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Beard in the portal

Choosing between:
UTC
ASU
South Dakota State

He wants to go 174 - we should go get him.
i thought UTC was a done deal? agree he's worth a call, but not sure he's worth any money as he's likely a minimal upgrade over nelson. both have r12/low aa ceilings imo. jordan more likely to reach it, but even that's only 3-5 extra points most likely.
 
i thought UTC was a done deal? agree he's worth a call, but not sure he's worth any money as he's likely a minimal upgrade over nelson. both have r12/low aa ceilings imo. jordan more likely to reach it, but even that's only 3-5 extra points most likely.
Hasn't Nelson already beaten Jordan at 184?

Personally I think moving to 174 would be more of an advantage to Nelson than Jordan, and struggle to see any situation where Jordan is a better option than a healthy Brands or Assad at 74 and 84.

Edited to say if he wants to come roll around with the guys and see where the chips fall, might as well welcome him to the Inn.
 
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Hasn't Nelson already beaten Jordan at 184?

Personally I think moving to 174 would be more of an advantage to Nelson than Jordan, and struggle to see any situation where Jordan is a better option than a heavy Brands or Assad at 74 and 84.

Edited to say if he wants to come roll around with the guys and see where the chips fall, might as well welcome him to the Inn.
Nelson beat him 5-2 and 3-0 in 2021 up at 184. so yeah, IDK how Rocky would be an upgrade at 174
 
Hasn't Nelson already beaten Jordan at 184?

Personally I think moving to 174 would be more of an advantage to Nelson than Jordan, and struggle to see any situation where Jordan is a better option than a heavy Brands or Assad at 74 and 84.

Edited to say if he wants to come roll around with the guys and see where the chips fall, might as well welcome him to the Inn.
jordan is streaky and has a more diverse skillset. while nelson beat him hth, if i had to pick a guy more likely to go on a run, it would be jordan because he's kind of done it before with a r12 finish in the same bracket nelson went 1-2 in. but you're right, i don't think that's enough to consider him an upgrade. if he wants to come for free, that's another thing. but i'd be surprised if iowa was interested.
 
jordan is streaky and has a more diverse skillset. while nelson beat him hth, if i had to pick a guy more likely to go on a run, it would be jordan because he's kind of done it before with a r12 finish in the same bracket nelson went 1-2 in. but you're right, i don't think that's enough to consider him an upgrade. if he wants to come for free, that's another thing. but i'd be surprised if iowa was interested.

All fair points. But I honestly think if he were actually coached to get better at wrestling he could go on a top 5 run. He was REALLY good on top in high school - and in typical tOSU fashion - that stopped being a skillset somehow.

We recruited him pretty hard out of high school and he was pretty close with Bull at one point - so I think the pitch would be pretty well received.

Top 4 returning at 174:

Cstar
mekhi
Plott
Labriola

I think Labriola would be a terrible match up - but I could see Jordan beating Plott.
 
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All fair points. But I honestly think if he were actually coached to get better at wrestling he could go on a top 5 run. He was REALLY good on top in high school - and in typical tOSU fashion - that stopped being a skillset somehow.

We recruited him pretty hard out of high school and he was pretty close with Bull at one point - so I think the pitch would be pretty well received.

Top 4 returning at 174:

Cstar
mekhi
Plott
Labriola

I think Labriola would be a terrible match up - but I could see Jordan beating Plott.
I can also see Nelson beating plott
 
I can also see Nelson beating plott
idk, i think plott is starting to come into his own. last year was the first time he was healthy in over 2 years and he finished with a great tournament. i wouldn't be shocked to see him make a big jump next year with a real offseason to train instead of rehab.
 
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All fair points. But I honestly think if he were actually coached to get better at wrestling he could go on a top 5 run. He was REALLY good on top in high school - and in typical tOSU fashion - that stopped being a skillset somehow.

We recruited him pretty hard out of high school and he was pretty close with Bull at one point - so I think the pitch would be pretty well received.

Top 4 returning at 174:

Cstar
mekhi
Plott
Labriola

I think Labriola would be a terrible match up - but I could see Jordan beating Plott.
the other thing i can't quite wrap my head around is him wanting to be back at 174. I thought he struggled with that cut when he was down there.

i'm just not that high on him as a serious point scorer. he wasn't a huge recruit. not nearly as good in high school as his brothers and cousin. he's been about what you would expect if not a little better and that's not a guy who makes a huge difference in this lineup next year.
 
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I don't think there is any way Beard is make 184. Too big for that, but he's going to be a great addition for someone.
Agreed, and why would he bother? He's a RS freshman All-American at 197. That's pretty good in my book. I don't think the kid is a world beater, but he's got some talent for sure.

I don't recall if he gassed or is poor defensively or whatever, but I do recall some explosive offense from him. He's got 3 years of eligibility, and I would expect him to make the podium more often than not. That's a good pickup for somebody.
 
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idk, i think plott is starting to come into his own. last year was the first time he was healthy in over 2 years and he finished with a great tournament. i wouldn't be shocked to see him make a big jump next year with a real offseason to train instead of rehab.
I'd say the same out of Abe Assad...Verbatim
Edit: verbatim was not correct.....I believe AA's yet to have fully healthy year...
 
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idk, i think plott is starting to come into his own. last year was the first time he was healthy in over 2 years and he finished with a great tournament. i wouldn't be shocked to see him make a big jump next year with a real offseason to train instead of rehab.
Quite possible, always appreciated Plott, I did love seeing Abe beat him their last meeting though.
By the way, I’m seeing rumblings on Twitter that Chittum is switching to tOSU.
Rumblings are nice to chew on...they seem like an awfully talented group coming their way
 
Lineup wise yes all those make sense however the ‘22/23 year will be Beard’s 4th academic year correct? With 3 years of eligibility remaining? Ivy’s don’t allow grad students to be eligible athletically so that would seemingly rule them out unless he wants to transfer again. Michigan also really struggles to get any transfers through admissions that are not freshman or graduates. They only allow 60 credits to transfer so basically every kid no matter their academic prowess has to make up credits in a very short time. I can remember 1 mid career transfer in my 30ish years as a Michigan football fan, Grant Mason from Stanford. So unless Beard graduates between now and the fall Michigan is probably out as well.
He's going to portal over to Cornell, beat Dean in the finals wearing a Cornell singlet, then portal back to PSU as a grad transfer.
 
hawks should have some money available with the Henson departure. bring in chittum and start him this year at 149 and bump up max to 157. easier said than done I suppose
 
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