Les Gutches. 134-10 college record, 3xAA, 2x NCAA Champ for wOSU Beavers. He went undefeated his last two years of college and notably beat Cael Sanderson at Senior Nationals.
I'm just not sure if you're giving big Cass too much credit . I'm worried the offense, down a weight, might be too much . But otherwise, very fair
Cass has a U23 gold and bronze medal. He will be extremely powerful at 197. Should be interesting to see how he does down there. He will be shredded.
Just watch Bartlett's match against Nick Lee at world team trials. Athleticism is not Barlett's issue. He is hesitant to pull the trigger on leg attacks against the top guys.
Woods has the best track record. Mendez is having the best season for far. Bartlett will be a factor also just doesn't have the matches this season against high level competition. The other guys are a tier below at in my opinion.
I think he is going to be very good also, just have a hard time picking him against David Carr.
Mess will get Olguin (1/5), Amine (1/19), Caliendo (2/9). If he goes 3-0 against those guys, he is likely a title contender.
Cael Swenson with a nice OT win over Joey Blaze. Was in on Blaze's leg multiple times in the match and finally was able to finish the takedown in OT. Blaze has really good defense but seems to lack a go-to leg attack at this point in his career.
The difference there is that you can point to results from Scott this year and an AA finish last year to justify his seeding. For Fernandes you need to go back two seasons to find a good win.