Agreed. I think Bassett will end up a 141 to start and 149 by the time he is done. I think Blaze and Forrest are a toss up. Happily take either one.
Clarion open
- Thread starter edquinn06
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Agreed. I think Bassett will end up a 141 to start and 149 by the time he is done. I think Blaze and Forrest are a toss up. Happily take either one.
Agreed. The Raney brothers should also be added to that list.
As good as these guys are, it’s hard to say they are better than Spencer Lee was at the time. He was a three-time world champion before his senior year in high school. I think Spencer would have given college kids all they wanted had he entered open tournaments during high school.
They're not better than Spencer.
They're great - but one thing about Spencer, Gable, Snyder and that crew - they weren't doing 3 a-days. These guys are absolutely outworking everyone. Whoever gets them is going to need to tone down the amount of workouts just to save their bodies.
Tom is going hard after all of them - so we'll see.
Are you sure it’s Tom and not Bobby?
I really feel that With Former Hawkeye Jody Strittmatter as the Go to guy at Young Guns where SO MANY of the top PA guys... Bassett, Miller, and the rest of the gang train at regularly and Jody coaches many of them from their corner.... we need to start with the clubs and the opportunity to bring entire groups and these wrestlers to Iowa for as many events as possible. Bring them ..AS PER STATE REGS ALLOW... to open practices or for dual meets so they can experience the atmosphere and see the success that PA guys like Jody , Max , Young, Kemdawg and Spencer enjoyed . We need to create the allure to attract them here from staying home at PSU.
I couldn't imagine being a D1 wrestler and losing to a high school kid.
I really couldn't imagine being a Big Ten wrestler and on top of that the #1 guy in the country and lose to a high school kid, no matter how good they are. Ramos did come back and take 3rd convincingly but I think that would mentally take a toll on you.
I really couldn't imagine being a Big Ten wrestler and on top of that the #1 guy in the country and lose to a high school kid, no matter how good they are. Ramos did come back and take 3rd convincingly but I think that would mentally take a toll on you.
He's teammates with Blaze's older brother. I have a feeling that wasn't the first time they've wrestled.
Lost in all the hoopla is that Blaze lost in the finals too. I'm not sure we learned much about the state of 125 other than it is as wide open as everybody thought.
No, that was not the first time they have wrestled with each other.
He threw everything but the kitchen sink at Spencer when they wrestled and was way more conservative against Blaze. To me it was a weird match, Ramos was generating most the offense but couldn't finish. Blaze is a great scrambler, but you would have thought Ramos would have put more points on the board.
Remember what Pico did to Rutherford? He was in high school when he was mauling him almost routinely. Some guys are just built different... though I think Blaze is very different from Pico stylistically.
I’m thinking this is what helped him yesterday. I imagine he rolled with Ramos a bunch in the room which took lessened the “Oh shit, I’m wrestling the college #1” factor.
Ramos had tight matches with tons of lower ranked wrestlers last year. IMO 125 could not be more wide open this year.
he almost lost twice before he even got to Spencer.
Anyone can be beat on any given day. Blaze is a very defensive scrambler type wrestler. He can make matches look odd. Familiarity in wrestling can be a strange mistress. We have all seen the guy that can't win in the room but wins the tournament. All this adds up to 125 is pretty much a wide open field at this point. Several good wrestlers but we will see who steps up and takes the top spot. I am looking forward to seeing the paratiy and some weights.
He is best when he has nothing to lose…his big moves come out of hiding.
would love to see him wrestle everybody the way he wrestles spencer. he's be andonian-level entertaining
A HUGE part of that was Spencer's style though. Most of Ramos's other opponents don't "power step" into the ties with so much forward head pressure. Also, most will "bail out" quickly if they do get into that position. Spencer doubled down and pressed even harder forward BOTH TIMES he went to his back!
Know when to hold them know when to fold them. Same could be said for Cenzo and Marinelli. Cenzo didn't know when to bail out and made a bad thing worse. But he also beat the unbeatable I-Mar with the same type of gunslinger approach. It is the hero or zero mentality. I personally like the thought that when you are out gunned don't be afraid to throw caution to the wind. Go big or go home. Sometimes that fearlessness needs to be turned lose. Kids get accustomed to winning then get so afraid to lose they quit wrestling to win and wrestle not to lose. I always told my kids the most dangerous kid in a bracket was the one that wasn't supposed to be there. The freshman that was playing with house money and wrestling free and easy.
outstanding wrestling by these young guys. I would take Ramos in the next 5 out of 5 matches if they wrestled again this year. I also do not believe Ramos will be ranked number one for very long, and will not win the championship this year. Not to take anything away from what this young man accomplished. I also think Basset is the #1 lightweight guy to go after and the rest are 1a.
Healthy Lee would dismantle him in 90 seconds. He'd wish he was back in 6th grade instead of 11th.
Spencer wrestled way more aggressive his senior year, he put himself in a lot of dangerous situations. Not sure why, but I definitely noticed it and I never wrestled close to the level of many of you posters. If I saw it, I know many of you did.
He just didn't wrestle as "smart" as he did the previous years.
Pico was so special. Think he was severly misdirected by parents snd trainers. He could of been so dominant in college and world stage for 6-8 yrs and still had a good mma career. Maybe even better mma with that path.
I still think kolat= HS goat
Kolat HS goat until this crop previously mentioned. These 4-5 HS guys are at a level i dont remember seeing since kolat&pico.
Lee certainly phenom but not same as kolat and pico.
Pico beating 25 year old Kellen Russel is more impressive than Blaze beating Ramos in my opinion.
Aaron Pico is 16 months younger than Retherford. Not a huge age difference.
Matt Ramos graduated high school in 2019, while Marcus Blaze is high school class of 2025.
And Forrest likely projects as a middleweight in college; Blaze a lightweight.
Some of it was knowing a full match was going to be problematic.
He took out Oliver too. Finals against Molinero lost best of 3 1 to 2. Very questionable calls as well. He was beating multi time NCAA champs while in high school.
Shame we never got to see him in college and the world stage.
Did his mma career flame out early? What’s doing now? Wonder if he would have done college first if NIL money was around then.
He's still fighting, trains down here in Albuquerque. He fought pretty recently, August or September
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