Gus

It's a big promotion to go from recruiting coordinator to assistant coach.

He got admitted into Iowa this week.

Speculation on my part. He’s not very tall but he is thick.

Minny fans have got to be looking for Hopke to take control of this battle.

I imagine he will go down if Jordan Williams is going 157. Unless there is an agreement to stay in a different weight class than his brother.

133- (SDSU) Derrick Cardinal vs Logan Swensen 141- (OSU) Cael Hughes vs Tagen Jamison, (OU) Alex Braun vs Tyler Wells 149- (SDSU) Alek Martin vs Avery Allen, (Iowa) Kael Voinovich, Victor Voinovich, Ryder Block, Miguel Estrada, (Cornell) Jaxon Joy vs Ethan Fernandez 157- (UNC) Sonny Santiago vs Laird Root 174- (Iowa) Patrick Kennedy vs Gabe Arnold 184- (UNI) John Gunderson vs CJ Walrath 197- (tOSU) Seth Shumate vs Luke Geog 285- (OU) Juan Mora vs Bradley Hill

Scoles is fun to watch. Never out of a match. He starts the year ranked #9 by Flo.

10-4. Then I think I would take out Cornella at 141 and swap in Mendoza. I will add Kyler Larkin to 133

Probably not a title contender yet. Feldman worked him in the dual last year. I think he will be firmly behind Ferrari, Trumble, Bastida, Ghadiali to start the year. Feldman was a tough matchup for him. He will be in a tier of about 10 guys (Kueter, Feldman, Taylor, Luffman, Pitzer, Mullen, Doucet, Amos, Catka, Hopke) pushing to make the podium.

He looked like a full sized 70kg (154lb) this summer. He's a beast.

I have no real gripes with any of your assessment. I fully expect Mesenbrink & Levi Haines to win. I think LL and Barr are clear favorites. 125 is deep (Robinson, Sprately, Volk, Ventresca, Seymour, etc) but LL looked so good this summer. 197 lacks depth and one of Barr's toughest competitors will be his teammate, Mirasola. Unless someone talks a big leap forward, it is hard to see anyone beating Barr. Right now I would favor Henson over SVN but it's a coin flip. 157 is gonna be a dog fight for PJ to make the starting lineup and then he will battle the likes of Antrell Taylor, Meyer Shapiro, Daniel Cardenas, etc. Would I be surprised to see PJ win that weight class? Nope. He's that good but folkstyle is a different ballgame than freestyle and there is a learning curve to mat wrestling, especially considering that he will be focused on freestyle leading up to the world championships. Same thing for Blaze at 133 as it is for PJ at 157, expect that 133 is even deeper → Crookham, Byrd, Ayala, Davino, Fuggitt, Figueroa, Frost, Ragusin, Shawver, etc..

None of those results independently would surprise me, but 7 champs seems a bit aggressive.

It's not like having to deal with Caleb Henson and SVN is a walk in the park.

Using Flo rankings: 125: #8 Jore Volk (Minn), #18 Mark-Anthony McGowan (Princeton), #23 Brady Roark (SDSU) 133: #12 Marcus Blaze (PSU), #13 Ben Davino (tOSU), #NR Seth Mendoza (Mizz) 141: #11 Nasir Bailey (Iowa), #16 Vince Cornella (Cornell), #19 Aden Valencia (Stanford) 149: #13 Chance Lamer (Neb), #20 Jaxon Joy (Cornell), #NR Pierson Manville (ASU) 157: #10 Jackson Arrington (NCSU), #14 Cael Swenson (SDSU), #NR Kaleb Larkin(ASU) 165: #NR LaDarion Lockett (OSU), #NR Ethan Birden (tOSU), #NR Connon Euton (ISU) 174: #9 Alex Facundo (OSU), #12 Brock Mantanona (UMich), #16 Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) 184: #8 Zack Ryder (OSU), #11 Aeoden Sinclair (Mizz), #NR Gunderson/Walrath (UNI) 197: #11 Cody Merrill (OSU), #17 Sonny Sasso (VT), #NR Rune Lawrence (UWV) 285: #11 Cole Mirasola (PSU), #13 Jimmy Mullen (VT), #NR Koy Hopke (Minn)

Eric Tannenbaum Brandin Precin