Backups who will make a name for themselves this season

[Truzzcat]

Alex nini of Rutgers if he does not get the spot (wrestlestat has Oliveri but I think Nini is much better) 

Matty lopes lehigh. Stuck behind Crookham did wrestle some 125 last year and wrestle Seymour very competitive not sure what he does next year I think 125 is probably too much of a pull by then if it is not already but if Crookham gets hurt he will be a very good fill in.

Gage walker Missouri. I expect a big second year jump at what I think is the better weight for him would not be shocked if they pull the shirt because he's just better than Moore.

Ethan Birden ohio state, I am guessing Paddy gets the nod to start the year. Birden beat henckel at the 2023 ironman and lost a close one to Lockett and Ferrari (insane bracket). He needs offense on his feet and if he has found it he is a problem for everyone.

[Spladle]

Garrett Grice at Iowa State. 

[MPhillips]

13 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

Ethan Birden ohio state, I am guessing Paddy gets the nod to start the year.

Only if Cannon can hold 57...

[nhs67]

14 hours ago, charmon55 said:

Cael Hughes at 133 for OKST

I think Hughes will be at 141lbs.  I think McComas is the backup to watch at 133lbs for OSU.  In fact,  if you ask McComas, the job (133lb starter) hasn't been earned by anybody yet and he firmly believes he will be the one to man the spot.

[nhs67]

13 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

Alex nini of Rutgers if he does not get the spot (wrestlestat has Oliveri but I think Nini is much better) 

Matty lopes lehigh. Stuck behind Crookham did wrestle some 125 last year and wrestle Seymour very competitive not sure what he does next year I think 125 is probably too much of a pull by then if it is not already but if Crookham gets hurt he will be a very good fill in.

Gage walker Missouri. I expect a big second year jump at what I think is the better weight for him would not be shocked if they pull the shirt because he's just better than Moore.

Ethan Birden ohio state, I am guessing Paddy gets the nod to start the year. Birden beat henckel at the 2023 ironman and lost a close one to Lockett and Ferrari (insane bracket). He needs offense on his feet and if he has found it he is a problem for everyone.

He looked pretty good at Worlds.  It will be interesting to see him drop and hold the weight for a season.  Goodale has no issues putting out the best guy for the team.  If Nini is it, expect them to go with him by season's end.

[Truzzcat]

1 hour ago, MPhillips said:

Only if Cannon can hold 57...

I hope he can because I think the team is better with him at 157 but also because I think there is a better than zero % chance he can win a natty daddy at 157 this year.

[MPhillips]

23 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

I hope he can

As do I, for the reasons you mentioned. Ryan had an interview early summer and mentioned it was a tough hold for him last season...

[Antitroll2828]

15 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

Alex nini of Rutgers if he does not get the spot (wrestlestat has Oliveri but I think Nini is much better) 

Matty lopes lehigh. Stuck behind Crookham did wrestle some 125 last year and wrestle Seymour very competitive not sure what he does next year I think 125 is probably too much of a pull by then if it is not already but if Crookham gets hurt he will be a very good fill in.

Gage walker Missouri. I expect a big second year jump at what I think is the better weight for him would not be shocked if they pull the shirt because he's just better than Moore.

Ethan Birden ohio state, I am guessing Paddy gets the nod to start the year. Birden beat henckel at the 2023 ironman and lost a close one to Lockett and Ferrari (insane bracket). He needs offense on his feet and if he has found it he is a problem for everyone.

Nini lost to Campbells, UPenn and Lehigh back ups last season while Joey O only lost to AAs (almost all 1 TD matches) and made the blood round .. just curious why you think Nini is much better 

[Truzzcat]

4 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Nini lost to Campbells, UPenn and Lehigh back ups last season while Joey O only lost to AAs (almost all 1 TD matches) and made the blood round .. just curious why you think Nini is much better 

I think he was very small at 149, 141 feels like the best weight for him he also impressed me in a few losses last year against Webster and Hines. He also looked incredible against stanich giving him arguably his toughest match at u20's outside of the first 2 minutes against Toprak. Olivieri had a good NCAA's but he did not really show much to me that leads me to believe there is going to be a big jump going into year 5 compared to Nini going from year 1 to year 2. I think much better was probably an over exaggeration on my part though.

[Truzzcat]

12 minutes ago, MPhillips said:

As do I, for the reasons you mentioned. Ryan had an interview early summer and mentioned it was a tough hold for him last season...

he did not look small by any means at 74kg.

[alex1fly]

2 hours ago, nhs67 said:

I think Hughes will be at 141lbs.  I think McComas is the backup to watch at 133lbs for OSU.  In fact,  if you ask McComas, the job (133lb starter) hasn't been earned by anybody yet and he firmly believes he will be the one to man the spot.

