Big Ten Preview: Wisconsin

Badger badger badger badger - mushroom mushroom

For anyone who doesn't understand the above reference, see this link (http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/). The 2011 season for the Badgers was one plagued by snake bites (if you watched the above never ending video, there is a nice snake reference) and under achievement. Despite all of that, the Wisconsin squad still managed a top 10 NCAA finish with the help of some very good tournament wrestlers. However I look into my crystal ball and see a grim outlook in the not-to-distant future (I can't actually afford real crystal so the ball is just made of belly lint). Olympic red shirts and coaching losses will have this Badger squad taking a pounding in 2012. Strong recruiting and the return of the red shirts (sounds like a bad movie title) will make for a stud 2013 squad, but will they be able to maintain the program after that with the coaching fallout? More to come!

2011 Summary
Wisconsin put seven wrestlers into the NCAA tournament and had excellent results with four of them achieving All American status (remember, good tournament wrestling, stinky-smelly dual wrestling).

Name: Tyler Graff (133)

Record: 37 - 5

Status: Junior (Olympic Red Shirt)

Big Ten place: 2nd

NCAA place: All American 5th

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Won three straight then met a freight train named Jordan Oliver (OSU, 2-5), lost to Scotti Sentes (CM, 0-5) then beat Mike grey (Cornell, 7-2) for 5th

Vs. PSU: Whooped by Long twice 5-12 and SV 3-7

 Name: Cole Schmitt (149)

Record: 24 - 13

Status: Junior

Big Ten place: 8th

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): Ganbayar Sanjaa (American, 4-3)

Season ended when: Won one then got sha-lacked by Ganbayar Sanjaa (American, fall) and eliminated by Cole Dallaserra (Wy, 5-15)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Molinaro 1-9

Name: Andrew Howe (165)

Record: 27 - 3

Status: Senior (Olympic Red Shirt)

Big Ten place: Champion

NCAA place: All American 3rd

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Won three, lost to Tyler Caldwell (Ok, SV 3-2) then beat Josh Asper (Maryland, 3-1) and Colt Sponseller (Oh St., 6-4) for 3rd

Vs. PSU: Beat Vollrath 19-6

Name: Ben Jordan (174)

Record: 20 - 13

Status: Junior

Big Ten place: 6th

NCAA place: Round of 32

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Two straight losses to Nick Amuchastegui (Standford, 1-13) and Rob Morrison (Rider, 7-9)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Ruth 5-8

Name: Travis Rutt (184)

Record: 37 - 4

Status: Senior

Big Ten place: 3rd

NCAA place: All American 7th

Notable win(s): Robert Hamlin (Lehigh, 6-4)

Season ended when: Won two, lost to Grant Gambrall (Iowa, TB2 2-4), won one, lost to Chris Honeycutt (Edinboro, 5-6) then beat Kevin Steinhaus (Minn, 4-2) for 3rd

                                                                                Vs. PSU: Split with Wright win by fall, lost 3-4

Name: Trevor Brandvold (197)

Record: 18 - 2

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: Champion

NCAA place: All American 4th

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Won three, lost to Clayton Foster (OSU, 3-4), beat Luke Lofthouse then lost to Cam Simaz (Cornell, 2-5) for 4th

Vs. PSU: Pinned Ruggear

Name: Eric Bugenhagen (HWT)

Record: 29 - 13

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: 3rd

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Won one, then lost two straight to Dominique Bradley (Missouri, RT TB2) and Spencer Myers (Maryland, 2-3)

Vs. PSU: Split with Wade 2-5 and 4-3


With two of their qualifiers graduating and three more taking Olympic Red Shirts, only two will be returning to the lineup this Fall. This is basically like an entire football team quitting except for the cheerleaders (we've got spirit!). Unlike Nebraska the Badgers don't have three potential studs coming off unattached seasons either. Apparently the badger has been muzzled. Wait the coaching situation is a mess? The strong recruiting class will help though right? Uh oh...

