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ILLINI COACHES The ILLINI are coached by Mike Poeta, Jeremy Hunter for the wee ones, and IMAR and AOC for the bigguns. Do we need to spell out their full names, biographies and favorite movies? No. This is the best staff in the country. That's all you need to know. Add in Director of Operations Bryan Medlin and Christian Kanzler, starring as Director of Player Operations. We do wish athletic departments, and, yes, it is a problem with every single athletic department in this great country of ours, would not use the word "player" when referring to a "wrestler." Brian Swaw was the "Voice of the ILLINI" last year, and we hope he's back. He kept the student announcers from using "player" instead of "wrestler," and for that we are grateful. EARLY LOOK / TEAM RANKINGS This early look at the ILLINI Wrestling team is based on the lineup reported by Wrestlestat.com and the schedule provided by FightingILLINI.com. We do expect fire at any public or private wrestle-offs that may occur in the future. Moreover, the team has tournaments on the schedule that will allow multiple wrestlers from the same team at one weight. As a tournament team, ILLINOIS is ranked #19 by Wrestlestat.com and #14 as a dual squad. Intermat has the good guys as the #19 tournament team, #12 in duals. That shows a strong lineup with no "holes" or weak spots. FloWrestling has the Orange and Blue in the #23 spot as a tournament team. The individual rankings listed below are (Wrestlestat.com/Intermat/Flo). INDIVIDUAL STARTERS 125. Ramazan Attasauov (#21/#19/NR). The transfer from Iowa State has wrestled at 133 for the previous five years. Of course, the ILLINI already have Lucas Byrd at that weight, so his transfer was conditioned on wrestling at 125. He won the U23 National Tournament at 57kg back in 2020 beating RayVon Foley and Patrick Glory on the way to the title. He has qualified for NCAAs at 133. Ramazan will be huge at 125. He's already tall and strong. He is a super-quality wrestler that must answer two questions: (1) Can he be effective at 125, and (2) Russian-born, has he become fully integrated in Folkstyle wrestling? Our newest ILLINI looked good on picture day, so maybe he will be effective at 125. If things don't work out, the ILLINI have Caelan Riley and Joey Ruzic available. In fact, it might be wise to give Ramazan a few "weight breaks" over the season and let the young guys catch a dual or two. For a more detailed look at Attasauov, check out our previous story here. 133. Lucas Byrd (#7/#3/#9). Everybody loves to watch Lucas Byrd wrestle. The Byrd is the Wyrd! Out last year with an injury, he will be especially pissed off this season. A two-time All American (5,5), you always expect him to win. He didn't earn AA honors in his last NCAAs, but he still had a very strong tournament, losing to Daton Fix and Jesse Mendez by one point each, with the Mendez match going to TB-3. Lucas has the talent and ability to be a National Champion this year. He is right there. The question that remains is if he has completely healed from his injury. If so, watch out! We've seen pictures from his Media Day, and, wow, he looks like a tank. The ILLINI also have Kole Brower (occasional starter) and Brian Beers at this weight. Tony Madrigal graduated. Joey Ruzic will be on redshirt. The young feller who's ranked ahead of Byrd by FloWrestling and Wrestlestat.com but not Intermat, and who Lucas has beaten three out of four times, is the subject of this Wrestling Art, which we call "The World's Greatest Blood Round Takedown": 141. Danny Pucino (#36/#19/#21). Danny was a NCAA qualifier last season. He has beaten some serious All Americans on his journey so far, including Cole Matthews of Pittsburgh, Vance Vombaur of Minnesota, Parker Filius of Purdue and Dylan D'Emilio of Ohio State. He has a large repertoire of funky moves and a crazy misdirection ankle grab/single that are very entertaining. When he hits one of those, we like to say that his opponent got "PUCINO'D." Danny also has one of the best gas tanks in wrestling. He should have gotten a wild card to the Big Dance two years ago, even after having a poor B1G Tournament, but he improved and had a good BTT this past season. Will the improvement continue? He always seemed a little slight for the weight, but with age comes weight. Will the extra weight be an advantage or slow him down? The ILLINI could have a fantastic wrestle-off mini-tournament at this weight. Others at or near 141 include Will Baysingar and Hudson Goebel, two proven tough guys, as well as likely redshirts Jayden Colon, Jackson Herman and Olin Walker. 