Taylors' Challenge, Cam Amine

[AgaveMaria]

Watching Cam Amine wrestle this year at Oklahoma State is almost painful.

Davie Taylor has brought in his vision of how things are done.

Amine looks at times as if he buys in and at others like the same old Cam - Trying to out Sominex Jake Varner.

Dull as dirt at times & then he will actually look aggressive and go for extra points.

Will he fully buy in by the time the Big Dance comes around?

[wrestle87]

He’s a low scorer on his last leg of eligibility, and has a body that’s wearing a ton of historical injuries.

This just happens with some guys when they get long in the tooth in college, everything starts to hurt and doesn’t stop.  It makes wrestling pretty awful at times.

Cam is smaller than he’s been, and he’s already wrung three AA finishes out of himself.

He may also be getting absolutely abused in the room by Hamiti.  If you’re used to being a big dog, and you show up and get killed every day, it can put a real ding in your confidence if you’re not careful.

To directly answer your question, no, he won’t.  Amine may get to scoring 5 or six points every single match, but he’s not going to be a buzzsaw.  That's never been his MO.  

[BruceyB]

2 hours ago, AgaveMaria said:

Watching Cam Amine wrestle this year at Oklahoma State is almost painful.

Davie Taylor has brought in his vision of how things are done.

Amine looks at times as if he buys in and at others like the same old Cam - Trying to out Sominex Jake Varner.

Dull as dirt at times & then he will actually look aggressive and go for extra points.

Will he fully buy in by the time the Big Dance comes around?

It's interesting, especially if you listen to FRL and hear Tyler talk about how much a freakish athlete Cam is. But I agree with @wrestle87, he has done a lot of winning with his approach, and it doesn't appear that he is going to change it now. I was hopeful coming into the year, because I was curious how it would play out if he bought into the scoring mindset. 

I actually wondered if he would get benched for a lesser wrestler that was willing to go out and look to score, just to send a message, but that clearly hasn't happened.

[1032004]

Of his 12 matches this season, 4 have been 4-1 in SV and he is 2-2 in those matches.  Play with fire and you’re bound to get burnt 

[okokzach]

30 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

Of his 12 matches this season, 4 have been 4-1 in SV and he is 2-2 in those matches.  Play with fire and you’re bound to get burnt 

3 of those were during CKLV, maybe he was conserving energy for the tourney rounds. In his 3 matches since, he has 1 MD and two decisions over two guys who haven't given up bonus points to any opponent all year and they've collectively faced Peyton Hall (2x), Terrell Barraclough, Will Miller, Julian Ramirez, Max Brignola, Cameron Sneed and Brock Mantanona. 

 

1 hour ago, BruceyB said:

I actually wondered if he would get benched for a lesser wrestler that was willing to go out and look to score, just to send a message, but that clearly hasn't happened.

That would be a crazy thing to do to a 3x AA who transfered into your program for his final year of eligibility, and is winning 

[BruceyB]

4 minutes ago, okokzach said:

That would be a crazy thing to do to a 3x AA who transfered into your program for his final year of eligibility, and is winning 

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I didn't mean for the season, but just to send a mid-season message that if you aren't looking to rack up points, you aren't going to be starting. Obviously with their schedule to date, putting a back-up in at 165 wouldn't have endangered their dual victories, but if he was removed from the starting line-up, it might have given him a kickstart to start pursuing more points. He is obviously the best option at 165, but perhaps with a wake-up call, he might separate himself further from the field below him.

[Gene Mills Fan]

1 hour ago, okokzach said:

3 of those were during CKLV, maybe he was conserving energy for the tourney rounds. In his 3 matches since, he has 1 MD and two decisions over two guys who haven't given up bonus points to any opponent all year and they've collectively faced Peyton Hall (2x), Terrell Barraclough, Will Miller, Julian Ramirez, Max Brignola, Cameron Sneed and Brock Mantanona. 

 

That would be a crazy thing to do to a 3x AA who transfered into your program for his final year of eligibility, and is winning 

How about how Texas basketball coach made the point.  “I told him, ‘If you’re not going to do what you’re getting paid to do, you sit over here,’” Barnes said.  referring to kids NIL deal  

[666]

Taylor doesn't have to sit Cam out to make him wrestle. Taylor can do the time honored method wrestling coaches have used for thousands of years to motivate their wrestlers: he can run his ass off. Another mile of running every day after practice while all the other guys are heading for the showers should provide ample incentive to take more than 1 shot a match. Unless it's one of those towel-whipping hellscapes in the shower like I had in college, in which case he might be happy to run the mile instead. 

[jackwebster]

5 minutes ago, 666 said:

Taylor can do the time honored method wrestling coaches have used for thousands of years to motivate their wrestlers: he can run his ass off.

So many of us know this bizarre ritual first hand. But it's as idiotic as it is resilient. Your kids need to get better at wrestling, not running, no? 

[ionel]

5 hours ago, BruceyB said:

I actually wondered if he would get benched for a lesser wrestler that was willing to go out and look to score, just to send a message, but that clearly hasn't happened.

Who?

This was actually done (not for your reasons) last dual against AF and they won 165. 

[666]

7 hours ago, wrestle87 said:

He’s a low scorer on his last leg of eligibility, and has a body that’s wearing a ton of historical injuries.

