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It’s not a super busy week in the ACC, but there are some high-level duals on tap within the conference. Duke and UNC are off this week and Pitt has sent some starters to the F&M Open. UVA will “host” a tri with Gardner-Webb and George Mason at the ARMS Duals at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond on Saturday--I will preview some matches to watch once I get the final lineups. The biggest matchups will be on Friday and Sunday with two top-10 duals. On Sunday, the Hokies (#11 Dual #10 Tourney) will travel to New York to face Cornell (#8 Dual #8 Tourney); we will break that dual down later this weekend. The big one on tap for this evening will be NC State (#7 Dual #2 Tourney) hosting Oklahoma State (#10 Dual #6 Tourney) to open their home slate at Reynolds Coliseum. If we see both teams at full strength, there could be 10 ranked versus ranked matchups, including top-10 matchups at 133, 141, and 184. Though this time of year between injuries and illnesses, we seem to have several “OR”s listed on the probable lineups. Regardless of the final lineups, this dual will have fireworks from the opening whistle. 125: #17 Jakob Camacho OR Jarrett Trombley v #20 Troy Spratley OR Sam Smith Camacho is looking to bounce back from a rough showing at the Collegiate Duals and a scrappy Troy Spratley would be a good place to start. 133: #5 Kai Orine v #3 Daton Fix OR Reece Witcraft Orine has looked better every time he has stepped onto the mat this year. Fix only has two matches this season, but as we well know, he is one of the best wrestlers in the country. I would love to see these two get after it, it has absolute fireworks potential. 141: #4 Ryan Jack v #7 Tagen Jamison OR Sammy Alvarez Jack has quietly put together an impressive season, as has Jamison. Contrasting styles but this will be an important bout for the Pack to get some momentum. 149: #3 Jackson Arrington v #19 Jordan Williams Arrington continues to impress. He has incredible poise and mat presence for being a true sophomore. Williams can be explosive and dangerous, but I think Arrington is able to avoid being phased by that. 157: #5 Ed Scott v #23 Teague Travis After a slower start to the season, Ed Scott has been on a tear. He is looking to continue that run against Teague Travis. 165: #18 Derek Fields OR AJ Kovacs v #2 Izzak Olejnik OR Joey Sanchez A double “OR” at 165. I’m hopeful we get to see Olejnik, he is so fun to watch and will be a very tough test for whoever the Pack sends out. 174: #31 Alex Faison v #28 Brayden Thompson This is a big toss-up match and could have major implications on how this dual shakes out. The Pack will be looking to the veteran Faison for a big win in his home debut this season. 184: #5 Dylan Fishback OR Brock Delsignore v #3 Dustin Plott This is the match I have had circled. Fishback has put together an incredible redshirt freshman campaign but will face a very tough and experienced Dustin Plott. I actually like the style matchup in favor of Fishback, he is relentless, but Plott can be tough to score on and finds ways to win tight matches. 197: #4 Trent Hidlay v #12 Luke Surber OR Jersey Robb The soon-to-be mayor of Raleigh, Trent Hidlay, will be looking for a big win to open his final season at home for the Pack. We have come to expect Hidlay to be in the hunt for bonus points in every bout, I don’t see this one any differently. 285: #16 Owen Trephan OR Isaac Trumble v #11 Konnor Doucet I wondered if this one would be listed as an option for the Pack. Isaac Trumble has been in redshirt, opening 197 for Hidlay for his final season. Trumble has been wrestling on the freestyle circuit--winning a U23 World Championship at 97kg. He is coming off winning the Midlands title at 285 last week. As it stands, he is still in redshirt… The Pack has a solid starter in Trephan who was an ACC Champion and NCAA qualifier last year. I like this matchup for Trephan and it could be a big win for him if he is able to take out Doucet. I’m very pumped for this dual, the atmosphere at Reynolds is always amazing and they will have a sell-out crowd tonight. I’m about to hit the road to Raleigh myself so I can see this one in person.