2011 Team Stats

Dual Record: 11 - 6 - 1 (3 - 5 - 1 in Big Ten)

Big Ten Championship: 4th

NCAA Championship: 10th

Cliff Keen Invitational: 2nd

Midlands: 2nd

Individual Record: 428 - 248

Pins: 73

Tech. Falls: 20

Major Decisions: 67

Vs. PSU: Loss 12-30

Recruiting

The Badgers looked downright rabid (full on mouth froth, like cupcake icing...it's always the frothy icing that tastes the best) as their 2011 recruiting class came together. Badger wrestling nation celebrated at the announcement that then #1 recruit in the nation Destin McCauley committed to Wisconsin. McCauley amassed a crazy 238-7 record through high school which included four Minnesota state championships as well as various national tournament titles. Furthermore they bagged the #4 recruit and Greco-Roman standout Jesse Thielke for who the argument could be made that his resume is just as impressive if not more so than McCauley's. The class also included the D1 Wrestling #62 and#84 recruits.

Excitement began to die down when McCauley suffered a huge loss at the Dapper Dan. Destin was dominated early by Mike Ottinger from Parkland, PA on his feet and on the ground. The future Badger's comeback attempt wasn't quite enough and Ottinger emerged the winner 6-4. There was almost unanimous agreement that Morgan McIntosh was the #1 recruit and Destin #2 after this (gasp!). As the summer progressed on the Badger fans would also learn that Destin McCauley and Jesse Thielke had qualified for the 2012 Olympics and would be spending a year training before enrolling at Wisconsin. The huge recruiting class went from outstanding to mediocre.

2012 Outlook
It came as a huge surprise to the wrestling community when Dan Pritzlaff and Jared Frayer left their assistant coaching jobs in back to back weeks. Eventually Pritzlaff landed in Michigan and Frayer joined the new staff at Oklahoma. Both were standout assistant coaches who will undoubtedly be head coaches some day, so the mysterious departures were very confusing at first. The eventual story that came out (short version...mmm, short cake) was that head coach Barry Davis told Pritzlaff that he was going to hand the program over in 3-5 years. Pritzlaff and Frayer helped build the program back up to a national power, which "surprisingly" reinvigorated Davis, who decided he wanted to stay on an additional 3-5 years. Feeling slighted, Pritzlaff departed after AD Barry Alvarez basically gave him the hairy finger. Being not a fan of the deuche slam that Pritzlaff took, Frayer departed as well, leaving a gaping hole in the staff. It will be felt even worse considering national champion Andrew Howe (who is taking an Olympic Red Shirt year) has said he will follow Pritzlaff to Michigan for his final year of eligibility. Basically the 2012 season will make this team look like a badger that has been muzzled, de-clawed and violated...many times.

Their only prestigious out of conference dual in 2011 was against Virginia Tech. In 2012 they don't even have that. The Badgers will once again travel to the Cliff Keen Invitational and Midlands tournaments. I would assume Davis was eager to promote his grapplers to take Olympic Red Shirts. If they can come back a year later and make a huge impact for the team, it will make Davis look like he has everything under control. He will hope that will be enough to keep recruiting up, but if it isn't then he can ride out the wave of good wrestlers and then hand the reigns of a failing program off to someone else. Expect this team to plummet in the Big Ten this season...like a badger falling off a cliff.

Big Ten Preview: Nebraska

Welcome to Big Ten wrestling. Prepare to have your teeth kicked in.

This preview will be a bit different since 2012 will be the first year Nebraska participates in the Big Ten sports schedule. Really the only thing that will be different is it will be Big 12 places earned rather than Big Ten, and I'll try to be a little easier on them since they didn't wrestle a Big Ten schedule last season. Overall I think this is a good gain for Big Ten wrestling, plus having Big Ten competition should only boost recruiting and performance of the Cornhusker squad overall.

The 2011 season was a pretty good one for Nebraska. They almost broke the top 10 at the NCAA tournament while crowning a national champion in Jordan Burroughs who blew through the 165 field and is already representing the US at the world championships. A strong recruiting class promises that this is a squad primed to enter the Big Ten.

2011 Summary

The Cornhuskers qualified seven wrestlers for the NCAA tournament and produced one national champion with no additional All Americans. Things will look a lot different this year for Nebraska at the conference championship since there were only five teams in the Big 12 (only 5!? that's sad...which included Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Missouri and Nebraska, so now only 4 teams). This means more qualifying spots for Nebraska, but also a lot more tough competition standing in the way. Unfortunately one of their qualifiers (David Klingsheim) has transferred so he can live in North Carolina closer to his family. On the other hand the 165 finalist Tyler Caldwell has transferred to Nebraska.

