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What has become a preseason staple for us at InterMat, counting down the top 50 wrestlers for the upcoming season, is back for 2023-24. With a large chunk of sixth and seventh-year seniors gone, there is plenty of turnover from last year’s list to this one. That makes for a lot of fun and perhaps some spirited debates. Like last year, the third iteration of this feature will show five wrestlers at a time, counting down from #50 to #1. For each wrestler, we’ll have some basic information along with career highlights, and a brief analysis of their career (with an emphasis on last season), followed by an outlook for the upcoming season. Here are #31-35 #36-40 #41-45 #46-50 30) Jared Franek (Iowa) photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com Weight: 157 lbs Collegiate Achievements: 2023 NCAA 4th Place, 2023 Big 12 Champion 2022 Top-50 Ranking: Not Ranked After a couple of close calls, Jared Franek finally broke through and got onto the NCAA podium for the first time in 2023. In each of the previous two seasons, Franek was knocked out in the bloodround, one agonizing win shy of All-American status. In 2022-23, Franek suffered a loss to returning All-American Peyton Robb (Nebraska) in his first match and didn’t lose again until the NCAA Tournament. In between he reeled off 24 straight wins and claimed titles at the Southern Scuffle and the Big 12 Championships. Franek’s path to a Big 12 title featured three wins over wrestlers that had either already wrestled in the NCAA bloodround of would in 2023. One of them was Vinny Zerban (Northern Colorado), the wrestler Franek would beat in the Round of 12 to clinch his first All-American honor. He’d finish the year by defeating Robb to advance to the NCAA third-place bout. 2023-24 Outlook: Alongside fellow North Dakota State All-American, Michael Caliendo, Jared Franek left Fargo for Iowa City during the Bison coaching change. Franek starts the year ranked number two in the nation behind Big Ten champion and national finalist Levi Haines (Penn State). In fact, with Robb at number three, the top three all come from the Big Ten and both opponents Franek is slated to meet in dual competition. The transition to Iowa should fit Franek just fine as he has a style that is reminiscent of many modern-day Hawkeyes. 29) Lucas Davison (Michigan) photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com Weight: 285 lbs Collegiate Achievements: 2x NCAA All-American (5th, 6th), 4x Big Ten 5th Place 2022 Top-50 Ranking: #47 One of a foursome of past All-Americans that transferred into Michigan this offseason, Lucas Davison starts the 2023-24 season ranked higher than his other three teammates (#3). Davison started his collegiate career competing at 197 lbs, but has earned All-American honors in both of his seasons up at heavyweight. In 2022-23, Davison amassed a 27-6 record; however, five of his six losses came to opponents that will not (or may not; in Tony Cassioppi’s case) be back this season. It’s no secret that the Big Ten is brutal, but at 285 lbs for the past few years, it has been ridiculously deep. In fact, since Davison has wrestled at heavyweight 12 of his 15 losses have come to conference foes. As he’s ascended up the rankings and others have moved on, those B1G losses should be fewer and farther between. Last year, for the first time in his career, Davison posted a bonus point percentage above 30%. That total was helped by a career-high six falls. 2023-24 Outlook: Somehow, Davison has managed to place fifth in each of his four Big Ten appearances prior to this season. It’s hard to see him placing fifth again in 2024. One of those former opponents he doesn’t have to worry about anymore is Michigan’s Hodge Trophy winner, Mason Parris. Now presumably, the two will get to train together as the 2023 World bronze medalist competes out of the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club. It’s rare to see wrestlers in their sixth year significantly improve, but the change of scenery combined with the partners at Michigan and the CKWC, it’s very possible for Davison. To capture that elusive national title, Davison will likely need to go through a pair of wrestlers he’d yet to beat, Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) and Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force). He and Kerkvliet did not cross paths in 2022-23 and are again not slated to meet until potentially the Big Ten Tournament. 28) Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com Weight: 149 lbs Collegiate Achievements: 2023 NCAA 3rd Place, 2023 Big Ten 4th Place 2022 Top-50 Ranking: Not Ranked One of the cornerstones of Penn State’s top-ranked recruiting Class from 2021, Shayne Van Ness, took the mat for the first time in 2022-23. Van Ness had a solid, but not spectacular, regular season losing four times, but really turned it on in Tulsa. In each of his first three NCAA bouts, Van Ness was trailing either late or by a significant margin and managed to battle back to get the win. Despite starting the tournament as the 12th seed, Van Ness advanced to the national semifinals, where he met Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell), who was in the midst of his fourth title run. Van Ness pushed Diakomihalis to the brink, which is not accurately reflected in the 8-3 final score. After the semifinal loss, Van Ness bounced back to down fellow freshman, Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) and multiple-time All-American Kyle Parco (Arizona State) to finish third in the country. 