This just happens with some guys when they get long in the tooth in college, everything starts to hurt and doesn’t stop.  It makes wrestling pretty awful at times.

Cam is smaller than he’s been, and he’s already wrung three AA finishes out of himself.

He may also be getting absolutely abused in the room by Hamiti.  If you’re used to being a big dog, and you show up and get killed every day, it can put a real ding in your confidence if you’re not careful.

To directly answer your question, no, he won’t.  Amine may get to scoring 5 or six points every single match, but he’s not going to be a buzzsaw.  That's never been his MO.  

But he doesn't have to be a low scorer. He's got some pretty good takedowns in his arsenal, and he's a great athlete. I just can't understand wrestlers with no sense of aggression. 

[666]

Just now, jackwebster said:

So many of us know this bizarre ritual first hand. But it's as idiotic as it is resilient. Your kids need to get better at wrestling, not running, no? 

There's nothing wrong with Cam's wrestling skills. He's a great defender and has some good takedowns. There's something wrong with his approach. 

[jackwebster]

28 minutes ago, 666 said:

There's nothing wrong with Cam's wrestling skills. He's a great defender and has some good takedowns. There's something wrong with his approach. 

If running as punishment has ever motivated your kids to like wrestling more, then by all means. 

[Dogbone]

Progress isn't always a straight line and it can take time.  Taylor and Cam have been working together for 6 months?  Let's see how he looks at the end of the year.

 

[Truzzcat]

Cam has wrestled 12 matches this year. 8 of those matches according to flow were against ranked opponents. His highest career bonus rate outside of his red shirt year was during his sophomore season at 23.81% he had a 76% win rate that season. This year he has a 75% win rate and 25% bonus rate with 65% of his matches coming against ranked wrestlers. some guys have a low output defensive style even contrary to their coaching staff. People talk about how Bartlett is boring but not their being an actual problem with his wrestling because he rarely ever loses. Cam simply is not quite as good as beau, hes a great wrestler but this is who he is. Statistically when you account for SOS he's probably having his best year to date, its hard to change a guys style when hes been wrestling that way for lets say at least his 5 years of college and probably in competitive matches in high school in 6 months. I think there is a lot being made out of nothing when you really look into it.

[alex1fly]

Agreed. He's a head scratcher. When he turns it on he can really, really go. It's about 50/50 in his matches this year whether he goes hard or sleeps for most of the match.

[Mr. PeanutButter]

he does look slimmer than he did the year he wrestled and beat Marinara

[AgaveMaria]

Not saying he isn't good. He is very good.

Saw him in one match where he looked as if he was drinking the Taylor Kool-Aid and he was aggressive & took it to the opponent.

Another match - snoozefest with him looking like "holding position" rather than going after even the smallest gains.

I generally prefer aggression on the mat. Really think riding without working for a pin is stalling. Counter wrestling is fine - as long as the wrestler is actually trying something when the oppenent starts a move.

Just hope he opens up a bit more.

[666]

6 hours ago, AgaveMaria said:

Not saying he isn't good. He is very good.

Saw him in one match where he looked as if he was drinking the Taylor Kool-Aid and he was aggressive & took it to the opponent.

Another match - snoozefest with him looking like "holding position" rather than going after even the smallest gains.

I generally prefer aggression on the mat. Really think riding without working for a pin is stalling. Counter wrestling is fine - as long as the wrestler is actually trying something when the oppenent starts a move.

Just hope he opens up a bit more.

This will probably sound stupid, but I wonder how his match times of day correlate with his point production? Maybe his blood sugar fluctuates wildly over the course of every day? Maybe his diet is what's messing him up. 

[AgaveMaria]

On 1/15/2025 at 11:05 PM, 666 said:

This will probably sound stupid, but I wonder how his match times of day correlate with his point production? Maybe his blood sugar fluctuates wildly over the course of every day? Maybe his diet is what's messing him up. 

Do you know of any studies or such on this? Might be worth monitoring diet & timing if it can help with performance.

With Cam - a problem for more than four years now?

I think Taylors philosophy will help but don't know if Cam will fully buy in - especially when in hard fought close matches.

[wrestle87]

14 hours ago, AgaveMaria said:

Do you know of any studies or such on this? Might be worth monitoring diet & timing if it can help with performance.

With Cam - a problem for more than four years now?

I think Taylors philosophy will help but don't know if Cam will fully buy in - especially when in hard fought close matches.

I can't say anything for blood sugar necessarily, but I can absolutely say that circadian rhythm impacts performances.  There was 2 hour bands throughout the day when i would wrestle well and feel with it, and 2 hour bands when I would always feel out of it.  It wasn't intentional, it just always turned out that way.  If I had a match that was 10am-noon, 2pm-4pm, or 6pm-8pm, I would be waaay more consistent and with it.

If you put me on the mat between 8-10am, noon-2pm, or 4-6pm, wouldn't work, I'd always be tired.  

I know not everybody is that way, but for me managing that was my biggest struggle in performance consistency.  

As a way to sort of shortcut that, I HAD to take a nap in between matches, even if it was just 5 minutes.  If I didn't, in those in-between sleepy bands of time I would be all messed up.  I have no idea why this is the case, but this continues to be something I have to manage in terms life as an adult as well.  

I'm a MUCH more effective, much happier person if you let me take naps.