Official Portal Watch
- Thread starter eb05
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He should have plenty of motivation. Many PSU and the Okie fans have painted him out to be some some kind of uncommitted party animal because he didn’t stick around in Stillwater to play dodgeball. Wish him the best of luck (just not against the Hawks).
I hope you’re wrong about AJ not having a shot at joining the team, or we are screwed at 197 after this year. If a great one doesn’t pop up in the portal next year who wants to come here, may have to throw poor Riggins to the wolves again. I really don’t see Carroll effectively holding 197 long, and ISU has a stud 215 coming in and a good heavyweight. Someone will be transferring.
If he’s a party animal he’ll have to hook up with Swiderwiski 😜
AJ shit the bed in Stillwater and then IC. His behavior since the Soldier Salute has apparently left more shit stains on the random street corners where he’s decided to pump/flex/preen. You post like a Ferrari family member on this topic, imo.
Just food for thought here. Outside of their first match, Arnold didn't have a ton for Naak either.
I follow Linn-mar wrestling and pretty sure they wrestled 4 times their senior year (Donnybrook, the City High/Linn-Mar dual, MVC Conference tournament, and the state finals match). Going by memory, Naak lost all 4, the scores were 8-3, 3-1, 3-2 after Tie Breaker 1, and finally 2-1 after Tie Breaker 1. You could say that Naak didn't have much for Gabe as I don't believe he ever scored a takedown on Gabe (he got really deep several times but couldn't finish it). At the same time, setting aside the first match I think Gabe only got 1 takedown on Naak in the last 3 matches (during the dual I think). In those last 3 matches Gabe's other points came from escapes and I think he got 1 reversal in a tie-breaker overtime. Tate got a bit over-zealous on a mat return and it cost him the reversal. Gabe wasn't exactly generating a ton of offense either.
So we have Zach for his 6th year, then what do you propose we do for 197 after that if you don’t want Ferrari??? Most of our possible big recruits in 2025/2026 are lighter weights and a few heavyweights. Kolby Franklin had to retire, so do we keep trying to beef up Riggins. The miller kid hasn’t committed even, and he’s probably not going to be ready to be that good as true freshman. Why do you think Carroll ended up in Iowa, but didn’t even visit us when we are in big need of a 197, and have the means to pay him???
No windows
I will be really surprised if Carroll holds 197 for more than one year. I really think holding it for a full college season is going to take a toll on him.
What planet are you from?
This is a situation where familiarity and a size advantage eventually lead to close matches. Remember, Gabe wrestled up a weight for the challenge. One could also look at the situation and say despite an obvious size advantage, Naak had 4.5+ matches worth of opportunity and wasn't able to take Gabe down even once.
And that's not to disparage Naak's talent. He's a fine wrestler.
Yup…Naak is really good. I was surprised at least one didn’t go his way.
Good questions, all. Carroll might be worried Ferrari could still be brought onboard and doesn’t want they battle for a spot.
Hope the good guys got it locked up by 97. Those last two matches very iffy. Who is Deversent and can Cruz win that one.
Deversent is another Cuban recruit, won junior pan ams with a win over Richie Figs and placed 3rd at senior pan ams in 2023. I don’t think Cruz can beat him but folkstyle is quite the transition so I wouldn’t rule it out.
If you didn't grow up a Hawkeye fan why would you come to Iowa as a heavy?
Maybe I’m missing something but does ISU have a history of winning at upper weights?
Iowa has done really well at Heavy compared to all but a few schools.
I’m still waiting for the 197 solution after next year. No guarantee Zach won’t revert back to the guy who lost to Kolby.Stop trying to make AJ Ferrari happen. It's not gonna happen.
They had one guy who was pretty ok at 84/97 for a few years there. Otherwise, Voelker, Varner, Reader, Zabriske, and Gadson all have at least one title. Plus a handful of other AAs in the past few decades at upper weights. I'd say pretty decent upper weight history.
Even if AJ is a high AA, he’ll be a net negative for the program.
None of those guys were coached by anyone on the ISU staff. Irrelevant.
4 AAs in 12 opportunities. That’s fewer than Jacob Warner all by himself.
What facts? I wasn't trying to insinuate ISU was better at the heavy weights but please show me where Iowa is better than most schools at the heavy weights.
How far back do you want to go? Take last year out of the equation, and you had a 5x All-American (Warner) and a 4x (Cassioppi) as recently as 2023. That's not too shabby.
There can't be many schools who have out AA'ed Iowa at 197-HWT in the past 10 years or so. To be fair, that's only one measure and perhaps it falls apart if you include 184 as well. Certainly one can harp on development or what have you of the individual athletes, but I don't think one can say Iowa hasn't been good in the upper weights.
Appreciate that. I do think there's good news coming, but the timeline is a crapshoot.
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