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Wyatt Henson in the transfer portal

I was really high on Henson just based on what I was hearing from the wrestling room. Brands I think still made the correct move bringing in Woods and the win now mentality. Brands can hit the recruiting trail hard for the future now or grab another transfer in a year or two to fill in. If Iowa is going to keep up with PSU I think the transfer portal will need to be more utilized each year. Brands is beginning to realize he needs more guys in the finals vs more guys placing 3-8. He can't out point PSU when they're winning 3-4 individual titles every year while Iowa is winning 0-1 but Iowa has more AA's.
 
Would you rather have a very good wrestler for two years? Or a potentially very good wrestler, still unproven, for 4 years? I think Penn State answers that in the way they like to handle it.
Woods will enter next season top 5, potentially top 3. It doesn't take much imagination to see him peaking at the right time and making a run to the finals.

Can you say that of Henson over the next 2 seasons? I can't.

Besides, Real Woods is the exact type of guy that Henson needs to beat if he wants to even make the podium. If he can't do it in the room he sure as hell isn't going to do it in March.
 
Question is did they have an idea Henson was going to leave before going after Woods. If not then I would have rather kept Henson because bringing in Woods isn't going to win anything. I hope Block can hold 141.
Cast my vote for wishing we would've gone with Henson too. Decisive young man, I respect it. Hate losing him even more now.
 
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Would you rather have a very good wrestler for two years? Or a potentially very good wrestler, still unproven, for 4 years? I think Penn State answers that in the way they like to handle it.

I take the Bird in hand, the proven guy. Always. I might feel different if Henson had set the world on fire this season.

Please don’t take the above to mean I don’t think he did well, isn’t still a good prospect, or that I wouldn’t prefer he stayed. Very much wish he had.

BTW, PSU takes transfers all the time so not sure what you mean there.
 
Cast my vote for wishing we would've gone with Henson too. Decisive young man, I respect it. Hate losing him even more now.
I think Woods can possibly contend for a title the next too years, I admit I wasn't quite that optimistic about Wyatt but I like that he is quick and explosive plus has a big gas tank go get em kind of style. Was looking forward to seeing him progress. It might work out fine if they can back fill behind Woods but some uncertainty there.
 
I was really high on Henson just based on what I was hearing from the wrestling room. Brands I think still made the correct move bringing in Woods and the win now mentality. Brands can hit the recruiting trail hard for the future now or grab another transfer in a year or two to fill in. If Iowa is going to keep up with PSU I think the transfer portal will need to be more utilized each year. Brands is beginning to realize he needs more guys in the finals vs more guys placing 3-8. He can't out point PSU when they're winning 3-4 individual titles every year while Iowa is winning 0-1 but Iowa has more AA's.
Took him a while.
 
Iowa got a proven AA and potential finalist for two years over what? A potential multiple AA with good upside. You take the sure thing every time.

We all liked Henson, but there’s nothing to date that says he would have lit the world on fire at 141. It’s a bit if a bummer now, but as many have said, it’s a different ball game now. If proven studs want to be here, you take them, and the lineup works itself out.
 
Damn. Was really hoping that Henson would be able to give 33 a shot... Was looking forward to watching his career play out at Iowa.

Best of luck at your new school Wyatt.
As long as it isn’t PsU or isu.
 
Woods and Henson will have the next two years to show which one is better. Brands didn't choose one over the other. I'm sure he wants both, but Woods chose Iowa and Henson chose to leave Iowa. You win some, you lose some. I don't think Henson AAs next year, but who knows.
 
If there is one thing Cael has proven, it’s that you can handily win a national championship with just five guys while the other five give you little to nothing.

Having one guy win it all is as good as having three guys finish 7th.

Bonus points in those early round matches are gold. Stop and think….Max scored 1/2 his total points with a first round pin.

You have to recruit the guys who can score the points.
 
I wasn’t as sold as some on here were. He was treated with kids gloves for most of the season until the Scuffle. He was wrestling in the freshmen/soph brackets and not the main ones and really hadn’t wrestled anyone of note.

Then, when he finally wrestled the Scuffle, he showed he was very ill prepared on the mat, when he finally wrestled two good wrestlers(both still didn’t AA) in Hart and Alirez.

It sucks to lose this kind of depth, but I am not sold he was the answer quite yet…
This. I’m glad there is others that feel the same.
 
I'm not saying it has anything to do with this but Willie says teams are having a 3rd party bribe guys to enter the portal which is tampering. He's going to discuss on his show. The portal combined with no transfer sit outs and nil have created an ugly mess.
 
I'm not saying it has anything to do with this but Willie says teams are having a 3rd party bribe guys to enter the portal which is tampering. He's going to discuss on his show. The portal combined with no transfer sit outs and nil have created an ugly mess.
The Wild West of wrestling. I think there needs to be clearer rules. It’s a free for all. We’ll see more before we see less transfers.
 