2023-24 Outlook: Stop me if you’ve seen this before but a Penn State freshman outwrestles his seed and uses that experience to start an excellent career in State College. It just feels like that is the way things are headed for Van Ness. With another year in the Nittany Lion wrestling room and a year of competition under his belt, the sky’s the limit for Van Ness. He’s the highest returning placewinner from 2023; however, he starts the year ranked second with the return of 2022 national runner-up Ridge Lovett (Nebraska). Van Ness and Lovett are set to square off in Penn State’s final Big Ten dual of the year in mid-February. 27) Rocky Elam (Missouri) Weight: 197 lbs Collegiate Achievements: 3x NCAA All-American (3rd, 4th, 5th), 2x Conference Champion (1x Big 12; 1x MAC) 2022 Top-50 Ranking: #34 Rocky Elam is one of only 16 wrestlers to be tabbed amongst the top-50 in each of the three years this feature has run and the only one in this group of five. After some early-season turmoil at 197 lbs, Elam spent some time as the top-ranked wrestler in the country at the weight. While Elam missed some time in the regular season (he only appeared in eight regular season matches), he was able to get on the NCAA podium for the third time and managed his highest finish, to date. He also claimed his first Big 12 title by outlasting eventual NCAA runner-up, Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State), in the conference finals. Through three years at Missouri, Elam has never redshirted and has compiled a 56-11 career record. 2023-24 Outlook: A pair of wrestlers that weren’t in the 2023 bracket have appeared at 197 lbs and occupy the top-two spots at this weight which, in turn, has bumped Elam down to fourth place in InterMat’s preseason rankings. There are also a pair of conference foes ranked directly above him. Elam is 2-2 career against Sloan, who comes in at #3, but only 1-3 against Stephen Buchanan (Oklahoma), with the lone win coming via injury default. Three-time NCAA champion Aaron Brooks (Penn State) has moved up from 184 and occupies the top spot. Even so, Brooks has been susceptible to a loss now and then. That’s a roundabout way of saying, Elam deserves his preseason ranking of #4, but also is fully capable of winning it all in March. He has big match experience with three past All-American finishes and a U20 world title to his name. 26) Aaron Nagao (Penn State) photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com Weight: 133 lbs Collegiate Achievements: 2023 NCAA 5th Place, 2023 Big Ten Runner-Up 2022 Top-50 Ranking: Not Ranked If we were to debate this list in the middle of last season, perhaps the most surprising name amongst the top-30 would be Aaron Nagao. The third-year redshirt freshman had a solid regular season, but nothing that indicated he’d make the Big Ten finals and give Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) one of his toughest matches of the year, to date. To make the Big Ten title bout, Nagao had to defeat two-time All-American Lucas Byrd (Illinois) and eventual AA Jesse Mendez (Ohio State), both in sudden victory. At nationals, Nagao pushed RBY again before falling, 4-1. He earned All-American honors by majoring Zach Redding (Iowa State) and followed it by clinching a spot in the top-six by downing Kai Orine (NC State). Nagao finished his first year of official competition with a 4-0 shutout over Mendez in the NCAA fifth-place match. 2023-24 Outlook: After the 2022-23 season, Nagao transferred from Minnesota to Penn State. Now he’ll have the opportunity to train with Bravo-Young on a regular basis. Nagao is one of two returning All-Americans who transferred to State College in the offseason, giving the already-stacked PSU team a lineup that has no holes. Nagao starts the year ranked third in the nation at 133 lbs. He’s directly behind three-time national runner-up Daton Fix (Oklahoma State), who was responsible for two of his six losses last year. Nagao has emerged as one of the toughest wrestlers in the nation on top, so it’ll be interesting to see how much he improves working with the vaunted Penn State squad.

Indiana head coach Angel Escobedo sat down with Ryan Holmes to talk about all things Hoosier wrestling. The two discuss navigating the transfer portal, which this offseason has netted All-American Brayton Lee, originally an Indiana high school star. Escobedo points out some freshmen who have shined during the difficult transition to DI wrestling and talks about the development of Chad Red Jr. as an assistant coach. Finally, the pair talk rule changes, particularly the three-point takedown. For the full interview, Click Here