2017-2018 possible line-up?

[anon_0pi0cv8t1ggvb]

I know this is a long ways off and is very tentative, but what will our lineup look line in 2 years? We have several stud seniors graduating next year so I want to see who we have coming in behind to fill their spots.

Here's what I have based on current line-up and committed recruits: (assuming several wrestlers do not redshirt, which is not the trend under Brands)

125 Justin Meija/Jack Wagner
133 Jason Renteria/Brock Rathbun
141 Vince Turk/Carter Happel
149 Brandon Sorenson
157 Michael Kemerer
165 Alex Marinelli
174 Kaleb Young
184 ? Appears to be a hole here unless there is someone I'm unaware of.
197 Steven Holloway
HWT Sam Stoll

Who are the top recruiting prospects who are considering Iowa who are yet to commit?

Edited - Swapped Marinelli and Young based on what people in this thread are saying.

 

[LutherAce]

Isn't there a Berge coming?

Also, Max Lyon at 184...feeling good about it...

 

[andegre]

Marinelli at 65, young at 74, wilcke at 84

 

[wasdt21]

wilcke/bowman 184, switch bull and young around? I think wilcke has looked better than Holloway.

 

[MVPFAN]

wilcke/bowman 184, switch bull and young around? I think wilcke has looked better than Holloway.

Neither one has done much of anything, decent records vs spotty competition. No signature wins.

 

[MVPFAN]

I know this is a long ways off and is very tentative, but what will our lineup look line in 2 years? We have several stud seniors graduating next year so I want to see who we have coming in behind to fill their spots.

Here's what I have based on current line-up and committed recruits: (assuming several wrestlers do not redshirt, which is not the trend under Brands)

125 Justin Meija/Jack Wagner
133 Jason Renteria/Jack Wagner/Brock Rathbun
141 Vince Turk/Carter Happel
149 Brandon Sorenson
157 Michael Kemerer
165 Kaleb Young
174 Alex Marinelli
184 ? Appears to be a hole here unless there is someone I'm unaware of.
197 Steven Holloway
HWT Sam Stoll

Who are the top recruiting prospects who are considering Iowa who are yet to commit?

Wagner looked puny to me, I don't see him as a 133 ever. He needs to work it to be big enough for 125. As stated flip Young and Marinelli.

 

[anon_0pi0cv8t1ggvb]

Has there be an Iowa starter since Brands has been the HC who hasn't redshirt freshman year? Is there any chance we can expect to see a true freshman start in our lower weights (Meija/Renteria) to fill in for Gilman/Clark once they graduate? Any chance Marinelli starts next year at 165?

 

[Ihawkd9times]

I've heard the rumblings that Renteria could be a 141 and Happel will be a 149. I worry a bit about Happels quickness but If the strength gets put on correctly he could be just a step faster at 149 than 141 and that's the difference. IMO we noticed the opposite with Grothus coming down.

Im my defense I had the same worries about Seth Gross.

 

[Ihawkd9times]

wilcke/bowman 184, switch bull and young around? I think wilcke has looked better than Holloway.

I didn't see much of Wilcke this year. A little bit of Holloway. That's good news because if this team is to get back on top one of either Wilcke or Holloway have to be who we hoped they could be. Both would be perfect but we haven't recruited well enough for both to miss. We absolutely need one of them to be a real pleasant Brandon Sorenson type suprise coming out of RS. I was hoping we would have added some insurance in this recent recruiting class so to speak. Like a really nice insurance clause like a Nick Reenen elite type.

Good news is there seems to be a lot of underclass 184/197 prospects out east. A lot of them are in PA and never seemed to get talked about much. Not the Reene type hype but still top 10 guys at their weights. All due respect to Lyon but many of those guys would eat his lunch. We have to get out of this settling for the lesser Iowa guys thing and praying we can turn a complete buick into a corvette. Some of you guys fall in love way to easy with local guys. Let UNI or ISU have those Chase Straw/ Jacob Hoschlag types.

 

[anon_0pi0cv8t1ggvb]

I didn't see much of Wilcke this year. A little bit of Holloway. That's good news because if this team is to get back on top one of either Wilcke or Holloway have to be who we hoped they could be. Both would be perfect but we haven't recruited well enough for both to miss. We absolutely need one of them to be a real pleasant Brandon Sorenson type suprise coming out of RS. I was hoping we would have added some insurance in this recent recruiting class so to speak. Like a really nice insurance clause like a Nick Reenen elite type.