The Wild West of wrestling. I think there needs to be clearer rules. It’s a free for all. We’ll see more before we see less transfers.

It’s not just wrestling. Willie is correct. The tampering stuff is rampant in college sports these days. Coaches who don’t care if the current climate talk about it.
 
It’s not just wrestling. Willie is correct. The tampering stuff is rampant in college sports these days. Coaches who don’t care if the current climate talk about it.
I just assumed it was already happening at big time college football schools. I thought wrestling would be okay for awhile since it’s typically a non profit sport. Guess not.

Could ya fill us in on what he has to say about that tomorrow? I’m sure all of us would appreciate a synopsis, if you’re able.
 
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The free agency that college sports has become will ruin college athletics. Money is the root of all evil and while I see the NIL side of college sports, anybody that didn't see the no sitting out when transferring coupled with NIL becoming a huge problem for college athletics isn't paying attention. College sports are becoming everything I dislike about pro sports unfortunately.
 
The free agency that college sports has become will ruin college athletics. Money is the root of all evil and while I see the NIL side of college sports, anybody that didn't see the no sitting out when transferring coupled with NIL becoming a huge problem for college athletics isn't paying attention. College sports are becoming everything I dislike about pro sports unfortunately.
Meh. We’ve made out pretty well so far from it and haven’t lost much. Lugo, Eierman, Desanto, and now Woods are all big acquisitions.
 
I'm not saying it has anything to do with this but Willie says teams are having a 3rd party bribe guys to enter the portal which is tampering. He's going to discuss on his show. The portal combined with no transfer sit outs and nil have created an ugly mess.
Yep, who could have ever seen this coming? LOL!

Is Willie also going to discuss the moon landing? This shit has been around longer than I've been alive, and I ain't close to young.

Now it's almost "legal", where this kind of thing isn't supposed to happen and everything can be brought into the sunlight once and for all. LOL!
 
Yep, who could have ever seen this coming? LOL!

Is Willie also going to discuss the moon landing? This shit has been around longer than I've been alive, and I ain't close to young.

Now it's almost "legal", where this kind of thing isn't supposed to happen and everything can be brought into the sunlight once and for all. LOL!
Definitely was not even close to this before. Losing a year during transfer kept things pretty much in check by itself and pre nil was a lot harder to get away with bribing people.
 
Meh. We’ve made out pretty well so far from it and haven’t lost much. Lugo, Eierman, Desanto, and now Woods are all big acquisitions.
They certainly ended up helping but all were pre nil and I think Lugo even had to sit a year with no release which he redshirted during. Austin was leaving Drexel no matter where he ended up at. Wrestling was at the forefront for these vs $$$.
 
A few other factors that most understand and that were touched on-

1- Spencer last season is coming and there is nothing more that the staff would want is to have the best team possible to earn another team title along with Spencer getting his 4th. Woods is a big part of that picture and I’m not sure Henson would get us any points this season if he did start, the r12 is competition is extremely high.

2- The new facility is coming and the coaching staff needs to support that with the best wrestlers possible and unfortunately the new rules are changing the game, first the portal and now NIL. He who hesitates is lost!

3- 2024 along with previously mentioned the staff is certainly looking forward towards a extremely solid HWC team for the 23/24 trials.

4- let’s not forget the added pressure the Women’s team will bring, coach Chun will be winning individual and team titles straight out of the gate and along with that could have the best Club team for trials out of anyone. This is the plan and the men’s team cannot fall behind, the bar will be higher with the success of the women’s program and trust me they are going to be crushing it. If Chun lands another top recruit like Emma Bruntil, look out, the trails could have a bunch of HWC uniforms on the podium and more from the women’s side.
 
I'm not going to trash a kid but you respect him for being decisive about leaving?

FWIW, as with most situations, I'm sure there is more going on here than just Henson leaving because we landed Woods.
The timing and public way he announced his departure (others just quietly enter the portal but publicly announce the new transfer college only) were done with a confidence that'll have me definitely comparing their outputs down the line so yeah, I respect the kid. I wonder if Beard told himself "maybe next week" about the Dean thing and now maybe he respects Henson too...
 
As long as it isn’t PsU or isu.
Not trying to be a Richard, but if Henson ends up at ISU, why is that bad?

If he can't compete in the Iowa room, how is him going to Ames a negative?

This isn't my personal dig at Henson, but Iowa is competing for titles, while ISU would be thrilled to finish in the top ten in a HC's 6th year. One school has aspirations while the other is seeking relevancy.

There's really only 6-7 programs taking up "all the air" in college wrestling...PSU/Mich/Iowa/NCST/ASU/tOSU/Cornell. Everyone else is fodder.
 
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Definitely was not even close to this before. Losing a year during transfer kept things pretty much in check by itself and pre nil was a lot harder to get away with bribing people.
Yes, the transfer without penalty doesn't help. The bribe thing, that's gonna happen regardless, but typically happens to get a H.S. recruit, now the wolves can go after established college athletes. Fun times.
 
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