149. Kannon Webster (#9/#11/#12). ILLINI fans have been waiting for this addition to the lineup. We thought he was going to forego his redshirt last year. Coach Poeta and Kannon tricked us! The multiple Fargo winner and Pan Am Champion will be a force at this weight. We believe he is seriously undervalued thus far. He went 20-1 last year as a true Freshman. With wins in the Iowa and Ohio State duals. He won the Greyhound Open and Zingo Nationals last year. Heck, as a high school Senior, he won Kaufman Brand beating the Indiana University fourth-year starter in the finals. Also at this weight, the ILLINI have a previous starter and tough guy in Jake Harrier. Charlie Fifield is here as well, along with stud Ohio recruit Ryan Bennett. Webster finished third at the Midlands, with his one loss on the season to Ty Watters in a very controversial match. Watters ended up on the podium in the 4th position at NCAAs. Here is a Law and Order investigation into that controversial match: 157. Jason Kraisser (#29/#23/#24). The second transfer from Iowa State is there to fill the spot left by Joe Roberts, who has retired from wrestling because of injuries. Jason started out in college at Campbell where he was an all-SoCon Freshman with a 21-8 record. He transferred to ISU, and two years ago, qualified for the Big Dance as the #25 seed. He made it to the Round of 16. Kraisser ended up with a 22-15 record. Last year, it was only open tournaments and a 16-6 mark. He is a real leg-rider, which is not something the ILLINI has had in some time. For more detail, check out this earlier article. True Freshman Logan Swaw got the start last season after the injury to Roberts, but he is ready for a redshirt year. Danny Nini is a transfer from North Carolina. Antonio Alvarado and Tegan Chumbley fill out the roster at 157. 165. Braeden Scoles (#50/NR/NR). Another rookie in the starting lineup is this Fargo winner and four-time Wisconsin state champion. He has the pedigree but a really tough weight in conference. The top three in the Wrestlestat.com rankings are all in conference and all on the ILLINOIS schedule (PSU, Iowa and OSU). Braeden was 10-4 last season, but that was in part due to battling injuries. Near the beginning of the year, he got the start against North Carolina and beat a National Qualifier. The ILLINI have a surfeit of riches at this weight with last year's true freshman starter and National Qualifier Chris Moore taking his redshirt, as well as tough guys Caden Ernd (occasional starter) and Cooper Wettig (occasional starter). Both Ernd and Wettig have filled in for injured ILLINI in the past even up a couple of weights. Scoles ended last season on a winning note with four straight wins, a championship and a "Jersey Chain" at the Zingo Nationals. Check out the original post to see Scoles in action and to find out what a "Jersey Chain" is. It's pretty funny. 174. Danny Braunagel (#14/#20/#10). The first twin in the lineup is a 3x NCAA Qualifier, 2x ILLINOIS State Champion, 3x Finalist and a Pan Am Champion with 63 career wins for the Orange and Blue. Our Christmas Wish this year is for Danny Braunagel to go through an entire season without a debilitating injury. He did it as a redshirt Freshman, finishing with a 23-9 record, while qualifying for the NCAA Tournament and earning Covid-year Honorable Mention All American honors. [LOOKING AT THE CAMERA] Is that too much to ask for? One year. No injuries. We've been good this yea--okay no more Deadpool--let's get back to the Brawlnagel. He has just finished up an Olympic redshirt year placing in the OTT Greco trials. He now knows as much about hand-fighting as Tony Stark knows about metals. You can bet he is ready to feast on some leg attacks. Over the years, Little Brawny has beaten a lot of great wrestlers, including Izzak Olejnik, Peyton Mocco, Kennedy Monday, Ethan Smith, Peyton Robb, Bubba Wilson and Gerrit Nijenhuis both by major, Holden Heller, Peyton Hall (x2), Caleb Fish, and he's undefeated against Cameron Amine (2-0). You can go back through his record and see exactly when the injuries occurred. As one example, he beats Maxx Mayfield 8-1 at Midlands. Less than three weeks later, he loses to the same wrestler 3-8. If he can get through the season uninjured, we expect him to AA again. Colin Kelly is the blue chip recruit waiting in the wings. Chris Moore (last year's starter and NCAA qualifier), Caden Ernd and Cooper Wettig can take a few dual matches if needed. 