25/26 NCAA Dark Horses

[NotMikeMal]

As season quickly approaches I’d love to hear everyone’s Top 3 dark horses at every weight, someone ranked currently outside the top 7. I’ll start. I know some of these are obvious. 

125: Provo, Rivera, Renteria

133: Blaze or Ono, Davino, Ragusin 

141: Blaze or Ono, Jack, Valencia 

149: Echemendia, sorta lost on this weight

157: Larkin, Swensen, Arrington 

165: Brignola, Sparks, Ruiz 

174: Facundo, Mantanona, 

184: Sinclair, Dean

197: Merrill

285: Mriasola, Catka,

[PortaJohn]

1 hour ago, NotMikeMal said:

197: Merrill

Rademacher is the new hot pick @ '97

[Gene Mills Fan]

57 Cardenas

[nhs67]

6 minutes ago, PortaJohn said:

Rademacher is the new hot pick @ '97

He looked very lean and massive at 97 KG, which is just over 213lbs.  Where is that extra 16 pounds coming off from?  That's 8% of his bodyweight.

[Winners Circle]

11 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

He looked very lean and massive at 97 KG, which is just over 213lbs.  Where is that extra 16 pounds coming off from?  That's 8% of his bodyweight.

He wrestled 197 this past season (RS year) and beat Cody Merrill. Fwiw.

[CHROMEBIRD]

Sam Cartella, 149 at NU. Tough kid.

[Gene Mills Fan]

6 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

Sam Cartella, 149 at NU. Tough kid.

if your wrestling this kid don't go down, pick neutral 

[BigRedFan]

28 minutes ago, Gene Mills Fan said:

57 Cardenas

"someone ranked currently outside the top 7"

[JimmySpeaks]

Aiden Brenot 184 NDSU. Round of 12 last year as a RSFR. Imo has a very high ceiling. 

[nhs67]

29 minutes ago, Winners Circle said:

He wrestled 197 this past season (RS year) and beat Cody Merrill. Fwiw.

I have no doubt he can make it, my question is how does he keep that level of performance while losing 16lbs of functional mass?  I don't know that he does, or can.  Similar to Trumble and Bastida, his best weight might be a 235/240lbs HWT that drops to 213lbs for MFS.

[Winners Circle]

6 minutes ago, JimmySpeaks said:

Aiden Brenot 184 NDSU. Round of 12 last year as a RSFR. Imo has a very high ceiling. 

I agree that he has a high ceiling. But, during the year he had 17 losses, including to: Fernando Villaescusa (ISU backup), Gage Musser (Air Force), and Gerrit Nijenhuis (who went 12-10 on the year). So it'll be interesting to see if has a regression to his regular season, or if he stays at the R12 level he showed he can be.