Name: David Klingsheim (125)

Record: 12 - 11

Status: TRANSFERRED 

Big 12 place: Champion

NCAA place: Round of 32

Notable win(s): Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma, 2-0)

Season ended when: Two straight losses to Sean Boyle (Michigan, 1-8) and Manuel Ramirez (NC Greensboro, 7-19)

Vs. PSU: none

Name: Ridge Kiley (133)

Record: 22 - 15

Status: Junior

Big 12 place: 4th

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost opening bout to Tyler Graff (Wisconsin, 6-19), won one then lost to Flint Ray (Utah Valley, 0-7)

Vs. PSU: none

Name: Mike Koehnlein (141)

Record: 17 - 15

Status: Graduated

Big 12 place: 4th

NCAA place: Round of 32

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Unlucky draw of Kellen Russell (Michigan, 1-3) then lost to Vincente Varela (Hofstra, 1-12)

                                                                                 Vs. PSU: none

Name: Tyler Caldwell (165)

Record: 32 - 6

Status: Junior (2012 Olympic Red Shirt)

Big 12 place: 2nd

NCAA place: All American 2nd

Notable win(s): Andrew Howe (Wisconsin, 3-2)

Season ended when: Beat by Jordan Burroughs for the third time that season in the NCAA finals (Nebraska, 3-11)

Vs. PSU: none

Name: Jordan Burroughs (165)

Record: 36 - 0

Status: Graduated

Big 12 place: Champion

NCAA place: Champion

Notable win(s): Many

Season ended when: Defeated Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma, 11-3) to win the title

Vs. PSU: none

Name: Josh Ihnen (184)

Record: 28 - 10

Status: Junior

Big 12 place: 2nd

NCAA place: Round of 12

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Second round loss to Chris Perry (OSU, 2-5), won two then lost to Chris Honeycutt (Edinboro, 3-4)

Vs. PSU: none

Name: Andy Johnson (197)

Record: 28 - 13

Status: Senior

Big 12 place: 4th

NCAA place: Round of 16

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Second round loss to Cam Simaz (Cornell, 4-8), eliminated by Sonny Yahn (Minn, 1-3)

Vs. PSU: none

Name: Tucker Lane (HWT)

Record: 31 - 9

Status: Senior

Big 12 place: 3rd

NCAA place: Round of 12

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Won 2 then lost back to back to Ryan Flores (American, 2-5) and Spencer Myers (Maryland, 2-9)

Vs. PSU: none

At first glance Nebraska will certainly be hurting with their 2012 lineup. They lost Burroughs and their biggest impact wrestler in Tyler Caldwell is taking an Olympic Red Shirt year. While Klingsheim was young and hadn't performed particularly well, he was still a wrestler with NCAA experience under his belt. All in all this depletes the lineup pretty bad, leaving Lane, Johnson and Ihnen as the best chances for All Americans in 2012. However there are three wrestlers waiting in the wings that had great unattached seasons.

Spencer Johnson went 31-8 unattached at 184, James Nakashima went 32-5 at 184 and Robert Kokesh went 34-0 at 165. The impact these guys can have is unknown right now, which puts an interesting question mark on the team.

2011 Team Stats

Dual Record: 14 - 5 (1 - 2 vs Big Ten)

Big 12 Championship: 4th

NCAA Championship: 12th

Midlands: 9th

Individual Record: 517 - 288 (lots of Opens wrestled)

Pins: 98

Tech. Falls: 39

Major Decisions: 87

Vs. PSU: none

Recruiting

Nebraska had a great recruiting class in 2011 which included #16, #20, #22, #90 and #120 recruits. Include Tyler Caldwell into that list and you have a very good class for Nebraska. Being in the Big Ten now hopefully their recruiting will get even better.

2012 Outlook

Things are a bit of a mystery for Nebraska right now.  With Burroughs and Klingsheim gone, as well as Caldwell taking an Olympic Red Shirt, its' hard to predict what kind of lineup shuffling will take place. This will still be a team good enough to challenge for a spot in the upper half of the Big Ten. I suspect they will be about on par with Michigan. Their first season in the Big Ten will be rough, but not terrible.

Their 2011 schedule included duals against Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pitt and Wyoming. The 2012 season starts with a strange trip to Bucknell for a dual. Other duals of note include Kent State, Boise State and Wyoming. They will also be traveling to the Las Vegas Invitational and participating in the National Duals. All in all it's not a terribly ambitious schedule, but still challenging enough for their first year in conference.

