Seth Shutmate on His Sophomore Season and Goals for the Rest of His High School Career
When it comes to men’s sports at Ohio State, the football and basketball programs get most of the attention, but among the other program that deserves more attention is wrestling.
The Buckeyes are a perennial national powerhouse on the mats. One of the reasons they have been able to sustain that success is because of the high level at which they recruit. Right now they have one commitment in both the 2021 and 2022 class, both of whom are top 10 pound-for-pound wrestlers in their class, along with also being Ohio’s top prospect for their respective classes.
In the 2021 class, that commitment is Paddy Gallagher, who hails from wrestling powerhouse St. Edward High Shcool. He is ranked as the seventh-best prospect in the country according to Flo Wrestling. He has also won one state title as a sophomore at 160 pounds after finishing third as a freshman at the 152-pound weight class. He was projected to win the 2020 Division I 160-pound state title before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, it is Ohio State’s 2022 wrestling commitment that may be an even better prospect, and he is a local guy to boot.
Last August, Dublin Coffman sophomore wrestler Seth Shumate was ranked as one of the top wrestling prospects for the 2022 class after winning a Division I state title as a freshman at 195 pounds. Later that same month before even starting his sophomore year on the mat, Shumate pledged his services to the Ohio State Buckeyes. And while he was only a young sophomore at the time, he has quickly risen to stardom after winning a 195-pound title at Walsh Ironman last December and being the odds-on favorite to defend his 195-pound state title as a sophomore. Or at least he was until the season was canceled due to COVID-19.
Initially, there was no immediate plan to write about wrestling when Buckeye Scoop launched yesterday, but someone on our Ask the Insiders message board asked about, it so we went out and got some goods on the wrestling Bucks for you fans out there.
This morning we got Ohio’s top 2022 prospect Seth Shumate on the phone and talked to him about a variety of topics. But first, we discussed losing out on his chance to be a four-time state champion due to COVID-19.
“I was kind of upset at first, knowing I have been looking up at that goal since I was a little kid,” Shumate told Buckeye Scoop. “But moving forward I knew I couldn’t just sit around and just be upset about it all the time, so I was looking to get the next best thing, looking forward to being a three-timer and just win as much as possible going into college.”
Entire article:
https://buckeyescoop.com/page/blog/...goals-for-the-rest-of-his-high-school-career/