Good news is there seems to be a lot of underclass 184/197 prospects out east. A lot of them are in PA and never seemed to get talked about much. Not the Reene type hype but still top 10 guys at their weights. All due respect to Lyon but many of those guys would eat his lunch. We have to get out of this settling for the lesser Iowa guys thing and praying we can turn a complete buick into a corvette. Some of you guys fall in love way to easy with local guys.

I don't think we can expect Wilcke or Holloway to be on Sorenson's level. Sorenson's high school credentials were quite a bit greater than Wilcke or Holloway. Sorenson has placed 4th and 2nd at NCAA nationals in 2 years as a starter. I have no expectation for Wilcke or Holloway to be able to match that in their first year or two as a starter.

 

[Ihawkd9times]

I don't think we can expect Wilcke or Holloway to be on Sorenson's level. Sorenson's high school credentials were quite a bit greater than Wilcke or Holloway. Sorenson has placed 4th and 2nd at NCAA nationals in 2 years as a starter. I have no expectation for Wilcke or Holloway to be able to match that in their first year or two as a starter.

Nobody does but your missing the point. Our recruiting is always 2 studs behind PSU and Ohio st now. So we need a pleasant surprise out of one of them. I am not interested in reading a book about our 184/197 of the future can maybe qualify for NCAA's.

We need to look back on the Kemerer class and say we got another stud with him. That's why Iowa is in the mess they are right now. The staff isn't finishing classes of in the last 5 years. Sure we get that one elite guy like Kem, Stoll or Sorenson but we package them with Logan Ryan, Klapprodt, Seth Gross or some 1 or 2 time Iowa champ. I don't know how to explain but it seems a tad lazy in recruiting like I don't really want to recruit so that should be good enough. Like turning in homework you know you only can get a C on it because you didn't really want to do it.

We need Wilcke or Holloway to emerge otherwise its just more the same recruiting. And like you said, if there credential weren't all that great why didn't we add some "insurance and get another recruit with some credentials so we weren't all in on Wilcke, Bowman and Holloway?

I don't believe Brands anc Co are that bad of evaluating talent so Im coming to the conclusion they under value recruiting talent and overvalue how great they think they can make them in the room. Or they dislike the recruiting aspect of coaching. And if that's the case Brands should apply for the USA jobs where they can just stay in a room all day and never worry about recruiting. We would be just fine handing the Iowa name over to Jay Borschel, Brent Metcalf and either Ramos or McD and Berhow or even St John. They may be young and lack experience but Jaybo would have a plan to modernize the program and would value recruiting. I know Jay and Metcalf showing up on a recruits doorstep together for the initial face to face would easily trump the Morningstar visit and maybe call in Brands to close plan they have going now.

 

[crapman]

Just ask the coaches what they think of Wilcke. He missed several weeks early in the season due to an LCL tear but came back strong. His potential is very promising.

 

[Sandor45]

TnT and M* want guys that want to be a Hawkeye. That want to be in Iowa City. Majority of Iowa High School wrestlers want to be in Black and Gold wrestling in Iowa City. So, Brands looks at that as wanting to be here, and I think he takes that into more consideration than it should be.
Convincing fringe recruits to want to be Hawkeyes is the next step Iowa needs to take.
It's easy to do that with these kids who grow up watching Iowa. The real challenge is winning those who need convincing, but there in lies the the greater reward.

 

[anon_0pi0cv8t1ggvb]

Nobody does but your missing the point. Our recruiting is always 2 studs behind PSU and Ohio st now. So we need a pleasant surprise out of one of them. I am not interested in reading a book about our 184/197 of the future can maybe qualify for NCAA's.

We need to look back on the Kemerer class and say we got another stud with him. That's why Iowa is in the mess they are right now. The staff isn't finishing classes of in the last 5 years. Sure we get that one elite guy like Kem, Stoll or Sorenson but we package them with Logan Ryan, Klapprodt, Seth Gross or some 1 or 2 time Iowa champ. I don't know how to explain but it seems a tad lazy in recruiting like I don't really want to recruit so that should be good enough. Like turning in homework you know you only can get a C on it because you didn't really want to do it.

We need Wilcke or Holloway to emerge otherwise its just more the same recruiting. And like you said, if there credential weren't all that great why didn't we add some "insurance and get another recruit with some credentials so we weren't all in on Wilcke, Bowman and Holloway?

I don't believe Brands anc Co are that bad of evaluating talent so Im coming to the conclusion they under value recruiting talent and overvalue how great they think they can make them in the room. Or they dislike the recruiting aspect of coaching. And if that's the case Brands should apply for the USA jobs where they can just stay in a room all day and never worry about recruiting. We would be just fine handing the Iowa name over to Jay Borschel, Brent Metcalf and either Ramos or McD and Berhow or even St John. They may be young and lack experience but Jaybo would have a plan to modernize the program and would value recruiting. I know Jay and Metcalf showing up on a recruits doorstep together for the initial face to face would easily trump the Morningstar visit and maybe call in Brands to close plan they have going now.