Earlier this week, South Dakota State officially had ten wrestlers in the national rankings for the first time. On Thursday night, those ten wrestlers took down the ninth-ranked University of Michigan team that got a pair of big wins from true freshmen and saw Austin Gomez make his debut in the maize and blue. The Jackrabbits got bonus point wins from Derrick Cardinal (133 lbs), Cael Swensen (157 lbs), and Tanner Sloan (197 lbs). Another wrestler who got bonus was redshirt freshman #26 Bennett Berge who downed #12 Jaden Bullock, 14-5. In the most anticipated bout of the evening, Michigan’s Shane Griffith handed Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational champion Cade DeVos his first loss of the season with a takedown in sudden victory overtime. South Dakota State is back in action next week at the Virginia Duals, while Michigan will open up its Big Ten slate with duals against Maryland and Michigan State. #13 South Dakota State 22 #9 Michigan 17 125 lbs - Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State) over Wilfried Tanefeu (Michigan) 5-3 133 lbs - Derrick Cardinal (South Dakota State) fall Nolan Wertanen (Michigan) 6:39 141 lbs - Sergio Lemley (Michigan) dec Clay Carlson (South Dakota State) 6-4 149 lbs - Austin Gomez (Michigan) dec Alek Martin (South Dakota State) 9-4 157 lbs - Cael Swensen (South Dakota State) maj Zack Mattin (Michigan) 13-2 165 lbs - Beau Mantanona (Michigan) dec Tanner Cook (South Dakota State) 4-2 174 lbs - Shane Griffith (Michigan) dec Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) 4-1SV 184 lbs - Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) maj Jaden Bullock (Michigan) 14-5 197 lbs - Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) tech Brendin Yatooma (Michigan) 17-1 285 lbs - Lucas Davison (Michigan) tech Luke Rasmussen (South Dakota State) 20-4

I’ve been sick as a dog for a month and traveling non-stop, which is why I haven’t done a show in a while. But you know I’m chomping at the bit to talk about Cornell mailing it in at Collegiate Duals, AJ Ferrari’s unprecedented double bird splits, and why duals just don’t matter despite very intelligent and life-long wrestling people insisting that they do. Case in point, last night #9 Michigan sat at least 40% of their lineup in a dual loss to #13 South Dakota State. Call them ducks. Call them rest. Call them load management. Call them whatever you will. When fans tune in to see Chris Cannon and get Nolan Wertanan, we’re bummed. And if the past is a prologue we’re in for more of it. Earl has a nice write-up on all the big individual matches slated for this weekend. But before he even published he told me, ‘I’m bracing for the worst.’ Editor's Note: We now have reason to believe that the matchup pictured (Vito Arujau/Sam Latona) on the referenced article will not occur. I’m hoping the scratches will be limited, but you best believe those that don’t materialize are going to be added to the war chest above which I will rant about next week. Here’s what else I’m burning on this weekend. 5. Nash Hutmacher To Debut For The Husker It could be something; it could be nothing. But Nebraska has a team this year that is very strong in both dual and tournament formats. A four-time state champ and Fargo titleist, Hutmacher, the starting nose tackle for the football team, shed 45 lbs to make weight for this weekend’s tri-meet vs. Wyoming and Northern Iowa. While my optimism is muted, it will certainly be interesting. It’s a rare occurrence when we get a starting DI football player coming back to wrestling. I’m skeptical of anyone who’s been off the mat for that amount of time. But if he proves to be even just ‘solid’ he’ll boost an already Top 4 dual team. 4. Cohlton Schultz Returns in Banger vs. Yonger A big old zero. That’s what I’ve been earning at HWT in my fantasy league all nine weeks this year because Cohlton Schultz is the only 285 I have on the roster and he’s yet to wrestle. But indications from ASU communications are that the perennial All-American will indeed go this weekend. And his first match is a doozy: Iowa State’s Yonger Bastida who is up to #3 in the country after wrestling 197 last year. It’s not only a Top 5 matchup, but a clash in styles as Schultz is among the largest 285’s and a Greco specialist while Yonger is among the smallest and a free-wheeling leg attacker. 3. Oklahoma State in Raleigh This dual was supposed to take place on a Navy base in Sicily. But when tensions arose in Israel the plan was scrapped. What that means to me is that I didn’t get the excuse to go to a place I’ve wanted to see for a long time. But it’s good news for you because now you won’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to watch what should be an amazing dual. Six of the ten matchups feature opponents ranked within five spots of each other. 2. Braeden Davis’ Audition I’ve been the conductor of the start-Braeden-Davis train. He got the nod vs. Hofstra on December 12th and should get his first high-caliber opponent this weekend in #15-Brandon Kaylor, a former All-American. Davis is 8-0 on the year winning six by bonus. I already think Davis should be the full-time starter and postseason entry, but a win over Kaylor should put the issue to rest for the Nittany Lions. 1. Meyer’s Big Weekend The no-brainer #1 prospect of 2023, Meyer Shapiro came into college with much fanfare after winning world titles in both the Cadet and Junior divisions. His first college assignment was the uber-tough CKLV where he started off hot with a 16-4 major over All-American Bryce Andonian. But just when we started to crown him this year’s NCAA Champ, he fell to #7 Daniel Cardenas and then, in an uninspiring bout where he just didn’t look himself, to #14 Trevor Chumbley. While we thought we’d get a chance to see him rebound at Collegiate Duals, he didn’t go against Iowa State’s Cody Chittum. But he’ll have a couple good ones this weekend with #12 Paddy Gallagher (on Friday) who’s wrestling the best he has in his college career and then (on Sunday) Andonian again.

