Info courtesy of poster on PSU Scout site with some changes made by me to OSU based on RB07
http://www.scout.com/college/penn-s...ts/14643889-returning-points-next-year?page=2
View attachment 12551
Would love to get the thoughts of
@RB07OSU &
@Delaware Buck
Going to be very interesting...I think VT could compete with a perfect storm, but PSU is the gold standard and Iowa is still going to be tough regardless. But I do honestly think with a year of experience we are going to be improved as a team overall and contend. That is the lineup we put out if we are truly trying to win a title but as Delaware pointed out, it might not be the best for personal development of certain guys. While I wondered the same on Martin and he proved everyone wrong, I am not sure if either of Pletcher or White will be ready. I think at least one wrestles but it will be interesting to see what they do there. But on that projected lineup:
125: I think Toms gets down there again and gets to the finals again (it is him and Gilman, I don't think Dance will make a run).
133: Will be interesting...we could afford to get by with Rodriguez but he is a .500 at best imo if we have to wrestle him, so I am hoping Pletcher is ready. If he is, he should contend for AA status imo.
141: Hayes is almost guaranteed the spot here and he looked great unattached. Should be yet another guy that should contend for AA status and potentially even make a run similar to Martin this year (wildcard but certainly has a shot).
149: Hopefully Mic gets back to form by moving up a weight because I think it took a toll on him...he really didn't wrestle well at NCAA's at all. He should AA at the bare minimum next year and I would hope he makes a run here. Note the caveat that if Retherford is here, he ain't losing (Mic also wouldn't likely beat Sorensen but he might move up).
157: Ryan showed a ton of promise and plenty of guys graduated here. He will never win a title but if he can knock on the door of AA status, I think that is all we need from him.
165: Can about guarantee Bo does not stay down here, so the only logical guess is White. Even though he has great potential, he might need a year to refine his technique and adjust in Columbus. If he redshirts, this will just be a weak spot...although Ryan Harris could be serviceable if he can get down to 165.
174: Bo should win it all here next year imo (assuming Isaac stays at 165). Kills everyone except Dieringer and Isaac. I think Nickal would struggle mightily with Jordan and if Bo wrestled 174, he is a national champ. Plus I like him up a weight and feeling more comfortable.
184: Myles sure earned a championship but it will be a tall task to repeat...tons of tough guys returning at this weight without accounting for who moves up...Dean, Zavatsky, Dudley, Miklus, Brooks...not easy sledding. But I would say he is still an AA at worse and he certainly has the ability to take it all again.
197: Going to be a weak spot most likely but Moore or young Snyder have the potential to win a match or two at NCAAs and not get blown out by the elite guys at duals.
Heavy: Snyder should waltz through the field if he returns, which I can about guarantee he will. He will get his endorsements down the road but he loves it here and will want to be a 3x champ.
- I see 3 very likely finalists in Toms, Bo and Snyder, plus they should all get some serious bonus along the way up until semis. I also like Micah and Myles' chances on getting to finals, or placing high/making a run. It would not be likely, but Hayes and Pletcher could get there too and I think they both have a decent shot to AA. That is potentially 7 guys to AA with 5 about guaranteed barring injury, so that is a lot of points. If we can get a handful of wins out of 133/157/165/197, I think we will at least be contending. That being said, it is going to be brutal to take out PSU anytime soon, so I am just cautiously optimistic it is possible.
I wouldn't say "lucky" at all. A lot of winning in wrestling is between the ears. Myles had a history of matches with Nickal well before he arrived at OSU. They wrestled a lot of freestyle matches in HS - you can Google those on YouTube. He came out on the short end of most of those but they were contested matches with a mistake being the difference. Same for the 3 collegiate matches this year. Nickal has had a full year in PSU's room. He's gotten to wrestle guys like Taylor, Varner, Nolf, etc for a whole year +. Myles will have that same experience next year with Bo and Kyle as well getting technical workouts with Logan, Reese, Tervel, etc.. I think Myles has more upside because he is the more physically gifted athlete of the two - no knock on Nickal because he is a good athlete as well and will always do some things better such as scamble. Once Myles learns how to generate more offense from the top position he's gonna be very tough to beat. He is already better than a lot of our guys from the bottom position. And from standing he's got a lot of offense and finesse
Back to the redshirting point... at this point it's obvious that Tom Ryan's strategy to pull both Kyle and Myles redshirt was the right call for each guy regardless of how the team race shook out - both won NCAA titles. The team race part required guys like JDJ, Kenny Courts, Mark Martin, 149, Jake Ryan to score more than 2 collective points at NCAA and they did not. That's why we didn't finish higher. This is gonna sound cruel but it's the reality of where things are... if OSU is going to complete for the top spot every year, we can't have guys not qualifying, qualifying but not winning matches or failing to finish in the top 8. The bar has been raised and the team will need to collectively match what PSU is doing if they want to be at the top again
Agreed 1000% on this. Martin has been right there with Nickal and should have beat him at least once this year before the finals, but he saved his best for last. And I think Ryan made the right call by firing every bullet in the chamber this year...the cumulative performance of JDJ/Courts/Mark Martin/Ryan, along with the injury to Hunter, more than sealed our fate. It was going to take a full team performance and a little luck to beat PSU this year or any in the near future, so no better time than now (especially when you consider how great it worked for Myles).