I agree with you completely. D1 has gotten to the point where you can't have holes in the line up if you want to win a title. Every weight has to be a least a strong AA contender with several champs who can get bonus points throughout the tourney.

I'm really hoping Ramos or Metcalf can qualify for the Olympics this year to improve their credentials even further. If either of them qualify this year, the Brands need to be hiring them as assistant coaches immediately. My guess is that this is Metcalf's last run at the Olympics. Ramos is young enough to give it another go around in 4 years and I feel that he is still very hungry to compete. Both Metcalf and Ramos should be the top prospects for the assistant coach position as Iowa. I could see Ramos being great at recruiting as well. He is very charismatic. Both wrestle the "Iowa style". I don't see either replacing Brands soon, but we should at least hire one or both as assistants. The Brands are getting older as well and won't be able to roll around in the room as well as they used to.

 

[anon_0pi0cv8t1ggvb]

TnT and M* want guys that want to be a Hawkeye. That want to be in Iowa City. Majority of Iowa High School wrestlers want to be in Black and Gold wrestling in Iowa City. So, Brands looks at that as wanting to be here, and I think he takes that into more consideration than it should be.
Convincing fringe recruits to want to be Hawkeyes is the next step Iowa needs to take.
It's easy to do that with these kids who grow up watching Iowa. The real challenge is winning those who need convincing, but there in lies the the greater reward.

Yeah, you are right. The days of out of state studs wanting to come to Iowa solely based on Iowa's history are passing. There are still some kids who do - Meija from California wanted to come here since his freshman year and wasn't even concerned if he would get a scholarship to do it. Renteria - I believe was influenced by Ramos since are both from Illinois. However, there are many other options now than in the 90's for going to a competitive school.

 

[el dub]

Iowa should be fine. We have a pool of 42 state champions per year from which to recruit just in this state alone.

 

[Stanley75]

Alex Thomsen maybe?

 

[anon_0pi0cv8t1ggvb]

Iowa should be fine. We have a pool of 42 state champions per year from which to recruit just in this state alone.

Iowa has great high school wrestling, but you can't rely on in state recruits alone if you want to win a D1 NCAA team title. Iowa is a much smaller state population wise than PA, or Ohio. D1 is another level. If we relied solely on wrestlers from the state of Iowa for recruiting we would be in a LOT of trouble.

 

[championhawk]

Iowa has great high school wrestling, but you can't rely on in state recruits alone if you want to win a D1 NCAA team title. Iowa is a much smaller state population wise than PA, or Ohio. D1 is another level. If we relied solely on wrestlers from the state of Iowa for recruiting we would be in a LOT of trouble.

Welcome to the board. Maybe you could spend a few minutes and read the last week of posts on here. It will give you an idea on when posters are being sarcastic. What you are saying has been posted no less than 2,000 times in the last few weeks.

 

[anon_0pi0cv8t1ggvb]

Welcome to the board. Maybe you could spend a few minutes and read the last week of posts on here. It will give you an idea on when posters are being sarcastic. What you are saying has been posted no less than 2,000 times in the last few weeks.

My bad. Missed the sarcasm, but I'm glad el dub isn't really that naive. I'm a long time lurker of this board. Just made an account today.

 

[PSU Mike]

Are we assuming Spencer Lee will still be on his honeymoon?

 

[Jay on HR]

Are we assuming Spencer Lee will still be on his honeymoon?

..or you missed the part saying "based on current line-up and committed recruits"

I get the joke, but don't think it landed.

 

[Ihawkd9times]

TnT and M* want guys that want to be a Hawkeye. That want to be in Iowa City. Majority of Iowa High School wrestlers want to be in Black and Gold wrestling in Iowa City. So, Brands looks at that as wanting to be here, and I think he takes that into more consideration than it should be.
Convincing fringe recruits to want to be Hawkeyes is the next step Iowa needs to take.
It's easy to do that with these kids who grow up watching Iowa. The real challenge is winning those who need convincing, but there in lies the the greater reward.

Very good way of putting it without having to go as negative as I do. I think that's what's going on. Convincing = Closing and its just isn't happening. The two gems we barely closed. Marinelli actually committed to somewhere else and Kemerer was closer to Lehigh than we know.

There are red flags if you read between the lines. I still feel sick that Gilman's coach had to literally call Brands to tell him to get back in touch. I about puked reading that. Take a f'n sales class coach.

