Wow..... I’m guessing that has never happened before.... more and more Kids are coming out of high school ready win NCAA titles....pretty amazing.... and looks good for the future of USA wrestling
Two true freshmen champions
- Thread starter natchrlman
- Start date
It's no coincidence that the two best teams are killing everyone in recruiting.
It’s crazy how many matches these kids have before they even get to college. They have so much mat time. That’s why they are ready to go, especially at the mid to
lower weights
lower weights
It's ALL recruiting. That's why PSU has been so good.
I wouldn't go that far, but it is a very significant factor.
No it's true. I did a post last year detailing the number of freshmen PSU has had that have been champs or finalists or very high AA and it's staggering. That's nothing but recruiting.
Met up with some friends from high school for a couple beers awhile ago.... ones boy is in tournaments all over the country every weekend for months and he’s like 10 years old....when we wrestled you didn’t even start til junior high and wrestling in a tournament other than school was a rarity.... it shows and it’s great for the future of the sport....and so is the fact girls are wrestling more....I had 5 daughters we did the traveling softball teams.... should have got them into wrestling 
75% recruiting.
25% retention (e.g. Suriano, Gross), maintaining eligibility, building and maintaining a strong freestyle club, teaching smart weight management, developing mental edge, and finally...physical development.
25% retention (e.g. Suriano, Gross), maintaining eligibility, building and maintaining a strong freestyle club, teaching smart weight management, developing mental edge, and finally...physical development.
If I heard the announcer correctly, this is the first time since 1947. Could be wrong though.
I didn’t think freshmen were eligible back then ....in fact Gable couldn’t wrestle as a freshman in the late 60s
Well forced me to do research.... during the 40s they allowed freshmen to wrestle varsity because so many of the young men were away fighting the war.... in 1947 there was 5 freshmen champs....only two of them were straight from high school the year before though.... in the 50s they banned freshmen from varsity competition until 71
Last time was in 1947 - Cornell College (remember this was when there was only one level of NCAA) had two true freshmen win titles. Lowell Lange and Dick Hauser.
Dick Hauser was the first true freshman to win followed by his teammate, Lowell Lange - a 3-timer. Lange probably would have been the first 4-timer, but he was injured in a car accident. In those days the AAU team championship was more prestigious than NCAA's and Cornell's coach, Paul Scott, opted to withhold the team from the 1948 NCAA tournament to focus on AAU's. Cornell had won the AAU's in '47, but only managed a tie for third in '48. Lange's injuries from the car accident had been serious, a broken vertebrae and ruptured spleen, and he did not place in the tournament, losing to teammate, Leo Thomsen, in the semi-finals.
A couple of historic tidbits: Hauser and Lange were both Waterloo West grads and only two schools ever won both the NCAA and AAU championships in the same year, Cornell, 1947 and Iowa State Teachers College (UNI) in 1950.
Lowell Lange may still be the youngest wrestler to win an NCAA title.
Babbling the really smark noise maker i see. Recruiting is vital. If you can't develop that recruited talent the talent will go elsewhere.
Pretty sure he was in HS. Missed much of the season with an elbow injury requiring surgery so it may have seemed he was absent and taking a gray shirt.
I think he said he was only 18 and wrestling for a title in one of his interviews.
He was in high school last year at this time.... he’s a pretty amazing story.... had season ending surgery on both his elbows his senior year or he likely would have been a 5 time champ in New York.....he was the #3 recruit in the nation last year
There is no doubt Cael has the best talent in the country. NO doubt. But he is coaching. Joseph was ready for everything Imar gave threw at him yesterday. Is Joseph talented? No doubt, but he was ready and well coached.
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Well coached and they have a phenomenal strength and conditioning program....could Brands do as well with similar talent absolutely....by the way this thread was about high school kids being ready to compete coming out of high school.... not sure why it turned into a pissing match about recruiting
This has to be GG's second screen name, just has to be! (kidding, but Good stuff)
He seemed like a pleasant young lad having the time of his life. He wrestled hard until the end like you want everybody to do and deserved the Title he won, but I still say it was very poor wrestling on a Senior Meredith's part that gifted him that Title.
Meredith had the match locked up and with some basic fundamental smarts and wrestling the Title is his. That's my opinion and it's not changing so.....
