, Tagen Jamison, Ty Watters, Kasak, Chittum, Ryder Downey, Joey Blaze, Bennett Berge, Ryder Rogotzke, Stephen Little, Mac Stout

 

 

[Zahnarzt]

On 2/6/2024 at 7:12 PM, 1032004 said:

Spratley, Nasir Bailey, Bouzakis, Sergio Lemley, Tagen Jamison, Ty Watters, Kasak, Chittum, Ryder Downey, Joey Blaze, Bennett Berge, Ryder Rogotzke, Stephen Little, Mac Stout

 

 

Good list. 
Kasak has filled in nicely for SVN so far.  And Lemley looked great against Woods. 
 

I guess if Ben Keuter’s red shirt gets pulled, he would be on this list as well. 

[Pinnacle]

Lemley looked amazing against Woods. 

[flyingcement]

 

On 2/6/2024 at 4:12 PM, 1032004 said:

Spratley, Nasir Bailey, Bouzakis, Sergio Lemley, Tagen Jamison, Ty Watters, Kasak, Chittum, Ryder Downey, Joey Blaze, Bennett Berge, Ryder Rogotzke, Stephen Little, Mac Stout

 

 

great list - but to me, a redshirt freshman is just a sophomore who would stoop to the level of loopholes.  So the true freshman shown above (and not the ones who have done various gap years and gray shirts) are the ones that impress me.

[jross]

Nobody wants to see these tough freshman names on the 125-pound bracket.  One might make a run in the NCAA wrestling bracket, but they all have a chance with the tough freshman names bracket.

1. Spratley, Troy (Oklahoma State) #11
2. Kilkeary, Vincent (Ohio State) #46
3. Heethuis, Drew (Princeton) #48
4. Hohman, Troy (NC State) #53
5. Skinner, Bryce (Ohio) #171
6. Chambers, Gunner (George Mason) #239
7. Guerra, Troy (Buffalo) #187
8. Titus, Ethan (Rider) #188
9. Havens, Gunner (Kent State) #181
10. Dragovich, JB (George Mason) #125
11. Ljikovic, Enis (Davidson) #247

#IYKYK

[poorwrestler]

True freshmen Tyler Wells and Max McEnelly are having pretty good seasons. 23-3 record between the two with multiple ranked wins.


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[jross]

Tough Names Freshmen 133

1. Crookham, Ryan (Lehigh) #4
2. Funakoshi, Yoshiya (Cal Baptist) #127
3. Funk, Garrett (Northern Iowa) #62
4. Hermes, Max (Rutgers) #90
5. Knox, Tyler (Stanford) #26
6. Porter, Gable (Virginia) #45

[jross]

Tough Names Freshmen 141 pounds

1. Ali, Ky-El (Morgan State) #285
2. Ayoub, Ismael (Nebraska) #258
3. Frothinger, Tanner (Nebraska) #265
4. Hughes, Cael (Oklahoma State) #97
5. Ice, Cam (Hofstra) #284
6. Jett, Kaden (Ohio) #76
7. LeGrand, Gunnar (Lindenwood) #288
8. Lemley, Sergio (Michigan) #7

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

On 2/6/2024 at 6:12 PM, 1032004 said:

Spratley, Nasir Bailey, Bouzakis, Sergio Lemley, Tagen Jamison, Ty Watters, Kasak, Chittum, Ryder Downey, Joey Blaze, Bennett Berge, Ryder Rogotzke, Stephen Little, Mac Stout

 

 

Nasir Bailey and Stephen Little being freshman makes me hype for Little Rock. So encouraging for a new program to have success. It shows that with buy in and the right folks wrestling at the D1 NCAA level doesn’t take forever to become relevant. 

[flyingcement]

47 minutes ago, FanOfPurdueWrestling said:

Nasir Bailey and Stephen Little being freshman makes me hype for Little Rock. So encouraging for a new program to have success. It shows that with buy in and the right folks wrestling at the D1 NCAA level doesn’t take forever to become relevant. 

He hasn't found great success so far in college but Kyle Dutton is another top recruit for them. He was a junior national freestyle champion in 2022 at 145 lbs

[JimmyCinnabon]

12 hours ago, Pinnacle said:

Lemley looked amazing against Woods. 

He looks really good against Bartlett as well. He might not have won but I turned to my buddy during the match and told him that this kid is for real. It was pretty easy to tell.

Edited February 8 by JimmyCinnabon

[Idaho]

8 hours ago, flyingcement said:

He hasn't found great success so far in college but Kyle Dutton is another top recruit for them. He was a junior national freestyle champion in 2022 at 145 lbs

Yep ... Dutton is a stud who need to move up a weight IMO. Looks good in round 1 then fades. 

[Idaho]

 

13 hours ago, flyingcement said:

 

great list - but to me, a redshirt freshman is just a sophomore who would stoop to the level of loopholes.  So the true freshman shown above (and not the ones who have done various gap years and gray shirts) are the ones that impress me.

100%.... big difference.... Bailey, Lemley, Arnold, Watters, Stanich,  Webster .... Norman and Mulvaney have also been looking good. 