Maybe its Toms attitude towards recruiting? Because it cant be that he isn't a big name in wrestling and he certainly knows how to develop a kid in the practice room.

 

[Sandor45]

Very good way of putting it without having to go as negative as I do. I think that's what's going on. Convincing = Closing and its just isn't happening. The two gems we barely closed. Marinelli actually committed to somewhere else and Kemerer was closer to Lehigh than we know.

There are red flags if you read between the lines. I still feel sick that Gilman's coach had to literally call Brands to tell him to get back in touch. I about puked reading that. Take a f'n sales class coach.

Maybe its Toms attitude towards recruiting? Because it cant be that he isn't a big name in wrestling and he certainly knows how to develop a kid in the practice room.

You're right. The red flags are popping and becoming more and more obvious. This is just the stuff that gets to us, message boards and new articles. The Gilman story can't be an isolated incident. It's a bummer to hear all these elite recruits talking about their recruiting process and how Iowa is never mentioned in their list of schools. Myles Martin just spoke about it on the Podcast and said he visited psu, tosu, osu, and nebbie. Iowa was never mentioned.
Brands has a little too much integrity when it comes to recruiting I think. Sales is a ruthless business, and recruiting is selling your program and yourself. The majority of coaches will tell kids whatever they want to hear. I don't see Brands ever doing that, EVER. I can see other coaches putting down other prospective programs when talking with these kids. I don't see Brands doing that, EVER. I can see other coaches waking kids families up at midnight. I don't see Brands doing that, EVER.

 

[andegre]

I really don't want to pile-on to this conversation, but I will...

Last fall when I was at the Hawkeye Wrestling Club outing in Norwalk, Brands was talking at the end and asked the crowd if there were any questions. Alger was in attendance and blurted out "RECRUITS!" (as in tell us about recruits and recruiting). Brands response was "Well, I'm here so that tells you where my ****ing priorities are." (not in those words, but close). That got a good laugh from the crowd, I'm assuming because of the swearing, but you have to wonder about that statement...

 

[hawknut]

Very good way of putting it without having to go as negative as I do. I think that's what's going on. Convincing = Closing and its just isn't happening. The two gems we barely closed. Marinelli actually committed to somewhere else and Kemerer was closer to Lehigh than we know.

There are red flags if you read between the lines. I still feel sick that Gilman's coach had to literally call Brands to tell him to get back in touch. I about puked reading that. Take a f'n sales class coach.

Maybe its Toms attitude towards recruiting? Because it cant be that he isn't a big name in wrestling and he certainly knows how to develop a kid in the practice room.

I'm glad others are finally reporting this about Gilman's recruitment. I have been saying this for a long time and I have always gotten shunned. Gilman would come to visit and Brands would purposely ignore him. How's that for recruiting? You wonder why we are where we are? Actually I wonder how we are as good as we are. There is another story from a big high school club/program in Florida. I think a few studs have come out of there, but I don't remember the name of the coach or program. He was interviewed and said most of the wrestling coaches keep in contact with him about his guys and he has never heard from Brands. Alot of his kids ask about Iowa and he tries to contact them and never gets a response. There are a few other kids that I heard of that were big time and Tom didn't even contact them until the fall of their senior years, as much as 2 years after other teams had made contact and formed relationships. Its either arrogance or laziness, or both.

 

[Jay on HR]

I really don't want to pile-on to this conversation, but I will...

Last fall when I was at the Hawkeye Wrestling Club outing in Norwalk, Brands was talking at the end and asked the crowd if there were any questions. Alger was in attendance and blurted out "RECRUITS!" (as in tell us about recruits and recruiting). Brands response was "Well, I'm here so that tells you where my ****ing priorities are." (not in those words, but close). That got a good laugh from the crowd, I'm assuming because of the swearing, but you have to wonder about that statement...

But at the same time, what can Brands actually say without getting himself into trouble? I'd rather him tell a joke like that to a bunch of donors than saying something so simple yet would be a NCAA rule violation.

 

[hawknut]

You're right. The red flags are popping and becoming more and more obvious. This is just the stuff that gets to us, message boards and new articles. The Gilman story can't be an isolated incident. It's a bummer to hear all these elite recruits talking about their recruiting process and how Iowa is never mentioned in their list of schools. Myles Martin just spoke about it on the Podcast and said he visited psu, tosu, osu, and nebbie. Iowa was never mentioned.
Brands has a little too much integrity when it comes to recruiting I think. Sales is a ruthless business, and recruiting is selling your program and yourself. The majority of coaches will tell kids whatever they want to hear. I don't see Brands ever doing that, EVER. I can see other coaches putting down other prospective programs when talking with these kids. I don't see Brands doing that, EVER. I can see other coaches waking kids families up at midnight. I don't see Brands doing that, EVER.

