Most Improved Wrestler This Year

[Crotalus]

Noah Surtin

This remains to be seen. Wasn't he round of 12 last year? And he's ranked right around there this year. He could finish anywhere from high AA to DNP and it wouldn't be a surprise.

[KCMO2]

50 minutes ago, Crotalus said:

4 hours ago, KCMO2 said:

Noah Surtin

This remains to be seen. Wasn't he round of 12 last year? And he's ranked right around there this year. He could finish anywhere from high AA to DNP and it wouldn't be a surprise.

No, he went 1-2 at natties, losing to the #19 and #20 ranked guys.  Flo had him at #21 at the end of last season.  Right now they have him at #8.

Edited March 7 by KCMO2

[Crotalus]

No, he went 1-2 at natties, losing to the #19 and #20 ranked guys.  Flo had him at #21 at the end of last season.  Right now they have him at #8.

Ah, yeah. I was misremembering. He was rd 12 the previous season, though. So actually a bit of an underperformance last year. He needs to get on the stand this year.

[lisa morales]

Michael Beard

[BloodRound]

Dylan Shawver and Michael Cetta have both shown improvement that has been awesome to watch as a Rutgers wrestling fan.  Gives some light of hope for the end of this season.

[Lunaticfringe]

Garrett Joles, he’s been somewhat under ranked all season. He has taken most of the best guys right until the end and beaten a couple. He really wasn’t much more than a body out there his first few years, qualified as a HWT last year and now comes back wrestling well looking like Big Papa Pump Scott Steiner

[flyingcement]

8 hours ago, BloodRound said:

Dylan Shawver and Michael Cetta have both shown improvement that has been awesome to watch as a Rutgers wrestling fan.  Gives some light of hope for the end of this season.

The crazy thing about Shawver's improvement is that it comes after he was significantly injured last season AND he is bumping up a weight class.  And after all the drama of the wrestleoff with Peterson, Shawver is likely to score more points at nationals at the next weight up.  It's a cool story and while I don't have any affiliation with Rutgers or Shawver personally, he's been one of my favorite stories of this year.

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Zach Glazier by far. There should be one face on this Mount Rushmore. But, you can put a plaque of Garrett Joles down in the park somewhere along the trails. I had considered both of them to be kind of stiff, meat-and-potato-type wrestlers but they showed out this year, especially Glazier. If not for a knee injury and surgery, I'd have the ILLINI's Isiah Pettigrew on this list. He could still surprise! 

I think this says something about 197 this year in college wrestling. I don't know what it says about it, but something. 

[MPhillips]

2 hours ago, flyingcement said:

while I don't have any affiliation with Rutgers or Shawver personally, he's been one of my favorite stories of this year.

As an Ohio guy, I'm all for Shawver. Lost his senior HS season to COVID. Projected 126 DI champ ahead of Agin(Duke) and Blaze(Purdue). 

". Agin was ranked #1 to end the season, but I decided to go with Shawver because of his better overall production on the national level. Shawver, a Rutgers commit, and Agin, a Duke commit, are both three-time state placers."

[flyingcement]

4 minutes ago, MPhillips said:

As an Ohio guy, I'm all for Shawver. Lost his senior HS season to COVID. Projected 126 DI champ ahead of Agin(Duke) and Blaze(Purdue). 

". Agin was ranked #1 to end the season, but I decided to go with Shawver because of his better overall production on the national level. Shawver, a Rutgers commit, and Agin, a Duke commit, are both three-time state placers."

Well at least they got Agin right on the weight class and Blaze right on the caliber.  

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

10 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

Zach Glazier by far. There should be one face on this Mount Rushmore. But, you can put a plaque of Garrett Joles down in the park somewhere along the trails. I had considered both of them to be kind of stiff, meat-and-potato-type wrestlers but they showed out this year, especially Glazier. If not for a knee injury and surgery, I'd have the ILLINI's Isiah Pettigrew on this list. He could still surprise! 

I think this says something about 197 this year in college wrestling. I don't know what it says about it, but something. 

Amazing how many mentions of Iowa guys, for a program that supposedly doesn't develop their wrestlers.  I have heard Patrick Kennedy mentioned by some pundits, but not on this thread yet.

I also like Hidlay for this.  Yonger and Sketchy Etch (whom I a am not a fan of) are prob good candidates.

[NM1965]

On 3/6/2024 at 1:53 PM, Pinnacle said:

I too sometimes do not have a brain. 

Want me to give your brain jar back ?

[BloodRound]

On 3/7/2024 at 9:39 PM, flyingcement said:

The crazy thing about Shawver's improvement is that it comes after he was significantly injured last season AND he is bumping up a weight class.  And after all the drama of the wrestleoff with Peterson, Shawver is likely to score more points at nationals at the next weight up.  It's a cool story and while I don't have any affiliation with Rutgers or Shawver personally, he's been one of my favorite stories of this year.

Coming back to this comment right after he has won a B1G title is awesome.  I am hoping for a very productive NCAA's from the man.  His story has been nothing but fireworks all season!

[11986]

not nominating this guy for most improved but do want to mention him in this discussion, as improvement has been notable. Marlon Yarbrough UVA 133, 14-7, 3rd at ACC, NQ this year. Last year he was 7-10 and year before he was 3-4. 

[Ivan Stankowski]

1. Mitchell Mesenbrink

2. Jesse Mendez

3.  Cody Chittum

[Rassling]

Lewan?