Big Ten Preview: Michigan

Napoleon Dynamite kills wolverines

Michigan? On the rise? I dare say it is so. A top half finish in the Big Ten and 15th at the NCAA tournament already shows the strides this program is taking. They recently revamped their wrestling facilities in order to show their renewed dedication to the sport. Michigan becoming a power is not a lock yet. The recent recruiting classes have been poor, yet a new coaching acquisition in Donny Pritzlaff may turn that around.

2011 Summary

Michigan put eight wrestlers into the NCAA tournament (distancing themselves easily from every other team covered so far). Of the eight only one made All American, who was also a national champion.

Name: Sean Boyle (125)

Record: 28 - 15

Status: Junior

Big Ten place: 4th

NCAA place: Round of 12

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Second round loss to Matt McDonough (Iowa, 4-14), won twice then lost to Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma, 2-4)

Vs. PSU: Beat Patakay three times (11-3, 9-5, 8-1), beat Nate Morgan (6-2), lost to Pataky (2-8) and lost to Martellotti (3-9)

Name: Zac Stevens (133)

Record: 22 - 17

Status: Senior

Big Ten place: 5th

NCAA place: Round of 16

Notable win(s): Scotti Sentes (CM, 4-3)

Season ended when: Lost to Kyle Hunter (Old Dominion, 1-3) to start, won 2 then lost to Flint Ray (Utah Valley, fall)

Vs. PSU: Lsot to Long twice 3-12 and 6-16

 Name: Kellen Russell (141)

Record: 38 - 0

Status: Senior

Big Ten place: Champion

NCAA place: Champion

Notable win(s): Too many to mention

Season ended when: Defeated Borislav Novachkov (Cal Poly, 3-2) for the national title

Vs. PSU: Beat Alton three times (4-3, 2-1, 3-1)

Name: Eric Grajales (149)

Record: 18 - 14

Status: Sophomore

Big Ten place: 2nd

NCAA place: Round of 12

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Back to back losses to Ganbayar Sanjaa (American, 3-10) and Derek Valenti (VA, 7-9)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Molinaro twice 3-8 and 0-3

Name: Dan Yates (165)

Record: 24 - 13

Status: Sophomore

Big Ten place: 5th

NCAA place: Round of 32

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Opened with back to back losses to Scott Winston (Rutgers, 2-4) and Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (Clarion, 4-6)

Vs. PSU: Beat Vollrath twice (8-2, SV 3-1) and Fischer once (5-2)

Name: Justin Zeerip (174)

Record: 16 - 15

Status: Senior

Big Ten place: 8th

NCAA place: Round of 32

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Painful opening draw of Jon Reader (Iowa State, 3-13) then lost to Ryan Patrovich (Hofstra, 1-3)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Ruth twice 3-11 and 6-13

 Name: Anthony Biondo (197)

Record: 23 - 14

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: DNP

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost to Sonny Yohn (Minn, 1-6) then later to John Hall (Boston U, 2-4)

Vs. PSU: Beat Ortega 9-4 and Ruggear 12-3

Name: Ben Apland (HWT)

Record: 18 - 16

Status: Junior

Big Ten place: 6th

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): Jarod Trice (CM, 6-2)

Season ended when: Pinned by Ryan Flores (American), won one then lost to Anthony Nelson (Minn, 0-2)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Wade four times 2-4, 0-3, fall and 0-9

With the return of national champion Kellen Russell the Michigan squad looks to have good leadership with 6 of the other 7 NCAA qualifiers returning. Grajales did not look strong for most of the season, but with it being his first year of competition he apparently learned quickly and came on strong to take a  second place finish at the Big Ten's after being seeded 6th. This should give him a big confidence boost heading into the 2012 campaign. Dan Yates and Ben Apland look to be the other wrestlers that could show big improvement, although Apland seemed to fizzle out as the 2011 season went on. Either way, not counting wrestler waiting in the wings, Michigan will once again field a strong squad in 2012.

2011 Team Stats

Dual Record: 11 - 5 (6 - 4 in Big Ten)

Big Ten Championship: 5th

NCAA Championship: 15th

Southern Scuffle: 4th

Individual Record: 332 - 248

Pins: 49

Tech. Falls: 12

Major Decisions: 61

Vs. PSU: Lost twice 12-24, 13-28

Recruiting
Michigan's 2011 recruiting class was rather bad. It had no ranked recruits in it, however with as young as Michigan's team is they most likely felt no need to be heavy on recruiting.  Still even when a team doesn't need much they should at least go hard after one or two top tier recruits. However their 2012 recruiting class is shaping up to be a big one.

