Did Aaron Nagao lose his confidence while being in the Penn State room?

[Masonbuckeye]

Aaron Nagao was a transfer to Penn State from Minnesota this season and did not reach the high AA expectations that were placed upon him at the beginning of the season and actually finished worse than last season. This might be Buckeye bias but I saw this dude handle the current 141 national champ and face of the tOSU program, Jesse Mendez, fairly easily. Now you'd look like a fool to think Nagao would be better than Mendez in any capacity. WHAT HAPPENED WITH NAGAO???? Would it be a possibility that getting beat up in the PSU room shot his confidence where he probably beat up on most of the dudes at Minnesota? Anyone have anything to add?

[wrestle87]

1 minute ago, Masonbuckeye said:

Would it be a possibility that getting beat up in the PSU room shot his confidence where he probably beat up on most of the dudes at Minnesota? Anyone have anything to add?

My thoughts/feelings on it exactly.  He was very one-dimensional last hear, I think people just didn’t take him seriously, so everyone let him throw in legs.  This year people just didn’t give him that position, and it went well.

Guys who transfer into PSU always take a step down the first year, some improve others don’t.  My assumption has always been that life in that room is WAY harder than what they were used to, and it shows because transfers always look shell shocked AND look less practiced in their old style of moves.  Truax also looked rather deer in the headlights all year, he just made it happen when it mattered, but nobody would have been super surprised if he didn’t AA either.  

It’s a room that clearly doesn’t work for everyone, and universally even the full pull PSU guys talk about the first yesr just being a butt whooping.

[BloodRound]

Wasn't Nagao's Minny run kind of a surprise to begin with?  I thought he was seeded around 13 when he did that.  Some guys can be wildly inconsistent with how they catch fire.

[Winners Circle]

2 minutes ago, Masonbuckeye said:

Aaron Nagao was a transfer to Penn State from Minnesota this season and did not reach the high AA expectations that were placed upon him at the beginning of the season and actually finished worse than last season. This might be Buckeye bias but I saw this dude handle the current 141 national champ and face of the tOSU program, Jesse Mendez, fairly easily. Now you'd look like a fool to think Nagao would be better than Mendez in any capacity. WHAT HAPPENED WITH NAGAO???? Would it be a possibility that getting beat up in the PSU room shot his confidence where he probably beat up on most of the dudes at Minnesota? Anyone have anything to add?

1. Mendez jumped levels. That's obvious. He had other losses last year that would be crazy to think about him losing this year (Ragusin, Michael McGee x2, Chris Cannon, Latona).
2. But as far as Nagao goes, I think it's more so a thing where guys figured out his style and coaches had specific gameplans to beat him. I think he has a very unique feel that is hard to figure out the first time around. But, after a season of film, coaches started to figure some things out. Confidence issues MAY have come after losing a few matches to guys that he 'felt' like he should beat. But as far as confidence issues stemming from INSIDE the room, I find that hard to believe. Coaches usually put their starters with guys that are going BOOST their confidence, not diminish it. I doubt Nagao is wrestling Bartlett, Kasak, Davis, etc. I'd be willing to bet he's wrestling back up 125s/133s/141s. 

[Masonbuckeye]

1 minute ago, BloodRound said:

Wasn't Nagao's Minny run kind of a surprise to begin with?  I thought he was seeded around 13 when he did that.  Some guys can be wildly inconsistent with how they catch fire.

He beat Byrd and Mendez at Big Tens that year.

[CHROMEBIRD]

I think it might be the opposite and maybe Nagao didn't take advantage of what the PSU room had to offer. It sounded like he didn't interact much RBY or Bartlett, whereas Davis rolled with RBY frequently while he was preparing for the Mexico tournament and Pan Ams. No offense to the PSU bench, but you're not going to improve when you train with Shunk and Vespa. I don't think Nagao beat any wrestlers in the top 10 this year.

[BloodRound]

2 minutes ago, wrestle87 said:

ruax also looked rather deer in the headlights all year, he just made it happen when it mattered, but nobody would have been super surprised if he didn’t AA either.  

I was thinking about this as I was typing my last comment, but I feel like Truax ended up remaining more or less consistent throughout his career.  While Keck definitely ran 184 this year, I feel like the disparity between Pinto-Plott-Munoz-Truax was not that drastic...

[poorwrestler]

His riding style and takedown defense got figured out. A little bit, he still made the blood round after losing first round. He went from a unanimous top 5 guy to a top 10ish guy.


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[CHROMEBIRD]

1 minute ago, BloodRound said:

I was thinking about this as I was typing my last comment, but I feel like Truax ended up remaining more or less consistent throughout his career.  While Keck definitely ran 184 this year, I feel like the disparity between Pinto-Plott-Munoz-Truax was not that drastic...

