BruceyB

I remember vividly going to the kitchen and wanting to "wet my mouth" by taking one swig out of the bottle of orange juice only to have my body instinctively steal five or six large gulps.

I imagine 12 wasn't too horrible, but 20 would be a pull. As a tweener, do you think that adjusting the weights to 175, 190, 210, and 285 would solve the problem? Or would it just create different issues? Also, I tossed out the idea and would enjoy your feedback, how do you feel about 285 being brought down to 265 to lower the weight discrepancy?

You're misunderstanding me. My point was that the roster cap won't do much if anything for the competitive balance in wrestling, other than maybe Long Island U gets a commit that would have otherwise been a 4th string walk-on at PSU. That walk-on might be a starter at LIU, which is good for their program, but it doesn't change the competitive balance. Also, I said the blue-chippers at PSU aren't taking out student loans. I obviously don't think everyone on their roster is getting tuition covered. Anyone who isn't in the top 30 at a given school isn't going to hurt the program by not being there, but there may be some guys outside of the top 30 at the power schools that could be a benefit to a small program.

I was being genuine. Once you were making 197 how high would your weight get to after eating/hydrating? I'm curious because without a doubt the initial descent to 197 would be a lot of work and difficult, but once you made the weight, how much were you consistently cutting from that point?

I don't mean this disingenuously, but what puts Schwab above many other coaches in your minds? Outside the recency of the big win over Nebraska, UNI has been able to cultivate some studs over the years (primarily at 184, shoutout Lee Roper), but they haven't really shown the ability put together a solid 125-285 lineup (before now). I do think UNI deserves extra credit for their success despite most kids opting to Iowa or ISU over UNI. I'm not disagreeing, just curious to why many of you would say Schwab is #1. FWIW, I think Kish deserves to be mentioned. The growth that NDSU had during his time their was pretty remarkable. I would love it if he could restore OU like Dresser has done with ISU. The sport is better when OU is relevant.

To my knowledge, a wrestler cannot be called for stalling for driving their opponent out of bounds in the neutral position. I honestly can't understand, nor have I ever seen, a stall call given in this scenario. I can see where the referee would be annoyed that Taylor is clearly looking for the stall call, but regardless, I don't see how in anyway he could be considered stalling in this scenario. Coaches constantly call out "shoot him out" when guys are near the edge. If driving an opponent out of bounds is stalling, then the "shoot him out" scenarios should be called stalling on the attacking wrestler, not the guy driven out of bounds. Edit: I don't think either wrestler should have been hit for stalling.

I've held off, but I'll jump in now. I would just like to clarify that my list is my favorite wrestlers to watch, and certainly not the 15 best wrestlers of all time. For that purpose, I'm going to eliminate anyone prior to 2000, because the amount of matches available are just too limited. I would say pure wrestling-wise, John Smith is my favorite of all-time, but there aren't enough matches, especially in college, to make the list. In no particular order: Keegan O'Toole - his cerebral style and ability to win scrambles is unbelievable. David Taylor - he just went out and drilled on nearly everyone leading to effortless looking techs Joey Dance - his slickness, ankle rolling tic, superducks, etc. Vito Arujau - junior year's semi/final matches are two of the most impressive matches I can recall where he thumped two absolute monsters) Alan Waters - I have no idea why, but I loved watching him wrestle. His stinginess on top and low singles always appealed to me Nahshon Garrett - He was so crisp and explosive. I remember being so frustrated when he lost to Delgado. He blasted so hard through him that it actually led to Delgado being able to use the momentum to roll through with an ankle multiple times Ben Askren - watching him methodically outscramble opponents when he was in an inferior position still blows my mind today, plus he just decked most of his lesser opponents Logan Steiber - so good on his feet, and just an utter monster on top. I feel like with all of the PSU hammers that have come along, people forget how truly rare it was during the time to have people separate themselves from the field like Steiber, Ruth, DT, and Metcalf were. Jordan Oliver - very few guys have had such a varied arsenal of offensive attacks in neutral, and he would cradle you up as well Alex Dieringer - near-arm far leg was unstoppable Kade Brock - slick as slick may come. boot scoots, ducks, inside trips, just a highlight reel type of guy Reece Humphrey - nasty ducks, and freakishly athletic. I'll never forget his toss against Lou Ruggirello (below is the link.. skip to 8:10 for the highlight) https://www.flowrestling.org/video/5121890-2-reece-humphrey-osu-vs-9-lou-ruggirello-hofstra Spencer Lee - his dominance over the field will never cease to blow my mind. 125 has historically been a very difficult weight dominate, and that is what he did Wyatt Hendrickson - just a highflyer, never a boring match with Wyatt on the mat Brent Metcalf - watching him break guys through forward pressure and relentless attacks was incredible. he could be up 4-2 going into the third and would melt a guy and end up teching him Honorable Mention: Mitchell Mesenbrink Coleman Scott Dylan Ness Michael Mangrum (as a PNW guy, we have few guys that are exciting at the D1 level) Hunter Steiber Just a disclaimer: Yes, DT is the only PSU wrestler on this list. He was the phenom from high school that went on to absolutely dominate in college sans freshman finals and Kyle Dake. The countless other dominant studs from PSU weren't my favorite to watch, because quite frankly, it was just PSU fatigue. It has nothing to do with their accomplishments or hierarchy of greatness. Watching yet another PSU wrestler dominate the field just wasn't my favorite to watch, regardless of how impressive they might be.

Currently, yes. But with a hard roster cap of 30, the sport won't be nearly as "walk-on" friendly. Wrestling has always been a non-cut sport because there is no harm in having more guys in the room. But just like other sports where you can only have so many "bench" players, the top programs will have to reserve the 30 spots for just the 30 best wrestlers they can have in the room. I'm curious if some programs will have wrestle-offs in the beginning of the year between non-scholarship athletes to see who makes the team.

