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HawkCentral interview with Austin DeSanto

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HR Heisman
Mar 24, 2016
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There is a great interview with Iowa's Tasmanian Devil Austin DeSanto on HawkCentral today with Chad Leistikow. I'm a subscriber, so some may not get to see it, but it's very good (might be x amount of free articles per month thing?).

Anyway, talks about his reluctance to do interviews, only spent 30 seconds early in the year up to now. Chops a lot of wood for Terry Brands apparently! Ha! Doesn't think he's very good at it, but likes the 3 hour workout. Terry says he works like he wrestles, it's fascinating.

His Father wanted him to go to Rutgers when he left Drexel, but Tom and Morningstar convinced him Iowa was the place. Tom Brands - "We wanted him bad".

Talks about his mental health quite a bit, his remorse for things he's done and continues to deal with and getting better moving forward. He has a girlfriend from Drexel (Bonnie) that came to Iowa with him (not sure when) that seems to be another calming influence, and has been seeing a Sports Physcologist for a couple of years now that he sees regularly and feels he can't miss those sessions.

Plans on staying on at the HWC and wrestling internationally. So we haven't seen the last of this young man. That's great news as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, very interesting read if you get the opportunity. Kids still battling some demons and maybe always will, but day in - day out sounds like a polite young man that just wants to wrestle. Glad we have him.
 
I have always loved Austin as a Hawk. He wrestles like his hair is on fire and that is entertainment. He has progressed a lot from when he came to Iowa 4 years ago. As far as controlling his emotions, that is such a fine line. It is hard to wrestle with everything you have and keep your emotions in check at the same time. I coach multiple different sports and I can tell you now that getting kids to have that fire in their belly and drive to win is not something you can coach into them. They have to have it and keep it themselves and not a lot of kids have that fire. I have never regretted Austin becoming a Hawk, actually the opposite. Glad he will wrestle freestyle so this next two weeks won't be the last of Austin that we see wrestling.
 
I’ve been a Hawkeye wrestling fan since about the time Gable took over..... Austin is one of my all time favorites

what he has to overcome on a daily basis to compete most of us can only imagine.... watching his growth at Iowa has been heartwarming

Tom and Terry’s guidance and influence with this young man speak volumes about the type of coaches/mentors they are.... Iowa wrestling couldn’t be in better hands
 
I wasn't thrilled when he transfered here. And at first I didn't think it was going to work out, with the occasional loss of control. But he settled down and matured. And he's the prototypical Iowa style. He was good for Iowa and I think Iowa was good for him, in more ways than one. A great Hawkeye.
 
I’ve always loved Austin. Yes, he has his faults, just like the rest of us. The reality is he’s shown significant improvement during his time at Iowa and I’m happy for him. Austin is a unique kid, but I’ll root for him and any kid like him all day. Doesn’t matter that he’s worn a Hawkeye uniform.
 
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