Yianni has an infectious personality. Loved his interviews. Seemed like a kid in a candy store -- much like Spencer. Both kids just absolutely love wrestling, and it shows. Dare I say they have f*** with it?
One of the things that impress me most about Yianni is that he's not muscled up at all. Some guys are deceptively strong despite a lot of obvious bulk, and there could be some of that, but in any case, he seems to give up a little bit in strength -- but his technique, feel, quickness, and mat IQ more than make of for that. He's not likely to just horse you over, but he'll scramble like crazy and has that uncanny ability to almost always end up on top.
Cornell has a young, charismatic leader in Yianni very much like our own Spencer Lee. Great to see that for the sake of the sport. Gonna be a lot of f*** watching these two studs compete for a long time.
One of the things that impress me most about Yianni is that he's not muscled up at all. Some guys are deceptively strong despite a lot of obvious bulk, and there could be some of that, but in any case, he seems to give up a little bit in strength -- but his technique, feel, quickness, and mat IQ more than make of for that. He's not likely to just horse you over, but he'll scramble like crazy and has that uncanny ability to almost always end up on top.
Cornell has a young, charismatic leader in Yianni very much like our own Spencer Lee. Great to see that for the sake of the sport. Gonna be a lot of f*** watching these two studs compete for a long time.
And the little shit fooled us with multiple pictures of Iowa gear on a few years back! (Yanni I mean) Go West Young Man!
There seemed to be a lot of nice looking mom's shown some love by the TV camera.
I believe Hauser was in the same car accident as Lange and was never quite the same wrestler. Lange and Hauser were both national Senior AAu Freestyle champs their senior year in HS as well.
I agree completely that PSU has the best talent coming in class wise year in and year out and I think their freshman have the most ability to make an impact as true freshman. Problem is that PSU is so stacked that they rarely have to wrestle true freshman
But with that said, I think it's crazy to think that a true freshman doesn't get any better throughout their freshman year. That they don't get better because of their coaching staff or that they would have won the NCAA title without that mat time with their team and staff.
I'm not here to defend Cael but it's not fair to him and his staff to say that their true freshman only kick ass because of their god given talent and previous experience. Just like it wouldn't be fair to say the same thing for our situation with Spencer Lee and TnT. Lee chose Iowa for a lot of reasons I'm sure, but a big one was the opportunity to be coached by and learn from the Brands. And he did just that this past season.
I'm not saying they don't get any better, but (i) when you have that many freshmen being SO successful off the bat, and those same freshman are all VERY highly rated recruits, it's recruiting; and (ii) most recruits are going to get better from being in a room with excellent college wrestler regardless of the coaching.
Flat out, Bael is not doing anything better than anyone other than getting certain guys to wrestle for PSU, period. Query why he's able to do that so much better than every other college coach in the country.
I get what you are saying and I am reinforcing it to a point, while disagreeing as well.
Lee probably wins it all, or at least comes very close at a number of schools. He is just that damn good and his mentality gets him there. The same can be said of Yianni, Mark Hall, Dake, etc.
These guys are just so talented and have incredible wrestling minds. Brands, Sanderson and Koll definitely help in polishing the rough edges and getting them ready for the DI grind, but these guys were/are built to win.
Here are some names and you tell me you don't think they at least produce very similar at many different schools: I already named Lee, Yianni, Hall and Dake)
1.)Retherford-I don't think he started crushing watermelons and apples because of Sanderson.
2.)David Taylor-Special talent, period.
3.)Ed Ruth-His arm length alone made him special.
4.)Stieber-Another arm bar brute with no neck.
5.)Metcalf-Not many had the willpower this guy had.
6.)Burroughs-Once his wrestling IQ caught up to his physical ability, OMG!
Nowadays, more than ever before, it is about recognizing the can't miss talent. With specialized training and selective (grey-shirting), many of these blue-chippers are college ready out of the gate. They still need great coaching, but they don't need magic in a bottle. Show them the ropes, keep their minds and bodies on point and watch them run.
The days of Gable picking a guy that "gets it" are over. You aren't going to fill your team with diamonds in the rough and coach them to multiple championships. You may find a physical specimen "project" here and there, but these top 5 or 10 guys are what are going to win team championships for the foreseeable future.
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