184. Edmond Ruth (#4/#8/#7). As a high schooler, he had a 105-1 record that included two Pennsylvania titles and three finals. On top of that, he was a 4x high school All American. Whereas Jason Kraisser was a high school state medalist in cross country, Edmond was a state qualifier in PA in the 4x400. It is not that hard to believe, then, where they get their extreme conditioning. The ILLINI started their next streak of All Americans last season with Edmond Ruth. He also won a Big Ten Championship and a Midlands Championship. Ruth has been the team leader in dual points for the last two seasons. His record over the last two years for ILLINOIS is 26-4 (7th) and the year before that 30-8 (R12). Moving up in weight this year, you can already see the additional muscle on his body from the media day pictures and his Instagram account. He is a master of mat wrestling, and his quickness and conditioning allow him to wear down opponents, even the ones who try to avoid his bear hugs. We think he challenges for a Championship this year. He will have a quickness advantage and almost certainly a conditioning advantage over all of the other challengers. On February 16, 2025, expect to see Edmond Ruth versus Carter Starocci. We can't wait! Tough guy and multi-year starter and National Qualifier Dylan Connell will get his chance at a wrestle off. Additionally, strongman Charlie Heydorn is available. 197. Zac Braunagel (#10/#10/#9). The second twin that everybody loves to root for is Big Brawny. He won Fargo and was a 2x ILLINOIS State Champion. Zac was an age group Pan Am Gold Medal winner, as well as an age group World Teamer. Last year, he was a Senior World Team member in Greco. He qualified for and placed at the OTT. In college, the Brawlnagel has been a four-time NCAA Tournament qualifier with a Round of 12 twice and earned a Covid-year Honorable Mention All American honor. He had an Olympic redshirt last season, so he now has a doctorate in hand-fighting. The year before that, he finished 25-9 at 197. Everybody in the world, including his opponents on the mat, are rooting for another AA honor this year for both Danny and Zac. Wrestlers like tough guys. The starter from last year is the mercurial and tough Isiah Pettigrew, who came back days after knee surgery to complete his season. We would love to see this wrestle-off, but, man, we absolutely don't want anybody to get hurt, so we don't know what to think. "Little Brother" Joey Braunagel is not on the roster this year, and that may have to do with his commitment to the United States Army, THE BEST ARMY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! 285. Luke Luffman (#16/#13/#15). This ILLINI team has to be loved and enjoyed by all the fans, even the stinky and noisy fans of other teams. Another example: The big man in the middle, LUUUUUUKE Luffman, true blue fan favorite. In high school, Luke was a double Fargo winner in Freestyle and Greco. He won three State Championships, two at 220 and one at heavyweight. In college, he's been a 3x NCAA Qualifier and has been as high as #6 in the rankings. He's also had multiple dual-clinching wins for the Orange and Blue. He's coming off of a season-ending injury, so the question is whether he has fully recovered. He was well on his way to AA status last year, losing in the Midlands Finals by a single point to Isaac Trumble of NC State. Then, he got injured. During his college career, he's had wins over Luke Surber, Tate Orndorff, Trent Hilger, Taye Ghadiali, Josh Hokit, Christian Lance and Ben Goldin (x2). Filling in for an injured LUUUUKE last season was true Freshman Peter Marinopoulos, and he won a couple of duals for the good guys and also won the Lindenwood Open. Whether he goes 197 or 285 in the future will be the question, but he'll get his well-earned redshirt this season. Veteran Daniel Renshaw is available, as well as new recruit Marko Ivanisevic. TRUE FRESHMEN AND TRANSFERS The ILLINI brought in a strong class that runs from the wee folks to the big guy in the middle, including Anthony "Joey" Ruzic, Ryan Bennett, Jayden Colon, Colin Kelly, Jackson Herman (Father was a stud AA for ILLINOIS Wrestling), Olin Walker and Marko Ivanisevic. Besides Ramazan Attasauov and Jason Kraisser mentioned above -- both of who came from Iowa State -- the ILLINI also pulled in Danny Nini from North Carolina. NOTE: Originally posted at the ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond. There you will find more videos as well as photographs and dual match scores. For video credits, please see YouTube.

