ADVERTISEMENT

Phillippi to U of Virginia

I try not to wear black-and-gold glasses (with the exception of Grothus at 141), and this is not intended as sour grapes. Phillipi is very slick, and I would never say I don't want the #16 P4P guy in the country. But I think Happel's ceiling is higher, and I think Happel's style is better suited to Iowa than Phillipi's. If you look at the match that Flo has of Phillipi vs Headlee, which I'd never seen until 5 minutes ago, Phillipi didn't take an offensive shot the entire match. Headlee generated all the offense and had a much more varied arsenal--and I don't know him from a hole in the wall, but after 30 seconds I was rooting for him because he was doing all the work. Phillipi will give people fits, but...not my favorite style, and I'm feeling very good about Happel, as long as we get him. Somebody please tell Brands that Tarp gives him permission to get Happel.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FULSAASFAN, sloehawk, minnhawkeye and 3 others
I base it on seeing Happel in person against Iowa competition on a few occasions. I didn't like the loss to a smaller Saavedra. I have only watched Philippi on video. Just my opinion, Phillippi>Happel.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: HIWILLE
Doubt my opinion means much here since I'm a Penny guy but Virginia is getting a good one. I've had the chance to see this kid alot since I'm from western Pa and admittedly was hoping he wouldn't choose Iowa. I just think he has a high ceiling and isn't even close to reaching his potential. No doubt the Brands brothers would have been a good group to bring it out of him.

That being said, I'm impressed with the Happel kid. If Iowa snags him and they end up at same weight then its a toss up to who is better imo. And so you know guys, I always want to see Iowa strong. I know that sounds weird but you have no idea how much it enhances the sport for me. Beating them is like beating Goliath.I will always want them near the top of the heat considering its like a rush to me when we win it all and they don't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: andegre and wasdt21
WEH8ST8HAWK said:
I base it on seeing Happel in person against Iowa competition on a few occasions. I didn't like the loss to a smaller Saavedra. I have only watched Philippi on video. Just my opinion, Phillippi>Happel.
Click to expand...

That's fine that's why I asked.

I will say Happel's 12-7 win over Nick Lee (PSU commit) last summer was an impressive match. I personally would be happy to land Happel, and take my chances with his upside.
 
In my own opinion, I prefer Happel to Phillippi. A few weeks ago I read a lot of posts on Penn states board about Phillippi being a pretty big snoozefest when he wrestles, and seeing as most posters are from PA there and have a chance to watch him a lot I differed to their judgement. After watching a few of his matches online I would generally agree with that, hes obviously tough as nails as hes #16 p4p, but as someone who wants to see Iowa get back to the top, I dont think his style is the direction we want to go in. That and we've been having some pretty good success with Iowa 4xers recently (Gilman, Clark, Sorensen) and hopefully Happel wins this year and continues the trend for the hawks.
 
Regardless of this comparison now, one would think the higher ceiling is for the kid who has better room guys to push him. Obviously you have a few kids who would do well even if I coached them, but the odds are that that is a rare instance.
 
LaxHawk174 said:
In my own opinion, I prefer Happel to Phillippi. A few weeks ago I read a lot of posts on Penn states board about Phillippi being a pretty big snoozefest when he wrestles, and seeing as most posters are from PA there and have a chance to watch him a lot I differed to their judgement. After watching a few of his matches online I would generally agree with that, hes obviously tough as nails as hes #16 p4p, but as someone who wants to see Iowa get back to the top, I dont think his style is the direction we want to go in. That and we've been having some pretty good success with Iowa 4xers recently (Gilman, Clark, Sorensen) and hopefully Happel wins this year and continues the trend for the hawks.
Click to expand...

Lax --Pletcher, Headlee and Phillippi are all Young Guns kids that wrestled 132 last year. Phillippi is a very good rider with extremely good defensive skills. Most of his matches are low scoring 1or 2 point wins with minimal points scored from neutral. Against top competition he seldom shoots and relies on counters and scrambles to score. His style has served him well but from a fan and bonus point perspective he is very frustrating to watch.

Over the past couple years Phillippi and Pletcher have had 4 or 5 very close matches with Pletcher typically winning by 1 or 2 points. It will interesting to see if Phillippi's style and lack of offense translates at the D1 level.
 
Don't know much about Mickey but Happel has a great in state reputation and a good out of state one. No brainer.
 
