Husker

Ziola - HWT for Nebraska will be one to watch. LJ and Cochran on the mend right now.

Nebraska - non/conference duals and tournaments listed in the link. Still waiting for B1G 10 schedule. https://huskers.com/sports/wrestling/schedule

Jacob Newby - OSU/OU 1994 - freshman - 150lbs - AA 4th (OSU) 1995 - sophomore - 158lbs - (OU) ranked #1 - walks away from the sport

Bryan Snyder - Nebraska One of the most decorated wrestlers in program history, Snyder owns the best winning percentage all-time at Nebraska with a mark of .925, compiling a 136-11 record from 1999 to 2002. A member of Nebraska’s 100-win club, he claimed All-America accolades and a Big 12 championship all four years, while finishing as the NCAA runner-up at 157 pounds in 2001 and 2002. He amassed more than 30 wins in a season three times, including his 43-3 record as a sophomore that stands as the second-best single-season mark in school history.

Cade Zola at #26 won’t age well.

It matters for the OP’s ranking justifications which did not include Ziola on the ranking list….

I had a couple college wrestling teammates who were also football players and they were not close to being in wrestling shape when they started wrestling practice. Football plays last 10 seconds on average (guess) and teams average around 60-70 plays per game (guess). It’s just not similar enough to a wrestling match unless there are multiple stoppages for going out of bounds or blood and injury timeouts. Just my 2 cents.

285lbs Cade Zola, Nebraska

Too bad McDanels 13-5 major over Rademacher in the 2026 NCAA Tournament isn’t factored into this scenario.

Stiles is in there somewhere

Indiana’s National Championship football team was one of the oldest ever in CFB history

The weight cutting zapped Bouzakis at Nationals; I can’t imagine another year of going through that cut…..

I’ve been to every home dual the last 3 years and it’s been a blast. Looking forward to continued success. GBR.

AJ wants to go 197lbs and McDanel didn’t want to RS after 2 years in a row as AA. Can’t blame him. Ziola isn’t going to sit and miss a year so there just isn’t a spot for AJ next season at Nebraska. McDanel RS and AJ stays and goes 197lbs.

184lbs is the priority with 125lbs second but Zepeda (149lbs) would be a no-brainer with 4 years of eligibility….

My guess is that McDanel was not willing to RS and Nebraska didn’t want to sit Ziola and burn a year.

For sure. UNK 174 was 0-2 against the UCO wrestler this season so the odds were in UCO’s favor. The height advantage for UCO in that match was crazy. UNK’s 174 semi final mat return straight to a pin was my top move of the tournament. The entire arena erupted in oh’s and ah’s. The clip is on X. I will try to post the move here at some point. UNK 174 is from Mongolia and is just all gas from the first whistle. Both finalists are juniors.

A big shout out to my Alma Mater Nebraska-Kearney on winning their 6th D2 National Championship in wrestling this weekend. I was in attendance for both days and had a great time. The crowd was into it and the team race for tight with the top 4-5 teams all within 7 points. https://www.themat.com/news/2026/march/14/nebraska-kearney-holds-off-rivals-to-claim-ncaa-dii-championships-team-title

Nebraska was not involved in the match being discussed. I have not blamed the refs for Nebraska going 0-5 in the finals. The Minto figure 4 was unfortunate for sure. Max was robbed.

the clock hadn’t expired when Max was behind him and 3 points of contact were on the mat. Commentators said TD at that point before the lift and drop to the mat.

Hardy and Mendez are very complimentary of one another. Hardy is a class act for sure.

If a wrestler finishes 10th and the weight class is allotted 9 wrestlers at that weight, can the 10th place wrestler receive an at large bid? How many at large bids (if any) are there total for all weight classes?

What is the lowest place they wrestle for - 9th and 10th? 11th and 12th?