Forrest & Duke this year

[peanut]

Does anyone know what Forrest plans to do this year? I can’t imagine being as good as he is, so my opinion means nothing, but it somehow feels pointless for him to compete against high schoolers. 

As for Duke, does anyone know if he’s greyshirting, redshirting, etc?

[HokieDave87]

Forrest still has guys in his area to train with on a daily basis that can make him better. Basically comes down to if he wants to enjoy his senior year of HS or is he ready to live in a college room where wrestling is a full time job. McCort kinda gives him the best of both worlds IMO. There are guys to train with that can push him, and it's not like going to Stillwater full time will allow him to start competing in college earlier.

Duke I would guess him vs. Kasak and loser RS? I don't see either challenging Messenbrink.

[MPhillips]

I believe I heard an interview where he said something about wanting to enjoy his senior year and hang with his friends...

[Wrestleknownothing]

4 minutes ago, MPhillips said:

I believe I heard an interview where he said something about wanting to enjoy his senior year and hang with his friends...

Good for him. Don't be in a hurry. 

[Truzzcat]

I know he wants to wrestle with his brother on the same team. He trained a lot in Stilly prior to committing even during the year so I can only imagine that he will continue to do the same and even more so this year. I think there is something to be said about training with guys that are elite (for their age) and being able to try new stuff on them. I know he as attributed that to a lot of the strides hes made. When you look at the kid that lost to gillman a trials if you told me he would be competitive with Uguev and beat 3 legit (including vito) top 6ish guys in the world without hitting a dump/firemans and maybe only 1-2 slide byes I would have said you were crazy because that was for the most part the only form of offense he generated himself for a really long time. He probably has one of the deepest bags in wrestling now and that's just after a year. As for PJ I am not sure. Yianni tweeted "pj cuts a lot of weight" and then took it down because people were saying he was being a hater of coping. I really don't think he can go 157 in the 2026-2027 season so I think you use him right away but I am not fully convinced kasak is not potentially a smidge better in folkstyle right now. I guess it all depends if Mitchell moves up but then you have Cunningham,Henckel,Welsh,Barr,Mirasola all fighting for two spots which does not seem great either. I mean depth is a great problem but hard to manage I guess.

[jackwebster]

18 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

 I mean depth is a great problem but hard to manage I guess.

Agree. Depth would be a great problem if you didnt have to worry about egos or team comradery or coaches' prerogative. But, you do, and this sort of depth has a potential to blow up a team.

[bnwtwg]

33 minutes ago, jackwebster said:

Agree. Depth would be a great problem if you didnt have to worry about egos or team comradery or coaches' prerogative. But, you do, and this sort of depth has a potential to blow up a team.

Carl has proven time and again to handle this well. And a guy like Rocco Welsh transferring, supposedly of his own volition, and plainly saying "my goal is to be the best in the country, so if I can't even earn a starting spot then how can I say I'm the best?" speaks volumes to the room and culture at PSU/NLWC. We can all hate all we want, but cannot deny the obvious.

[peanut]

On 9/13/2025 at 8:38 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

Good for him. Don't be in a hurry. 

IMO it’s not about being in a hurry or not. It’s about continuing to develop or not.

Based on what little I know, it seems like a top-five-in-the-world talent would benefit more from training with other elite wrestlers rather than high schoolers. 

[ionel]

31 minutes ago, peanut said:

IMO it’s not about being in a hurry or not. It’s about continuing to develop or not.

Based on what little I know, it seems like a top-five-in-the-world talent would benefit more from training with other elite wrestlers rather than high schoolers. 

But ... if he wants to get a good date to prom maybe focus on the high schoolers.  

[Wrestleknownothing]

37 minutes ago, peanut said:

IMO it’s not about being in a hurry or not. It’s about continuing to develop or not.

Based on what little I know, it seems like a top-five-in-the-world talent would benefit more from training with other elite wrestlers rather than high schoolers. 