WEH8ST8HAWK said:
I base it on seeing Happel in person against Iowa competition on a few occasions. I didn't like the loss to a smaller Saavedra. I have only watched Philippi on video. Just my opinion, Phillippi>Happel.
Click to expand...
What specific matches of each guy have you seen to form this opinion? I have seen almost all of Happels High School matches and he has a great variety of offense and is good in every position. The only time I saw him out of position last year was against the two top ranked 3A kids and that was because he was trying everything to pin them as they turtled up. I am having a hard time believing you watched many of his matches.
 
hawkeyeheaven08 said:
What specific matches of each guy have you seen to form this opinion? I have seen almost all of Happels High School matches and he has a great variety of offense and is good in every position. The only time I saw him out of position last year was against the two top ranked 3A kids and that was because he was trying everything to pin them as they turtled up. I am having a hard time believing you watched many of his matches.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I watched the Happel vs Dan Kelly match at Battle of Waterloo, and there was definitely no turtling up by Kelly. It was a good, hard fought match by both guys.

Happel never wrestled Wenger last year, so who was the other top 3A guy he wrestled? Was it earlier in the year at 132?
 
WEH8ST8HAWK said:
I base it on seeing Happel in person against Iowa competition on a few occasions. I didn't like the loss to a smaller Saavedra. I have only watched Philippi on video. Just my opinion, Phillippi>Happel.
Click to expand...

I'd take Phillippi too. boring? yes. winner? yes.

but here's the thing....idk what saavedra will ever be, but what he was at that time he wrestled Happel was a complete hammer that was among the most underrated and un-talked-about in the country.

i wouldn't let that sway you.
 
smalls103 said:
I'd take Phillippi too. boring? yes. winner? yes.

but here's the thing....idk what saavedra will ever be, but what he was at that time he wrestled Happel was a complete hammer that was among the most underrated and un-talked-about in the country.

i wouldn't let that sway you.
Click to expand...
Virginia is getting a great wrestler and either Iowa of UNI will be getting one also. I look forward to seeing these two wrestle in college.
 
hawkeyeheaven08 said:
What specific matches of each guy have you seen to form this opinion? I have seen almost all of Happels High School matches and he has a great variety of offense and is good in every position. The only time I saw him out of position last year was against the two top ranked 3A kids and that was because he was trying everything to pin them as they turtled up. I am having a hard time believing you watched many of his matches.
Click to expand...

I admittedly haven't seen a bunch of Happels matches. The ones I saw were against lesser competition so I was expecting more in the match against Saavedra. His feet looked slow to me and he had nothing for a guy that is smaller than him. Like I said, my opinion is Saavedra>Happel..
 
PrairieHawk1 said:
I'm not saying you're wrong, but I watched the Happel vs Dan Kelly match at Battle of Waterloo, and there was definitely no turtling up by Kelly. It was a good, hard fought match by both guys.

Happel never wrestled Wenger last year, so who was the other top 3A guy he wrestled? Was it earlier in the year at 132?
Click to expand...

I thought Lembeck from Prairie was ranked 1 or 2 when they met. My main point is what matches has weh8t seen of both guys to form his opinion.
 
WEH8ST8HAWK said:
I admittedly haven't seen a bunch of Happels matches. The ones I saw were against lesser competition so I was expecting more in the match against Saavedra. His feet looked slow to me and he had nothing for a guy that is smaller than him. Like I said, my opinion is Saavedra>Happel..
Click to expand...
Fair enough. I haven't seen the Virginia kid but hope Happel ends up at Iowa.
 
I can't help to chuckle reading this thread,with your help Slim of course. I'm with you WEH8 on Happel but would still take him for lesser money now. Let's get the Degen kid to commit

Pissed we never got Phillippi
 
  • Like
Reactions: minnhawkeye and Knight563
He would be a very good recruit. I wonder how much of his offense was due to Happel apparently gassing or quitting? I only say that because of the Pennsylvania residents comments on his style.
 
I realize that a lot of people on here are high on Happel because he is an Iowa guy. He has several things to work on and get considerably better at before he can help us. I see slow feet, that scares me. I would take him if we can get him cheap but we need more than 1 stud per year and all these "room guys" aren't helping us. Sorensen 3 years ago, Stoll 2 years ago, Kemerer last year and Marinelli this year isn't going to get it done. Even with that, Stoll is a stretch at this point.
 