Fair. Carl mentioned in one of the videos someone posted that Truax wasn't confident in his offense early on and that the coaches were trying to get him to let it fly a little more, rather than wrestling chess matches. I guess the same could be said for Bartlett, though!

[JeanGuy]

Didn't Nagao come into the season with some kind of injury? At one point is was said to be pretty serious but he missed limited time.

It does take time to adjust to a new team even if it is the same philosophy. I wonder if part of the Cael approach requires you to know how much you need to be pushed yourself. Some guys need the grind and you have to know if that is who you are.

Nagao did show some really bad takedown defense this year. He wrestled a lot of close matches and ended up on the wrong side. Crookham 4-6, Ragusin SV Pin, Bouzakis 7-13, Shawver SV 6-9 were his regular season losses. He seemed overwhelmed by Yarbrough's pace and could never get going.

It will be interesting to see what happens next year.

[Dogbone]

Eggum > Cael

 

[wrestle87]

6 minutes ago, Dogbone said:

Eggum > Cael

 

Lol, I love this game…

Sioredas > Cael

J Borrelli > Bormet

[BIGTENFANBOY]

1 hour ago, Dogbone said:

Eggum > Cael

 

Yes I agree..

 

22 > 1 indeed

[lu_alum]

4 hours ago, wrestle87 said:

My thoughts/feelings on it exactly.  He was very one-dimensional last hear, I think people just didn’t take him seriously, so everyone let him throw in legs.  This year people just didn’t give him that position, and it went well.

Guys who transfer into PSU always take a step down the first year, some improve others don’t.  My assumption has always been that life in that room is WAY harder than what they were used to, and it shows because transfers always look shell shocked AND look less practiced in their old style of moves.  Truax also looked rather deer in the headlights all year, he just made it happen when it mattered, but nobody would have been super surprised if he didn’t AA either.  

It’s a room that clearly doesn’t work for everyone, and universally even the full pull PSU guys talk about the first yesr just being a butt whooping.

Max Dean being a prime example.

[flyingcement]

Just now, lu_alum said:

Max Dean being a prime example.

well he did lose to Jay Aiello and Lou DePrez in the tournament that he won

[Powershouse]

Every top guy gets scouted. Nagao didn’t develop anything else to go along with his boots-in top ride, so when folks figured that out he regressed.

[headshuck]

So bottom line, Cael bought a pig in a poke?

[flyingcement]

They also changed the rules against his previous style.  Namely they increased stall calls on guys running parallel rides but not trying to turn.  And also they have kept a closer eye on locks that go across the neck.  

[poorwrestler]

They also changed the rules against his previous style.  Namely they increased stall calls on guys running parallel rides but not trying to turn.  And also they have kept a closer eye on locks that go across the neck.  

Nagao beat Kai Orine last year in a match where he lost the takedown battle 2-0, but still won on escapes, riding time and a reversal. This was not the only match last year he won that way.

With the 3 point takedown, he was bound to probably lose more.


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[flyingcement]

1 minute ago, poorwrestler said:

Nagao beat Kai Orine last year in a match where he lost the takedown battle 2-0, but still won on escapes, riding time and a reversal. This was not the only match last year he won that way.

With the 3 point takedown, he was bound to probably lose more.


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Oh yeah I misses the most obvious rule that went against him which tilted the outcome of neutral positions as more heavily weighted than it was previously 

Edited March 29 by flyingcement

[flyingcement]

So he didn't get the Dean Heil treatment exactly but it seems like all of the rules we discussed all went against his style. In aggregate its worth considering the impact

Edited March 29 by flyingcement

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

9 hours ago, wrestle87 said:

It’s a room that clearly doesn’t work for everyone, and universally even the full pull PSU guys talk about the first yesr just being a butt whooping.

This is 99% of guys going into any college room out of Hs to be fair. 

[wrestle87]

2 hours ago, FanOfPurdueWrestling said:

This is 99% of guys going into any college room out of Hs to be fair. 

This is true, it just seems to extend across upper classmen who are already accomplished all americans themselves. Honestly, I think it happened to Kyle Snyder when he went to that room too.

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

11 hours ago, wrestle87 said:

This is true, it just seems to extend across upper classmen who are already accomplished all americans themselves. Honestly, I think it happened to Kyle Snyder when he went to that room too.

Yeah, there probably isn’t a room in the world more competitive than Penn State/NLWC, so it probably is a shock for all these guys who are used to outclassing everyone going in and fighting every day.

 

 

[HarryConnickJr]

On 3/29/2024 at 1:07 AM, wrestle87 said:

This is true, it just seems to extend across upper classmen who are already accomplished all americans themselves. Honestly, I think it happened to Kyle Snyder when he went to that room too.

The PSU room or Ohio State?