Early on in the pre-season recruiting #35 Jordan Thomas from Greenville, Michigan gave a verbal commitment. Jordan has a 172 - 3 record with a second place finish as a freshman and two state titles. He has participated in junior nationals freestyle but hasn't placed higher than 5th. Jordan is projected to wrestle at 174/184 in college.

Just recently Michigan landed an even bigger verbal commitment from #12 Rossi Bruno (Brandon, FL). Rossi has accrued a record of 228 - 3 over four state championships. In 2011 he was a champion at the prestigious Clash folkstyle tournament, an NHSCA Junior National folkstyle champion, a Junior Nationals greco-roman champion and a Junior nationals freestyle 3rd place finisher. Additionally in 2010 he finished second at the Super 32 Challenge. Rossi is projected to wrestle at 125/133 in college.

2012 Outlook
Michigan had a solid 2011 season and will look to repeat the performance in 2012. Kellen Russell is the favorite to repeat as a national title. Expect the Wolverines to be at the lower end of the top half of the Big Ten. Keep an eye on their 2012 recruiting class as it continues to build since it could be one of the best they have ever had.

Michigan's 2011 schedule included duals against Lehigh (twice), Central Michigan and Pitt along with a trip to the Southern Scuffle. In 2012 the Wolverines will have only three non-conference duals including Pitt and Central Michigan. Instead of going to the Southern Scuffle they will participate in the Cliff Keen Invitational as well as the Mat Town Invitational. Overall the schedule outside of the Big Ten is weaker, which is disappointing for a team that is supposedly trying to ramp up its program.

Big Ten Preview: Illinois

We are good. Wait, Jimmy Kennedy graduated? Crap.

Illinois continues to be a team that has enough good wrestlers to stay in a dual, but not enough of a caliber that can make them a threat in tournaments. If their 2010 recruiting (#7, #25)  is any sign of things to come, they will continue to be that type of team. Without one or two monster recruiting classes, Illinois will be a squad that has had enough wrestlers come through to make them a national champ, just not all quite at the same time.

2011 Summary

The Fighting Illini qualified five grapplers for the NCAA tournament and produced two All Americans.

Name: B.J. Futrell (133)

Record: 27 - 10

Status: Junior

Big Ten place: 4th

NCAA place: All American 8th

Notable win(s): Tony Ramos (9-6)

Season ended when: Dropped into wrestleback with loss to Andrew Hochstrasser (Boise St, 2-10), won a match into All American, lost to Scotti Sentes (CM, 0-4) then lost the 7th/8th place match to Lou Ruggirello (Hofstra, 6-9)

                                                        Vs. PSU: Lost twice to Long 6-9 and 2-7

Name: Jimmy Kennedy (141)

Record: 23 - 4

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: 3rd

NCAA place: 5th

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost to Montell Marion (Iowa, 7-8) early, won wrestlebacks until pinned by Michael Thorn (Minn), then beat Todd Schavrien (Missouri, 11-1) for 5th

Vs. PSU: Beat Alton twice 5-3 and 6-2

Name: Eric Terrazas (149)

Record: 26 - 11

Status: Senior

Big Ten place: 5th

NCAA place: Round of 16

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Put into wrestleback by Jamal Parks (OSU, 1-3), won one match then was eliminated by Torsten Gillespie (Edinboro, 3-6)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Molinaro twice 0-5 and 0-4

 Name: Jackson Morse (157)

Record: 22 - 13

Status: Sophomore

Big Ten place: 7th

NCAA place: Round of 32

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost his first two bouts to Bryce Saddoris (Navy, 4-13) and Corey Mock (NC, 10-12)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Taylor 10-26

Name: Tony Dallago (184)

Record: 16 - 17

Status: Sophomore

Big Ten place: 6th

NCAA place: Round of 32

Notable win(s): Quentin Wright (PSU, 8-7)

Season ended when: Two straight losses to start the tournament to Chris Perry (OSU, 5-11) and Matt Ryan (West Virginia, 1-10)

Vs. PSU: Split matches with Wright 8-7 and 5-8

Jimmy Kennedy suffered an injury part way through the season but was still able to come back and finish an impressive season in the deepest weight class in the Big Ten and quite possibly the nation. Still he was undoubtedly the leader of the squad and having graduated they will need to look to someone else to step up and rally the Fighting Illini. I don't see any of these guys being that person. Futrell still has two years but his performance was inconsistent. This will be interesting to watch going forward.