More proof that the DOJ is running interference for Biden and his mini me. mspart

here's the entire report.... a lot of right wingers claimed it was determined 'he's unfit to stand trial' but that's not what it says. it hinted at it, though. and the question we should all be asking, is why wasn't anything done further https://www.justice.gov/storage/report-from-special-counsel-robert-k-hur-february-2024.pdf

All of Trump's products are made in China. His ability to fleece his own followers is going to take a big hit. On second thought, his followers' willingness to be fleeced knows no bounds. This could be a nice source of revenue for the government.

I still don't understand why anyone believes Trump cares about anyone or anything but his own interests. This is a guy who was born rich, has never held a real job or had to work for anything, and imagining he cares about the average person unless it suits his interest? Trump wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire. He despises people who don't have something that benefits him. If he didn't need people to vote for him, he wouldn't even pretend to give a shit.

Anyways, there is a showing next week I bought tickets for. I’ll come here to let you all know how it goes!

I wrestled him a lot in high school and was in his class. Did he have a strength advantage? Absolutley. Did he present unique problems? Absolutely. Are either of those things why he was an NCAA D1 champion? Absolutely not. He had the determination and attitude of a champion and he paved his way like every other champion.

Limited theatrical release starting 12/6.

Honestly, they have a fairly decent dual team top to bottom, but just lake the high end firepower. If Cleveland Belton can make the pull to 133 successfully, he should be a NQ. Deanthony Parker should be NQ at 184. Bradley Hill could be NQ at 197 and if Mora beat out Heindselman then he should be NQ at HWT.

I believe he is a Frosh this year. That said, as IaW eludes to below, once the 'coach' is gone they won't draw the numbers/names. I believe he will look to follow to wherever his boys are heading which, to me, seems to be pretty likely Rutgers.

He may not be quite ready for d1 wrestling yet but I see a world where Meza is a better option than terukina as well and while it was in freestyle he does have a career win over Luke lilledahl in the last 16months and hes a lot of peoples pick to win 125. Iowa state feels like they have a path to being a top 3 team but also a fairly low floor but I hope they can put it all together lineup wise.

I'm guessing that when the Bassett's are gone, it is highly possible that the man responsible for growing the program may be gone, too.

Team wise Ech at 141 and Swiderski at 157 would be amazing (if they were able to have success at those weights).....I cannot see Ech getting back down to 141 though...that is quite the pull.

I do miss Kentucky Mudflap

Greetings All, Nomad had an interesting question on the Twatter, and I thought it would be good for a discussion here. In his original post, he asks "How many of these guys will make > 1.5 world teams and wrestle > 4.5 years on the senior level after college?" with a screenshot of Flo's P4P Top 20. While I wasn't able to find ten years ago (2014-15) easily, I was able to grab 2015-16's Top 20 P4P and followed that up and asked something along the lines of 'Who from this fits that criteria?' Discuss, gents... Actual Twitter posts to follow...

Nomad is suggesting, and he isn't wrong, that we are and have been spoiled the last couple/few cycles. Keeping it purely cyclical, I suppose taking the P4P from 23-24, 19-20, and 15-16 and comparing those three would be apt. Was there a P4P for 11-12. I don't have time now, but I might later.

Umm...your posts on here say otherwise....

Every year dozens of Iranians are killed for protesting against the Ayatollahs. Sitting in a free country, what do you understand about strength and bravery? Right now, the government can put me in jail for at least 10 years just because of the content of the previous comment I sent here. You are eating your popcorn and making irrelevant comments.