Scholarships are only limited by how much NIL money you have to offer. None of those blue chippers at PSU are taking out students loans, even if they aren't part of the 9.9. Edit: I was just pointing out that none of the major teams are going to be losing guys of relevance due to the roster cap. Maybe a couple of walk-ons might have to go elsewhere, but the starters and quality backups will still get paid and remain on the team.

But then his claim would be proven false..

I'm curious how many teams have 30 wrestlers on their roster excluding walk-ons. I think the roster cap would actually be better for the sport because instead of a quality HS wrestler walking on at PSU, OKST, Iowa, tOSU, etc., they will be more likely to wrestle somewhere else where they might actually make the starting line-up and have a chance to compete.

I do think we, as fans, often forget about how big of a transition transferring schools really is. You form relationships with the coaches, friends, teammates, and this is the first time for many that they've left their hometown and childhood friends. To start all over again by transferring is easier said than done.

Such as?

I hope Koll sticks around at UNC for some time. His interview after taking the job was really inciteful as to how he was able to turn Cornell from basically an irrelevant Ivy-League program to a national contender.. and the obstacles at UNC sounded much easier to overcome than they were at Cornell. He has his own blueprint, so it will be interesting to follow. Selfishly, I was hoping most of his recruits that he got to commit to Stanford would follow him to UNC to expedite the process, but I'm curious to see what happens there. I won't be surprised to see them become a top 5 team in the next 5 or so years.

I pictured Ryder Downey the entire time I read this.

Many of the opponents of the 197/285 keep talking about "cutting" as if these 197s are walking around at 220+ and "cutting" weight to get to 197. If you weigh 220, and follow a diet plan, most guys will be able to lose 10-15 pounds via a healthy diet, and then are only "cutting" around 8-12 pounds. These guys can lose 8+ pounds of water in a practice.. I'm actually curious to get @bnwtwg's input on this. You said you cut from, IIRC, 234 to 197, I'm guessing 234 was where you were before you started the descent to 197. During the season how big would you get between weigh-ins? I'm sure you were making a harder descent to 197 than just about anyone is these days. The vast majority of todays wrestlers aren't doing it like we were 15+ years ago. I'd assume most D1 athletic departments have a full time dietician, and guys aren't yo-yoing their weight like Hendricks gorging on Little Caesar's in 2005. In the older days, there was quite honestly, a pride in how much weight was cut. In most interviews today where guys discuss their weight, it sounds like most guys never get more than 5 pounds over during the season.

Jason Tsirtsis? Is your favorite hobby is watching paint dry?

133 Nagao 157 Facundo/Sealey 165 Facundo/Sealey That's 3 AA caliber guys that could step into the lineup if necessary excluding 184-285. The simple truth is that there is a good chance that Nagao is not the starter even if healthy, Facundo would likely to AA at this weight, and Sealey is a stud in RS that they don't need to use this year. I am more often than not rooting for upsets over the nits, but I do so because they are just so loaded that it's not fun watching half the champions come from one room every year. I'm not going to do it now, and wrestlestat doesn't have enough data on the RS freshmen to accurately predict, but I bet if you did hypothetical matchups, the backups if healthy might still be a top 10 dual team in the country.. I said it before, it is truly an embarrassment of riches.

This may trigger some people, but I'd be in favor of lowering 285 if the problem is that the gap from 197 to 285 is too big. Are you telling me if he needed to, Cohlton Schultz couldn't lose 20 pounds? It might be harder to dig an underhook and push guys OB, but wouldn't that actually be for the good of the weight to increase the overall athleticism while lowering the weight disparity? I can't recall every seeing a 285 heavy that couldn't follow a diet plan to get to 265 if that was the weight. They don't because they simply don't have to.

He wouldn't be anywhere near the first guy to go into a season thinking they wanted to eat, only to find themselves not as effective at the higher weight and decide they aren't so hungry after all.

It's easy to make claims that can't be disproven. I don't foresee him disrupting his MMA career to come out and put his money where his mouth is. He's just talking to make headlines. He's in the promotion business now. I'm curious what others think, but I believe he would be the underdog against Zahid right now. Zahid was a singlet pull away from beating Brooks, and has only improved over the past handful of years as well as grown into the weight. Nickal hasn't focused on freestyle wrestling in multiple years. I'd love to see it though.

Imagine the Pokes' coaching staff pulling up in this fit. To any of the older generation guys, no coach actually wore a singlet in practice did they?

Yes, I agree. I realize that in my previous post I only acknowledge Ferrari forcing their hand, while it could have also been Gabe believing he is best at 174. I'm curious how the goes in the room are between Nelson, Arnold, and Kennedy. A part of me wondered when he was going 184 this year instead of 174 was because it wasn't a given that he would beat out Nelson or Kennedy for the spot, so he decided to get bigger and just stay at 184 after performing well there last year while undersized. How lucky we would be if more coaches would just tell you their roster plans like Coach Dresser.

I mean, it depends on the definition of "hands were tied." The subject has be talked about ad nauseum, and we all know the arguments for and against pulling the RS. The only scenario I see where their hands would be tied is if Ferrari was threatening to leave if they didn't let him compete for the spot. I just don't see the coaches choosing to pull his RS for a slight upgrade. FWIW I think Kennedy could very will be a top 5-6 guy in his own right at 174 this season. The transfer rules really do give the athletes all of the power in RS/etc decisions because if they don't get what they want, they can just transfer to somewhere that will give it to them.

It still begs the question, is Arnold going down to 174? If so, I would be very curious to know if it was the coaching staff's idea, or if Gabe just feels that he could perform better at 174.