Well, that was some ending to 2023, eh? We had all kinds of excitement, drama, Zapruder-like video breakdowns, and even some inappropriate images. And that was just the Soldier Salute finals! But now it is 2024 and we have an entire second half of the season to get worked up about. We can say goodbye to the burden of trying to floor tournaments as it’s mostly all duals for the next two months. But fear not, tournament fans. There are still some open tournaments this weekend, including the much-anticipated Bongo Bayly going on somewhere in the land. But before that, it’s time to get cracking on the first mailbag of the new year! I swear, I‘ll hit my hundredth mailbag this year then probably ride off into the sunset. Double birds blazing. (Just kidding I’m not going anywhere) In honor of 2024, pick a wrestler currently ranked 20th and a wrestler currently ranked 24th to make the podium in March. Salty Walkon An interesting enough question, so I’ll bite. After perusing the Intermat rankings, I found a few viable options here. Naturally, 125 has two good options in Troy Spratley and Diego Sotelo. With the way that weight is going, anyone can do anything. I also like Josh Koderhandt and Danny Fongaro at 141 but that class has a solid top six and could be hard to penetrate. But if this was a fantasy draft and we were all picking one from each rank then I’m going with Cody Chittum first overall. We know how talented he is so it’s just a question of whether he develops during the season or succumbs to the grind like many a true frosh before him. Give me Chittum as my 20 and Fongaro as my 24 and let’s do this. Why are there two ranks for one weight in women's wrestling? I saw a handful of weights on Iowa's team with two ranked wrestlers. JD Money Because of the metric system? But seriously, that is because the women’s National tournaments are allowed to have multiple team entries per weight. Thus, making anyone worthy of a ranking eligible whether they are technically a starter or not. Who would win in a match, Dan Gable or Jagger? Remember, Dan Gable is 75 years old and has an artificial hip so I’m only setting the line at Gable -14.5. Jkos11 Remember, Jagger is 45 years old and on the fast track to two artificial lungs. Gable by a million. Unless I can hit him with a lefty headlock in the first 30 seconds. My beautiful friend, it's the New Year and several of PSU's big hitters have only a handful of matches... Any concerns the workload management has gone too far? Saltier Walkon Not really, And I’m certainly not going to argue with the coaching methods of one Cael Sanderson. But it does feel like Penn State has been MIA this year. It’s like Phil Hellmuth walking into the World Series of Poker 45 minutes late. He’s just not worried about it. Cael has a veteran team who know how to prepare themselves throughout the season. Plus, a good handful of Nittany Lions were supposed to compete at Senior Nationals until ultimately bowing out. Don’t worry, you'll see more than enough blue and white singlets come March than you’ll know what to do with. What's Jagger's favorite pro wrestling moniker and with word that pork rolls may be served at Rutgers @ VT next year, would Jagger make his appearance in Blacksburg for Pork Roll night? Ethan Aguigui See, you think you’re trolling me by stealing another Jersey gimmick after ruining Jagger Night. But you forgot one small detail. I’m a Taylor Ham man. You can’t troll me. It’s impossible. But I do like the way you guys do wrestling nicknames. Hit me with a Hunter Hearst Catka and I’ll pop. Do you think “Ferrari-ing” is going to become the new “planking?” Fantasy Championship Wrestling We can’t have guys pulling groins out there trying to go viral. It’s not worth it. Fongaro did it already. The joke has been made. And I’m certainly not one for repeating the same joke over and over. Couldn’t be me. What do you think of The Replacements? Oldest and Greatest The movie or the band? Doesn’t matter. Not a huge fan of either.