"Even with that, Stoll is a stretch at this point"

This kind of stuff frustrates me-- why is he a stretch?? He is going to be a starter as a redshirt freshman.. Lets give him a chance-- He had a solid redshirt year.

My guess is that he is going to pin a lot of guys-- wins some matches he isnt a favorite in, and lose some he is favored in. If he keeps getting better I think he has a chance to be really,really good.

I know the goal is to win it every year-- Im on the same page, but to say all these "room" guys are helping us is silly-- you do realize we got 2nd last yr?
 
  • Like
Reactions: minnhawkeye, WWDMHawkeye, LaxHawk174 and 3 others
Novakht said:
"Even with that, Stoll is a stretch at this point"

This kind of stuff frustrates me-- why is he a stretch?? He is going to be a starter as a redshirt freshman.. Lets give him a chance-- He had a solid redshirt year.

My guess is that he is going to pin a lot of guys-- wins some matches he isnt a favorite in, and lose some he is favored in. If he keeps getting better I think he has a chance to be really,really good.

I know the goal is to win it every year-- Im on the same page, but to say all these "room" guys are helping us is silly-- you do realize we got 2nd last yr?
Click to expand...
Take into account the source
 
  • Like
Reactions: SPOONER, moosemonster and Gobblin
Maybe if Happel opts to go to UNI then maybe it would give more of an opening for Micky to reconsider his verbal to Virginia.
 
Well, can i officially recant my previous statement saying that Phillippi is a snoozer? Most of my opinion was based on comments i read on PSU's forum. I feel kind of silly now that he owned Happel. Didn't really lower my opinion of happel too much, as I saw a lot of positives, he got to the legs of both guys very well & couldn't finish against tough defense, but seemed to fade later in the matches.

Side note: Wouldn't it be cool if Phillippi wrestling in this event and getting one more look at Iowa was the tipping factor that made him change his mind to Iowa :D
 
Ah, eureka, I see what's going on now. Happel threw the match to Phillippi so that Phillippi would de-commit from Virginia and come to Iowa to be our 41-pounder. Happel is going to cut to 133. He was already cutting at the event, which is why he was a bit fatigued in the third periods (don't worry, Grothus now has him on a smarter long-term weight-loss plan). Now see? All you naysayers? That's what I call a team player.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Huck, WWDMHawkeye, el dub and 3 others
LaxHawk174 said:
Well, can i officially recant my previous statement saying that Phillippi is a snoozer? Most of my opinion was based on comments i read on PSU's forum. I feel kind of silly now that he owned Happel. Didn't really lower my opinion of happel too much, as I saw a lot of positives, he got to the legs of both guys very well & couldn't finish against tough defense, but seemed to fade later in the matches.

Side note: Wouldn't it be cool if Phillippi wrestling in this event and getting one more look at Iowa was the tipping factor that made him change his mind to Iowa :D
Click to expand...
I never really would have called Phillippi a snoozer. I've seen him rack up points and destroy some pretty good competition. Mickey wrestles a tough schedule every year. I guess when you him him against the states best, maybe his low scoring output could seem as if he hasn't much of an offense but you gotta remember, a lot of the kids he wrestles are division 1 talent and not chopped liver. If he decomits and goes to Iowa I honestly think you will be happy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

E

Olympic Spotlight: Soccer Loses Sweet Sixteen Heartbreaker

Replies
1
Views
488
Hawkeye Sports Catch All
EvilMonkeyInTheCloset
EvilMonkeyInTheCloset
E

Olympic Spotlight: Soccer Loses Sweet Sixteen Heartbreaker

Replies
3
Views
333
The Press Box
Pinehawk
Pinehawk
Eliot Clough

Bowl Practice Notes, Portal Tidbit from this Morning

Replies
5
Views
1K
The Press Box
Eliot Clough
Eliot Clough
Franisdaman

Duke's NIL collective has arranged for Tulane QB transfer Darian Mensah to be paid $4M/year

Replies
58
Views
4K
Iowa Football
pistachio1999
P
Franisdaman

Quinn Ewers reportedly has a $4M deal on the table from a B1G team to transfer next season & forgo the NFL Draft

Replies
80
Views
10K
Iowa Football
Franisdaman
Franisdaman
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back