How much did he claim as 10% for the big guy? Hunter’s pled guilty to some of his crimes. Joe has been deemed incompetent to stand trial.

Biden posted his income taxes on his campaign website. Trump won't release his.

He's a clown that lives on credit. Practically everything he "owns" is mortgaged to the hilt. Why do you think he won't release his financial records? It's because he's terrified of people realizing he's in deep shit financially and no more American banks will do business with him. The day he croaks, will be the day his creditors seize everything. The only value he has is that he's dangerously close to becoming president again, otherwise his only other redeeming value is that he was an asshole to people on TV once. I won't bother pointing out his failure to success ratio. It's pretty skewed in one direction. The sad part is if he had done the bare minimum or almost nothing, he would be an actual billionaire and not have himself moved in all kinds of legal issues. But his stupid belief that he's some kind of business genius led him here. So he has nobody to blame but himself.

Biden kept most of Trump’s tariffs on china, and added more. How can you vote responsibly when you don’t know what you’re voting for?

Irony at it's best: The dumbest president in history. A guy who struggles to speak at a 4th grade level. His favorite emotion is a tie between hate and anger. The guy with no leadership skills whatsoever. His only concerns are a tie between what he can do for himself and what we can all do for him. That self important and self centered jerk, in his desperation, decides to lay blame where it belongs... to "stupid people." If you haven't yet heard of what "projection" is - now would be a good time to learn about it. Psychological projection - Wikipedia

Hope that passes. When Trump's tariffs on goods from China takes effect - you'll need that money to pay for all imports from China which will be shooting up in price like a 2nd level of inflation. It's such a terrible idea. Got to keep that orange clown out of office.

It is common knowledge that Russia has been involved in election interference campaigns going back AT LEAST to 2016. Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections - Wikipedia It is also common knowledge that Russian and the US have been involved in at least 'low grade' cyber warfare since that time. The level has increased significantly since their invasion of Ukraine. From a technical perspective, we may not be terribly far from an all out cyber war with Russia at this very moment. Timeline was correct. But WKN beat me to it. Trump "openly" asked for Russia's help in "finding" Hilary's emails. (See above for WKN's post.) Ah yes, THOSE peace agreements! The ones that Kushner put together between countries that were not involved in any conflict whatsoever and, for the most part, NEVER actually had been. This was promoted as "making peace in the middle east" - when it was in fact, just smoke and mirrors (and US payoffs to the participants.) The only places these "peace" agreements took place were already firmly at peace. Trump did say he'd make peace in the middle east. Another campaign promise he failed to deliver on. This was just BS.

Having "proof" that an event happened does NOT actually include knowing the full depths of the event. Because - that is not the definition of "proof", at all. (It's cool that children are allowed to post here. It really is. But it can be frustrating when they obviously have the resources of the internet at their disposal, yet can't be bothered to fact check themselves before posting.)

If it wasn't for the Islamic Republic (the ruling government of Iran), the Arabs and Israel would have made peace long ago. Iranians are neither Arabs nor Muslims (Yes Iran has been a quasi-Islamic country since 1400 years ago but most of Iranians have not prayed even once; and the Ayatollahs just believe in the Khamenei doctrine, not Prophet Muhammad). And Iran not only does not have a common border with Palestine and Israel, but many Iranians do not even know where Israel is exactly. They only know that Israel is somewhere in the Middle East. So why does an Ayatollah from Iran, who is neither an Arab nor an Israeli, neither a Jew nor even a Muslim, involve himself more than any other country in the issue of Palestine and Israel? Despite my terrible English, I think the point is clear.

His voter base are too stupid to realize he despises them.

Multiple time NCAA champion.

Please don't ruin the ending!

Yes, his length will not be a strength against guys that much bigger.

Iran and Russia are FS teams are also participating in this duel meet. Iran sending its A team, minus the injured (Hassan Yazdani and Azarpira will be absent). It's interesting that Ghassempour will wrestle at 86 Kg

You need the gadget from the movie Men in Black that erases your memory. The neuralyzer. I have a couple of them. I'm going to use one right now.