[Quaker118]

43 minutes ago, Idaho said:

 

100%.... big difference.... Bailey, Lemley, Arnold, Watters, Stanich,  Webster .... Norman and Mulvaney have also been looking good. 

I’ll throw Max Gallagher from Penn in as a true freshman. Started the year as a back up, then beat Ventresca and Ryan Miller his teammate in the finals at the Keystone to take over the starting spot. He also beat Provo in the dual meet and has been coming on strong. He lost a very close match to Ayala in the duel as well.

[Spladle88]

13 hours ago, jross said:

Nobody wants to see these tough freshman names on the 125-pound bracket.  One might make a run in the NCAA wrestling bracket, but they all have a chance with the tough freshman names bracket.

1. Spratley, Troy (Oklahoma State) #11
2. Kilkeary, Vincent (Ohio State) #46
3. Heethuis, Drew (Princeton) #48
4. Hohman, Troy (NC State) #53
5. Skinner, Bryce (Ohio) #171
6. Chambers, Gunner (George Mason) #239
7. Guerra, Troy (Buffalo) #187
8. Titus, Ethan (Rider) #188
9. Havens, Gunner (Kent State) #181
10. Dragovich, JB (George Mason) #125
11. Ljikovic, Enis (Davidson) #247

#IYKYK

Not Stanich?

[jross]

2 hours ago, Spladle88 said:

Not Stanich?

Any foreign Slavic name is inherently tough.  But is it 'ick' as in 'icky' or 'ich' as in 'ichy?'  I don't know that reading an ichy or icky wrestler's name on the bracket comes across as tough enough to wet one's singlet in fear.

Where is Furious (Fury for short)?  Where is Tenacious (Tenac for short)?  

Edited February 8 by jross

[Hillbilly Jim]

14 hours ago, jross said:

Tough Names Freshmen 141 pounds

1. Ali, Ky-El (Morgan State) #285
2. Ayoub, Ismael (Nebraska) #258
3. Frothinger, Tanner (Nebraska) #265
4. Hughes, Cael (Oklahoma State) #97
5. Ice, Cam (Hofstra) #284
6. Jett, Kaden (Ohio) #76
7. LeGrand, Gunnar (Lindenwood) #288
8. Lemley, Sergio (Michigan) #7

Keep going!  149, 157, 165???

[bnwtwg]

Nasir Bailey is my dark horse AA this year. Tough as nails from a crappy HS program getting injected into a proper college room = level jumps.

edit before people go nuts: yes I know his uncle lol. It's very tongue in cheek.

Edited February 8 by bnwtwg

[jross]

Tough Names Freshmen 149 pounds

1. Alejandro, Giovanni (Rider) #241
2. Antoniak, Tyler (Nebraska) #234
3. Block, Ryder (Iowa) #263
4. Cross, David (Missouri) #274
5. Fite, Logan (Duke) #258
6. Freking, Thomas (Iowa State) #263
7. Pierce, Connor (Penn State) #60
8. Ransom, Keith (Cleveland State) #286
9. Sadriddinov, Shermuhammad (Clarion) #277
10. Strick, Braxton (Southern Illinois Edwardsville) #152
11. Andrews, Cael (Kent State) #318
12. Carey, Brock (Davidson) #218
13. Herman, Brock (Ohio State) #48
14. Hicks, Odin (Little Rock) #273
15. Iwanicki, Rawson (Columbia) #145

It's too bad Hunter Hockensmith has aged out.  A Hunter that makes hoes and axes?  Watch out!  

[1032004]

6 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

Nasir Bailey is my dark horse AA this year. Tough as nails from a crappy HS program getting injected into a proper college room = level jumps.

edit before people go nuts: yes I know his uncle lol. It's very tongue in cheek.

He’s ranked #7 by both Flo and Intermat right now, so not exactly a darkhorse anymore

[Fletcher]

This guy, blueandgold, asks a question, then answers his own question in his initial post - incorrectly (Crookham's the best frosh?), and then after 20+ replies nobody calls him out on this?

[WexfordWarrior]

[nhs67]

5 hours ago, Fletcher said:

This guy, blueandgold, asks a question, then answers his own question in his initial post - incorrectly (Crookham's the best frosh?), and then after 20+ replies nobody calls him out on this?

What?  He didn't say Crookham was the best Freshman.  He asked who other than Crookham would, or should, be in consideration.  'Best' wasn't even the question, to begin with.  Also, he asked who was the toughest Freshman.  Toughest does not equal best, however I will concede this to you for now.

If you can't understand why Crookham's name would have been a headliner more than any other Freshman this year, then you aren't following wrestling, either.  Is there another Freshman that beat a defending World Champion at their weight this year that the rest of us didn't see?  Is it because of the World Champion that he beat that you're saying he isn't the best (toughest) Freshman?  I am having trouble following your logic here, so please educate us (me).

Additionally, of the Freshman who are in conversation of best (toughest) there are only a few that I might put in the conversation of being the best while also being the toughest.  Crookham (Lehigh, 14W - 0L)  McEnelly (Minnesota, 15W - 0L), and Arnold (Iowa, 11W - 0L) are the three that I think would fit both categories, while also being undefeated.  Two (2) of them are (still) on Redshirt, which leaves one (1) left in Crookham.