I get it, but at the same time we have another thread where some people are diagnosing Spencer Lee's problem as going too hard for too long. Having dealt with burnout as a distance swimmer, I am of the opinion that he would be fine pacing himself. 

[MPhillips]

39 minutes ago, peanut said:

Based on what little I know

That has never stopped an opinion...

[The Kid]

On 9/14/2025 at 3:43 PM, bnwtwg said:

Carl has proven time and again to handle this well. And a guy like Rocco Welsh transferring, supposedly of his own volition, and plainly saying "my goal is to be the best in the country, so if I can't even earn a starting spot then how can I say I'm the best?" speaks volumes to the room and culture at PSU/NLWC. We can all hate all we want, but cannot deny the obvious.

The goal should be to be the best in the world.   And then go intergalactic if possible.

[Hammerlock3]

Horrible idea to trade a year on the back end to screw around in highschool. He's also more likely to get hurt wrestling high schoolers.

[Doublehalf]

I honestly don't think he would be wasting a year in highschool and wouldnt he still have the ability to travel to Stillwater to train with the "RTC" during the season? 

[ionel]

42 minutes ago, The Kid said:

The goal should be to be the best in the world.   And then go intergalactic if possible.

Heard Chad may have bought the rocket ship.   It's been in mothballs for a decade or two now. 

[HokieDave87]

5 hours ago, peanut said:

IMO it’s not about being in a hurry or not. It’s about continuing to develop or not.

Based on what little I know, it seems like a top-five-in-the-world talent would benefit more from training with other elite wrestlers rather than high schoolers. 

It's not Stillwater but Bassett as a primary training partner is not just some high schooler. He can also clearly spend time in Stillwater as necessary.

[boconnell]

6 hours ago, peanut said:

IMO it’s not about being in a hurry or not. It’s about continuing to develop or not.

Based on what little I know, it seems like a top-five-in-the-world talent would benefit more from training with other elite wrestlers rather than high schoolers. 

How has his improvement been lately while wrestling with high schoolers?  Has he been benefitting or has he been hurt by his lack of training partners?

[peanut]

40 minutes ago, boconnell said:

How has his improvement been lately while wrestling with high schoolers?  Has he been benefitting or has he been hurt by his lack of training partners?

Speaking for myself, if I were trying to go from #5 in the world to #1, I would try to get into a room with other world-class wrestlers.

[boconnell]

46 minutes ago, peanut said:

Speaking for myself, if I were trying to go from #5 in the world to #1, I would try to get into a room with other world-class wrestlers.

I am sure he eventually will.  But right now his improvement curve is fantastic.  Wrestling with guys like Bassett seems to be working really well.  The video of those two play wrestling is awesome.  

I get the idea that he should move on.  There is wisdom to that.  I just think it's easy to ignore how well it's working right now when you say that.

[Dark Energy]

Don’t get burned out.  Enjoy the journey.  Enjoy life.  Let the guy enjoy the ride.  
 

I take this as a sign that he is looking at the big picture and wrestling is not all consuming.  He knows there is more to life and making great memories with friends matters.  Great for him.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

1 hour ago, Dark Energy said:

Don’t get burned out.  Enjoy the journey.  Enjoy life.  Let the guy enjoy the ride.  
 

I take this as a sign that he is looking at the big picture and wrestling is not all consuming.  He knows there is more to life and making great memories with friends matters.  Great for him.

Yes.  Let the kid be a kid.  Let him enjoy his family, and high school, and being on a team with his little brother.

One of the Sanderson brothers recently had a post about the average parent has already spent 75% of the time they will ever spend with their child by the time the child is 12 and 90% by the time the kid is 18.  I have no idea if there is any truth to it, but it hard for me as a parent.  Hold on to your time with the kids! I used to work at an elite prep school and really didn't understand the parents who sent their kids away to high school (and even elementary school.)