If JJ is beating a national champ that’s a great sign 

High hopes for Hughes, his ceiling is crazy, just needs to put all the pieces together 

[nhs67]

21 minutes ago, alex1fly said:

If JJ is beating a national champ that’s a great sign 

High hopes for Hughes, his ceiling is crazy, just needs to put all the pieces together 

I stand corrected, by the way.

OSU has put out their expected lineups, and included both Figs and Hughes at 133lbs.

[Tyler Perry]

On 10/6/2025 at 6:29 PM, BruceyB said:

See "excluding Freshman who will redshirt." 

Idk why I thought he was a freshman last year 

[MNRodent]

Last year, Fr. Ethan Riddle was a backup to So. Clayton Whiting for the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 174.  However, over the summer freestyle season, Riddle beat Whiting and has currently moved up to #6 on the USA Senior Freestyle rankings. Both are Wisconsin AWA kids but have different styles of wrestling. It will be interesting to see what happens this year.

 

[Antitroll2828]

On 10/9/2025 at 9:41 AM, Truzzcat said:

I think he was very small at 149, 141 feels like the best weight for him he also impressed me in a few losses last year against Webster and Hines. He also looked incredible against stanich giving him arguably his toughest match at u20's outside of the first 2 minutes against Toprak. Olivieri had a good NCAA's but he did not really show much to me that leads me to believe there is going to be a big jump going into year 5 compared to Nini going from year 1 to year 2. I think much better was probably an over exaggeration on my part though.

Fair points but I saw that Nini was 165 for weight certification and even with the descent plan Idk if he’s allowed to go down to 141 , I was always under the belief you can only move 2 weight classes down from your certification weight but I could be wrong 

[Truzzcat]

3 hours ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Fair points but I saw that Nini was 165 for weight certification and even with the descent plan Idk if he’s allowed to go down to 141 , I was always under the belief you can only move 2 weight classes down from your certification weight but I could be wrong 

Holy cow I did not see that. I just assumed he was at 157 or 149 for pre certs because wrestlestat had him at 141. 

[Antitroll2828]

1 hour ago, Truzzcat said:

Holy cow I did not see that. I just assumed he was at 157 or 149 for pre certs because wrestlestat had him at 141. 

Yea I was surprised too I saw the weight certs on the Rutgers forum and the guy who posted it is accurate with this kind of stuff 

 

who knows maybe Nini has a lot of body fat and can lose the weight 

[lu1979]

On 10/8/2025 at 5:51 PM, Truzzcat said:

 

Matty lopes lehigh. Stuck behind Crookham did wrestle some 125 last year and wrestle Seymour very competitive not sure what he does next year I think 125 is probably too much of a pull by then if it is not already but if Crookham gets hurt he will be a very good fill in.

 

Matty Lopes is a really good back up - he doed have a red shirt to use this year if he wants to but if he thinks he can make and hold 125 he may challenge Seymour.  Regardless of what Lopes does I expect that Mason Ziegler will also be pushing Seymour for the spot.  Seymour as a returning AA has to be favored but both of those young guys are really good.

[Huskers20]

Koehler & Ayoub are most likely qualifier level at Nebraska as backups at 125/133

Edited Saturday at 02:15 AM by Huskers20

[Huskers20]

Speaking of quality backups can we see them transfer at semester? Personally I'd love to see Blake Cushing (141) transfer to UNK and have success 

[MPhillips]

14 hours ago, Antitroll2828 said:

County Fair points but I saw that Nini was 165 for weight certification

Elephant Ears...

[bnwtwg]

On 10/9/2025 at 6:29 AM, MPhillips said:

Only if Cannon can hold 57...

I think this is his last year of Masters Class D eligibility so as long as he doesn't slip and break a hip qualifying him for another medalist Cannon should be fine

[Elevator]

Penn named Jude Swisher, Kelly Dunnigan, and Sean Seefeldt as captains.   Dunnigan and Seefeld have not been starters so interested to see if either of these guys win the spot and post a strong year.   Hope so!

[Antitroll2828]

6 hours ago, Elevator said:

Penn named Jude Swisher, Kelly Dunnigan, and Sean Seefeldt as captains.   Dunnigan and Seefeld have not been starters so interested to see if either of these guys win the spot and post a strong year.   Hope so!

It looks like Evan Mougalian will never crack the penn lineup , he was a 2x NJ state champ and 3x finalist ,he beat Stanich many times in high school, it would have seemed crazy to think a few years ago he ll never wrestle in a postseason but he’s in the Wharton school of business so I think he’ll be alright in the long run 

[H82Lose]

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, TNwrestling said:

Jarvis Little, AppSt 133. was 11-2 last season as the backup. Won the Mountaineer Open and Newberry Open. Second at the AppSt Open (at 141). And third at the Wilkes Open and Battle at the Citadel. 

TOUGH. Hopefully he can make the grades.