Has Ayala plateaued?

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Finalist two years in a row, still can’t beat Byrd and gets almost majored by Davino. 
 

Iowa seems to have failed to develop him beyond a nice slide by and wrestling on one knee. 
 

is Ayala a guy who would have won a natty had he transferred to a school that could take his game to the next level?

[Brew]

Maybe Spencer can start working out with him

[flyingcement]

In Hebrew, Ayala means female deer.  
Drake is English for the Latin draco meaning dragon or serpent

[bnwtwg]

He may finally win a natty or he may not wrestle Saturday night for the first time in a couple years, but mark my words Ayala is going to sneak on a senior team before it's all said and done. I don't know when or which weight or how, might even be one of the olympic year mickey mouse teams but I'm calling my shot that it's going to happen.

[NYupstate]

11 hours ago, flyingcement said:

Drake is English for the Latin draco meaning dragon or serpent

It is also the male form of a duck. 

Rooster:hen

Drake:duck

 

[Winners Circle]

To answer the topic question, yes. 

13 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Finalist two years in a row, still can’t beat Byrd and gets almost majored by Davino. 
 

Iowa seems to have failed to develop him beyond a nice slide by and wrestling on one knee. 
 

is Ayala a guy who would have won a natty had he transferred to a school that could take his game to the next level?

To answer this question, who knows.

[NM1965]

Yup, Ayala has finished as high as he's apt to finish at NCAAs. I think he'll drop a few notches at NCAAs this year.  I've always enjoyed watching him wrestle, he's a tough kid. 

[Nak21]

133 is a meat grinder, no idea what happens in March, but a rough weekend for a 2x defending finalist/runner up. It does seem to fit a trend…real or just perceived…that by end of 4-5 yrs at Iowa guys are chewed up mentally and physically and have had enough. We shall see…

[scourge165]

5 hours ago, NM1965 said:

Yup, Ayala has finished as high as he's apt to finish at NCAAs. I think he'll drop a few notches at NCAAs this year.  I've always enjoyed watching him wrestle, he's a tough kid. 

I agree, but I don't think that necessarily means HE peaked. I think 133 just got STACKED real quickly.

Crookham is a stud and then there are so many others(the defending National Champ among them). 

 

You can have worse results without... actually getting worse as an athlete. Especially no with these kids coming up. It felt like in the past you worked your way up. RD12, 6th, 3rd, NC, progressively better. Now you have Knox, Blaze, Davino, all these kids who are just as good as anyone(other than Crookham IMO). That's... before you take a guy like Ono... who could be Wrestling in this weight, but isn't. 

[de4856]

So many talented kids coming up, I don’t think Ayala is going to be the only one that will need to have a great tournament in March to AA. 

[jchapman]

Did Jimmy wonder if Duane Goldman plateaued after his sophomore and junior years?

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Bump

[rsotelo]

Come on now.  Ayala is a winner.  Always has been.  The kid is gritty and tough.  You all should take a deep breath and remember is almost 4 months until NCAAs.  He can plateau all he wants - he is RIGHT THERE.  2 time finalist and there aren't many who wouldn't want that for their career.  And he still has one more ride to go.

 

Now if we are going to get picky, he should be a national champ from 125.  If you watch the video, Figueroa won on a go ahead takedown that should have not been allowed and Ayala should have been awarded 1 point on a technical violation for Figueroa grabbing the shoe for that takedown.

[BAC]

23 minutes ago, rsotelo said:

He can plateau all he wants

Well that's the thing, you really can't plateau all you want when the guys around you keep getting better. Not if you want to win NCAAs, or even make the finals.  Ayala found his way to the finals the last 2 years, and maybe he'll get there again, but right now he's looking like the lower half of the podium. 

[Pinnacle]

Davino looked a level better than Ayala, and I think Marcus Blaze will do the same. 

[GV4444]

My analogy is a baseball pitcher with a wicked splitter.   The first few times you see it, you can't hit it, but every time you see it you get better at anticipating it.   Drake has the best slide by in the country at this time, but everyone knows it now.   It's not his only "pitch" in his arsenal, but it's his best attack.  Once you neutralize that, he's still excellent top tier kind of guy, but beatable by other top tier guys.

[Gene Mills Fan]

It's a long way to the top for Drake.

[ScottishSteel]

21 hours ago, GV4444 said:

My analogy is a baseball pitcher with a wicked splitter.   The first few times you see it, you can't hit it, but every time you see it you get better at anticipating it.   Drake has the best slide by in the country at this time, but everyone knows it now.   It's not his only "pitch" in his arsenal, but it's his best attack.  Once you neutralize that, he's still excellent top tier kind of guy, but beatable by other top tier guys.

Counter point - no one ever truly figured out Mariano Rivera's one pitch.

Baseball aside - I feel Drake is going to go as far as who scores first.  If he's down and needs a TD and everyone knows he's looking slide by; I think he'll really struggle to mount a comeback.  I believe the first period is going to be crucial for him - but I also believe his best chance at a natty was 2 years ago at 125 and I don't think he's a finalist this year.

[Rassling2]

On 11/30/2025 at 6:59 PM, Pinnacle said:

Davino looked a level better than Ayala, and I think Marcus Blaze will do the same. 

Ayala is looking at 3rd or 4th at best.

[Winners Circle]

2 hours ago, ScottishSteel said:

Counter point - no one ever truly figured out Mariano Rivera's one pitch.

Baseball aside - I feel Drake is going to go as far as who scores first.  If he's down and needs a TD and everyone knows he's looking slide by; I think he'll really struggle to mount a comeback.  I believe the first period is going to be crucial for him - but I also believe his best chance at a natty was 2 years ago at 125 and I don't think he's a finalist this year.

I get your point, and normally would agree. But Ayala got the first takedown (off a slide-by), and then in the third period (when Drake usually thrives), Frost won 3 takedowns to 0. 

[ScottishSteel]

55 minutes ago, Winners Circle said:

I get your point, and normally would agree. But Ayala got the first takedown (off a slide-by), and then in the third period (when Drake usually thrives), Frost won 3 takedowns to 0. 

There's always an exception that proves the rule? I dunno haha

[11986]

what has jumped out to me as much as Ayala struggling to generate his own offense is how easy guys are getting to his legs and being able to convert the takedown. Davino in particular looked like he was drilling.

all that said, I am not ruling Ayala out, yet.   

[CHROMEBIRD]

Ayala will be fine. With zero inside knowledge, I'm hoping he's perfecting another go-to TD that he'll unleash in March. Everyone's expecting the left slide-by by now.