Neener-neener... I told you he's goin' and lookin' for the challenge. Rank 'em up and shoot, DT! D3

I'm not a low IQ voter so pictures don't do it for me.

I usually look at dynasties by chunks of time. The Green Bay Packers were a dynasty in the 60's. They won 5 championships in that period (3 NFL Championships and 2 Super Bowls). All that said, OSU's NCAA run is pretty amazing. They have either been first or second 48 times in the 92 championships. That is pretty impressive no matter what the sport.

If he pulls this off, he could be nominated for an Oscar!

Dresser may boycott the film for this reason.

Wait! Both steroids and PEDs? That is nuts!

lose to MMA or other career before 4.5 years: -Carter -AJ -Alirez -Greg -Bartlett -PK (Ben seems to think he's going to go straight into coaching) wont make 1.5 world teams: -Plott -Buchanan -Ayala -Teemer -Figs Guys that could fit Both criteria: -Meyer -MM (lock imo) -Levi -Jesse -Crookham -SVN -Henson -Hendrickson -KOT

Hilton,Burton,Correa scratching and Duke,Blaze,Lockett not being there takes a bit of steam out of the tournament for me. That being said its still my second favorite high school tournament of the year. one of the weights that stands out to me right away is 125. Dillard is coming off of a cadet bronze, Botero has a stop sign, I am not convinced Joey Bachmann has ever lost a folkstyle match in greensboro but I may pick him to not place top 5 in this field. Castillo is back down to 120 after being 126 for quite some time and is probably my pick at the weight I just think hes far in away the best guy on his feet but I think his toughest match will come in the semi against not Bachmann but Grey Burnett. outside of 120 the lower weights do not excite me a ton I expect them to be pretty chalk I do think Nate Desmond will give Knox a bout at 126. As for 132 I wish Jax was up at 138 so we could get the vega again now that Vega has jumped levels (jax teched him at cadet trials in 21 or 22). As for 144 I am pulling for Olivarez vs Bassett that matchup intrigues me a bit more I think Olivarez can handle that hand fight I was holding out hope we would somehow get a late Marcus Blaze at 144 entry but ill hold out hope for ironman. Ive got sonny amato over magro at 150 in the finals thats probably my most off the board final. at 157 Melvin Vs Rath is super fun, I think Melvin may need to add in an outside step or some sort of straight on shot. Robideau shut down his ability to create angles and that really stifled what is an otherwise very prolific offense. 165 is the last weight that really excites me and 3 weeks ago I would have picked Cunningham, but Bambinelli put it on him at elite 8 duals and Torres showed out up a weight at journeyman. I think Torres is my pick I just really like his neutral game.

I think what @forkemaz said is true it has advantages and disadvantages. If it had no advantages there is no way he could be competitive. Lets say take the weight advantage away. If he wrestled 174 how would he do? Probably the disadvantages of missing a limb is greater than the advantages of being physically stronger than your opponent in all other muscles. The training aspect and perseverance with a missing limb is the unique character trait of this champion. From what I hear the story is also about his mother. Being able to accomplish so much given the deck your dealt.

I hope Terry sees it and boos the screen

Did they have the second most prominent wrestler in the film as a D1 wrestler? And as I mentioned, they said they did use Robles himself for some of the shots

Good interview with Bader and Johnni DiJulius. They do some shots with Robles as the wrestler. They also have actual wrestlers as extras wrestling in the background or other matches - he mentions Kyler Larkin, Brandon Courtney, Evan Wick and Shakur Rasheed. Angel Rivera apparently plays the ref and I believe he said Jesse Jantzen plays one of the Iowa coaches.

I agree. All of the one legged champions demonstrate how much of an advantage it is.

I think part of the problem was that we all knew what was going to happen. The entire movie built up to that ending.

Excited to watch it. I think there are lots of cool moments in wrestling that would make great films and i hope this one inspires more. (Personally i want a movie about shane griffith and how he saved the stanford wrestling progamand several other sports in 2021) Also an ASU fan this will be extra sweet.