How long until VT becomes a top 3 program?

[Truzzcat]

3 minutes ago, Winners Circle said:

With #2 being OKST? or Nebraska?

OKST I am having a hard time projecting Nebraska out past this year and next losing Allred,Hardy,Lamer,Ferrari(2027) are pretty big hits.

[Winners Circle]

29 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

OKST I am having a hard time projecting Nebraska out past this year and next losing Allred,Hardy,Lamer,Ferrari(2027) are pretty big hits.

I get your point. But they'll still have Minto, McDanel, Araujo, and Ayoub. Plus, I think their track record of developing guys in proven. Who (besides the wrestling nerds that are deep in the weeds), had ever heard of Silas Allred, Christopher Minto (who was 6th at NHSCA Nationals as a senior), and Caleb Smith (yes I know he had some success at App State, but Nebraska put him on the podium 2x. I think that staff will be fine. 

[BruceyB]

1 hour ago, Truzzcat said:

So, with the recent news that Mills flipped to ohio state and presumably meaning his brother will be going there as well I think that puts Ohio state back in the conversation with Iowa and v-tech as competitors for that third spot moving forward.

The Mills boys are all college 133s or smaller with the exception of Jaheim (that I'm aware of). That being said, I'm assuming tOSU staff plans on having Davino move up after this year and Bouz sliding back into 133 for his senior year, and a battle at 125 between Munaretto, Mills, Kilkeary, and McCrone in 26-27. Then at some point a Munaretto, Mills, Davino 1-2-3. The Mills family is definitely worth investing in. I'm extremely curious to see how good he'll be by his senior year, and then you'd think it's likely that the next brother coming up, Aviyahn, will probably be pretty tough as well.

[BruceyB]

43 minutes ago, Winners Circle said:

I get your point. But they'll still have Minto, McDanel, Araujo, and Ayoub. Plus, I think their track record of developing guys in proven. Who (besides the wrestling nerds that are deep in the weeds), had ever heard of Silas Allred, Christopher Minto (who was 6th at NHSCA Nationals as a senior), and Caleb Smith (yes I know he had some success at App State, but Nebraska put him on the podium 2x. I think that staff will be fine. 

Nebraska is absolutely an elite NCAA program and fields a trophy contender year after year. But the 2025 tournament was probably the most improbably run that has ever happened at NCAAs. It was amazing to watch, but you had wrestlers outperform their seed at:

125: Smith 7th place (9 seed)

133: Van Dee 7th place (17 seed)

149: Lovett 1st place (2nd seed)

157: Taylor 1st place (3rd seed and pulled a significant upset over Shapiro to make the finals)

165: Minto 4th place (12 seed)

184: Allred 7th place (12 seed)

197: McDanel 8th place (20 seed)

7 of their 9 wrestlers outperformed their seeds, and they had 5 wrestlers outside of AA seeds make the podium (I'd imagine that has to be the first time that has ever happened). Their only two "underperformances" were #1 seed Hardy taking second and #8 Pinto falling in R12. 

Take out this historic overperformance and in the previous 5 tournaments they finished:

2024: 9th

2023: 8th

2022: 5th

2021: 12th

2019: 10th

They will absolutely be in the hunt for trophies, but like Truzz, I have a hard time picturing Nebraska keeping up with some other programs (as of now) beyond this season. I'd pick them to be battling for a top 5ish spot at NCAAs before finishing second again with their current roster/commits.

[Truzzcat]

3 hours ago, Winners Circle said:

I get your point. But they'll still have Minto, McDanel, Araujo, and Ayoub. Plus, I think their track record of developing guys in proven. Who (besides the wrestling nerds that are deep in the weeds), had ever heard of Silas Allred, Christopher Minto (who was 6th at NHSCA Nationals as a senior), and Caleb Smith (yes I know he had some success at App State, but Nebraska put him on the podium 2x. I think that staff will be fine. 

very strong point. In all honesty I am not sure I have ever seen two guys develop like minto and Antrell. Antrell went 4-5 against d1 comp his redshirt year and most notably lost to alejandro herrera rondon who I thought was a slam dunk recruit but has not even been NQ caliber in college.

[HokieDave87]

8 hours ago, WrestlingRash said:

Miller is the real gem of the 3 headed monster that VT got. However, I suspect he could decommit and go to PSU or Okie State. He is going to get paid and I really don't think VT can afford him. 

Both Bo and Melvin have seen what money is out there and committed to VT. Also, VT isn't poor they're still getting paid. Barring an issue with Bo's experience Melvin and Keegan will end up at VT.