Selling your program doesn't mean you don't have integrity. So Brands ignored Gilman because he has integrity?

 

[Sandor45]

Selling your program doesn't mean you don't have integrity. So Brands ignored Gilman because he has integrity?

The reason Brands ignored Gilman was because he wanted Gilman to focus on the Worlds tounrey, free of distractions. A lot of coaches wouldn't have considered that. Sounds like Brands was the only one who even considered that.

 

[anon_0pi0cv8t1ggvb]

I know first

The reason Brands ignored Gilman was because he wanted Gilman to focus on the Worlds tounrey, free of distractions. A lot of coaches wouldn't have considered that. Sounds like Brands was the only one who even considered that.

Even if Brands had good intentions, that's not the way you get high school kids to come to your program. What thought do you think goes through an 18 year old's head when Iowa isn't contacting them? Probably that the Iowa isn't very interested in them.

 

[Jcchawk]

The reason Brands ignored Gilman was because he wanted Gilman to focus on the Worlds tounrey, free of distractions. A lot of coaches wouldn't have considered that. Sounds like Brands was the only one who even considered that.

So he did that without explaining to Gilman what he was doing? Great communication.

 

[championhawk]

Some of you have clear agendas which is pathetic. Your constant anonymous attacks on the Iowa wrestling program tells me you lead sad lives.

 

[Sandor45]

I know first


Even if Brands had good intentions, that's not the way you get high school kids to come to your program. What thought do you think goes through an 18 year old's head when Iowa isn't contacting them? Probably that the Iowa isn't very interested in them.

you're totally right. This is one of the reasons we are being out recruited.

 

[Ihawkd9times]

Brands basically did the same stuff to mcdonough. I wish I could find that article where Matt talks about he was all set to go to NW because Iowa wasn't on him.
Think about that?
2iowa kids within a car ride should have been locked up way before the midnight hour. And it wouldn't even taken much effort. Just had to pay attention and ask them. Should never be like that.

 

[24 so far]

Brands basically did the same stuff to mcdonough. I wish I could find that article where Matt talks about he was all set to go to NW because Iowa wasn't on him.
Think about that?
2iowa kids within a car ride should have been locked up way before the midnight hour. And it wouldn't even taken much effort. Just had to pay attention and ask them. Should never be like that.

Was McDonough coming to Iowa for free? Was he going to Northwestern for free? Did you realize long before anyone else that Matt McDonough was going to be who he was in College (1-2-1-Injured)? Does Matt McDonough go 1-2-1-injured if he goes to Northwestern?

There's been plenty of other Iowa High Schoolers with as good a resume as Matt McDonough had coming in, that had nowhere near the career. I suppose you wanted Iowa to pass on guys like Nate Moore and Nick Moore? How many 3 Time Iowa State Champs haven't done at thing at Iowa? (quite a few) Nothing like after the fact to throw out our opinons to support our agendas..............

 

[Ihawkd9times]

Don't act like mcd was a nobody coming out. Hell yes I wanted that kid. You could tell he and long were special

 

[anon_0pi0cv8t1ggvb]

Don't act like mcd was a nobody coming out. Hell yes I wanted that kid. You could tell he and long were special

McD was also a Fargo champ I believe right? Or at least runner up. I remember him and Nate Moore wrestling in the finals. I don't recall who won.

 

[24 so far]

Don't act like mcd was a nobody coming out. Hell yes I wanted that kid. You could tell he and long were special

You mean you can tell now that they were................there is a VERY long list of "special" High Schoolers that never sniffed a DI podium.

And if you liked McD you must have LOVED Nate Moore (181-3 and 4 time Fargo Champ I believe), the kid that Iowa did recruit and sign fairly quickly IIRC.

With your silence on the scholarship questions, I guess that means you don't know? Iowa already had Falck, Dennis, Slaton, and I presume Nate Moore and Mark Ballweg already signed by the time Matt McD committed IIRC (probably off, but close). That's a lot of potential scholarship dollars tied up in lightweights.

Fortunately for Iowa, they finally made it happen with Matt McD, knowing what we know NOW.

 

[24 so far]

McD was also a Fargo champ I believe right? Or at least runner up. I remember him and Nate Moore wrestling in the finals. I don't recall who won.

I don't know how many times they wrestled in Fargo, but each beat the other at least once, and both in the Finals I believe (Greco win for Moore and Freestyle win for McD (??) - not sure if Cadets, Juniors, etc). McD also had some other high placements, probably in both styles, don't recall for certain.