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Buckeyes set school mark with 5 All-Americans in Wrestling

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This was a truly remarkable performance by these guys. After a ho-hum season and a dismal 8th place finish in the Big Ten, to finish 3rd at the NCAA tournament in nothing short of miraculous. Imagine this year's basketball team somehow being entered into the tournament and then making the final four. That's about the magnitude of the accomplishment.

Every wrestler beat guys who had beaten them earlier in the season. Every wrestler beat guys who were seeded higher (except Rowlands, who was seeded #1). Just outstanding.

Hellickson has been under considerable fire this season. But with this finish, and a strong incoming recruiting class, I think he earned a little job security.

BTW, Tommy is shooting for the 215lb weight class on the Olympic Team. Mocco will be at HWT. That should make for a formidable tandem.
 
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Thanks for the links LoKy.

Hey Hiney, do you have a list or any bios of the incoming freshman for next year. The only one I know about is Jaggers fom Chanel, which is a huge recruit to begin with. Four-time state champ and maybe the best takedown artist I've ever seen in my life. We usually lose these type's of kids to the more "prominant" wrestling programs. Either that, or just don't recruit them to begin with.
 
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I'm too far removed from Ohio HS wrestling (both geographically and temporally) to be able to say too much. But here's some of what I know.

Jeff Jaggers (Chanel) projects at either 133 or 141. Jason Johnstone (Massilon Perry) is another stud recruit. He was Dustin Schlatter's practice partner (Dustin is off to Minnesota to be with brother CP and to get away from his dad). The only problem here is that Johnstone also projects at 133 or 141, and we've got TJ Enright (RS-Fr) who will be competing there as well. That's 3 studs for 2 weight classes. Still, good to see some real strength in the lower weights.

Other highly touted recruits are a kid named Mauer out of Indiana (4X state champed and, I believe, ranked #1 nationally). He projects at 157 or 165. Then a kid named Mueller out of Texas to wrestle at 174 or 184 (not sure why Hellickson seems to like Texas more than Cleveland).

Not sure who else is coming in. But this is a good class that fills a number of spots left open by graduating seniors. We've also got some RS-Freshman ready to step in. For example, two redshirt studs at HWT to compete for Tommy's spot.

All in all, next year's team should be young but talented.
 
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Hiney, it's a crying shame that someone so "removed" from Ohio HS Wrestling can give me better info than probably anyone associated with the program. It really sucks that here in NEO (I'm from the home of the former "Mentor Meatgrinder") that there is no news on TOSU Wrestling.

I didn't realize that Johnstone was a Buckeye recruit and no idea that Enright was a red-shirt there.

If I remember correctly, doesn't Dustin have another year left in High School? I remember reading somewhere that he and a kid from St. Ed's will both be shooting for their 4th State Titles next year.

I really find the lack of recruiting the Ohio kids to be a major issue here. A few years back I had Andy Hrovat and his mom at my store to buy Andy a stereo to take to college. I asked mom where he was going and she said "Michigan." I replied, Michigan? Why isn't he going to Ohio State? No crap, Mrs. Hrovat said that he wasn't even recruited by TOSU. I asked about their other 2-time state champ who also graduated that same year ( Mike Kulczycki) and she informed me that they were going to be "roommates" at Michigan. It's crazy to look at all these St. Edwards kids and basically none of them come to Ohio State.
 
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I don't know what the deal is between OSU's coaches and St Ed's coaches. Maybe there's bad blood there. Or maybe it's just that St Ed's coaches have good relations with other Big Ten coaches.

At any rate, it's not that OSU can't get the St Ed's studs. It's that OSU doesn't even recruit St Ed's kids (and apparently hasn't for years). It's a mystery to me. Maybe someone else can give us some insight.
 
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How apropro is it that we're discussing the "negatives" about TOSU Wrestling after their greatest performance ever in the NCAA Tournament. It must be the "Bucknuts" in us coming out.

Hopefully we can start thistype of thread a little earlier in the year NEXT year. Wrestling is just so unique a sport. These kids are as well-conditioned and disciplined as any athletes you'll ever find in your life.
 
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WW said, "How apropro is it that we're discussing the "negatives" about TOSU Wrestling after their greatest performance ever in the NCAA Tournament. It must be the "Bucknuts" in us coming out."

Two final comments, then I'll pack it in til next season: one pertaining to Bucknuts, the other pertaining to Hellickson.

There are a couple of Bucknuts posters who are very knowledgable about wrestling. LawBuck is very close to the OSU team and gives many good insights. NavyBuck is another who comes to mind. Knows both HS and college wrestling and is a very thoughtful poster. I don't see either of them on the membership list here. Then, near the end of the season a whole slew of new posters came in, many very knowledgable about NE Ohio HS wrestling, but most ragging on Hellickson. The volume went way up after the 8th place finish at the Big Ten tourney. The volume went way down after the 3rd place finish at nationals.

Next, on Hellickson. If you go back through the history of OSU wrestling coaches, Hellickson deserves a great deal of credit for bringing the program to a next level. Indeed, each coaching change has elevated the program. Back when I was wrestling in HS and college, the coach was Casey Frederick--a great guy but not a great coach (though, he didn't recruit me so he must have known something). I knew coach Frederick when I was in junior high--he ran the caddyshack at the OSU golf courses and I caddied there a couple summers. After coach Frederick came Chris Ford, a major improvement. When I was wrestling at the College of Wooster (68 thru 72), Ford was coaching at Ashland and they kicked our butts big-time every year. By the time Hellickson was hired I had already moved from Ohio and haven't been able to follow things so closely. But Hellickson has clearly elevated the program, bringing it to a level of national respectability. Over the years, however, people have become impatient, wanting him to elevate from national respectability to the level of a national power. Most of the questions about Hellickson have been centered around whether he is the one who can get us to that next level, or whether we need another coaching change. Well, that 3rd place finish at Nationals goes a long way to establishing OSU as a national power. Time will tell whether he is able to sustain that level. But, even if he does not, he deserves a lot of credit for bringing the program to where it is today.
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
Here's the "Dumbass Question of the Week": How in the f**k can we finish 8th in the Big Ten tournament yet finish 3rd in the nationals?
Click to expand...

MILI- In the Big 10 tournament every kid on your team wrestles and if you have a solid team even without stars you can rack up points. In the nationals if you have a few stars that place high you can add up points. That would sort of explain how OSU did in the BIG 10 regular season as well. Some good wrestling teams do not do well in an individual format and visa-versa. The national meet is based on individuals performances so it can be a little misleading because OSU's team would not be a ranked team.

I will look forward to watching Blake Maurer wrestle at OSU as I watched him wrestle at IN state finals several times. He should do very well! He beat a kid from my high school in double OT to win the state title his junior year! CUSS CUSS CUSS!!
 
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