2011 Team Stats

Dual Record: 6 - 5 - 1 (3 - 4 - 1 in Big Ten)

Big Ten Championship: 6th

NCAA Championship: 22nd

Midlands: 10th

Individual Record: 227 - 179

Pins: 32

Tech. Falls: 13

Major Decisions: 46

Vs. PSU: Loss 13 - 23

Recruiting

The 2011 Fighting Illini class had #78 Caleb Ervin and #94 Chris Lopez so hopefully they didn't need much, because for a Big Ten school that is a bad recruiting class. Of note though is that the #11 Intermat recruit, Nikko Reyes, has verbally committed to the 2012 class. Reyes, from CA, has a current record of 155-14 with a 3rd place finish and a state championship. He also has NHSCA Junior Nationals Folkstyle champion.

2012 Outlook

Expect big things from this 2012 Fighting Illini squad...if big things for you aren't very big. Futrell will likely be the only grappler with a real shot of achieving All American unless some very talented freshman come out of the wings. They likely won't move far in either direction from their 6th place Big Ten finish in 2011.

The only potentially challenging non-conference duals on the 2011 schedule were Missouri and West Virginia. Overall it was a short and weak schedule. The 2012 schedule has not been released yet but hopefully it includes more events of a high caliber, otherwise Illinois isn't doing themselves any favors.

Big Ten Preview: Northwestern

We're not just doctors, you know. We wrestle too.

Northwestern wrestling has never exactly been stellar, and the 2011 season was an extension of that. Not good but not terrible. This is a team that finds themselves at a fork in the road. Northwestern's 2010 recruiting class was a big one including the #6, #14, #21, #47 and #73 recruits. Most of them took a red shirt in 2011 and will be entering the lineup in 2012. If Northwestern can achieve big success this year then they can look to keep a big boost to recruiting, going down the fork of a year-in year-out good Northwestern team. If the 2012 team fizzles out then they will sit back into relative obscurity, content to stay in the middle to bottom of the Big Ten.

2011 Summary 

The Wildcats qualified 5 grapplers for the NCAA tournament and 3 of them attained All American status, giving them a big boost over the other mediocre teams in the Big Ten.

Name: Brandon Precin (125)

Record: 33 - 3

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: 2nd

NCAA place: All American 3rd

Notable win(s): Matt McDonough (3-1)

Season ended when: McDonough beat him for the 3rd time (1-3), eventually beat Ben Kjar (Utah Valley, 5-0) for 3rd

Vs. PSU: none

Name: Levi Mele (133)

Record: 18 - 11

Status: Junior

Big Ten place: 8th

NCAA place: Round of 16

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost to Devin Carter (Va. Tech, 3-13)

Vs. PSU: none

Name: Caleb Friedley (141)

Record: 25 - 11

Status: Sophomore

Big Ten place: 6th

NCAA place: Round of 32

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Back to back losses to Matt Mariacher (American, 2-7) and Anwar Goeres (Binghamton, 8-11)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Alton 4-6

Name: Andrew Nadhir (149)

Record: 33 - 8

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: 4th

NCAA place: All American 6th

Notable win(s): Kevin LeValley (Bucknell, 6-5)

Season ended when: Pinned in opening round by Joe Napoli (Lehigh), wrestleback wins until beaten by Ganbayar Sanjaa (American, 1-5) then beaten by Jamal Parks (OSU, 2-6) for 6th.

Vs. PSU: none

Name: Jason Welch (157)

Record: 29 - 7

Status: Junior

Big Ten place: 3rd

NCAA place: All American 6th

Notable win(s): Adam Hall (Boise St., 3-1)

Season ended when: Suffered three losses in a row to Bubba Jenkins (ASU, 5-8), Derek St. John (Iowa, 1-6) and Adam Hall (Boise St., 1-5)

Vs. PSU: none

The Wildcats are losing their two best wrestlers but are gaining a lot of strong freshman coming off red shirts as discussed at the top of the review. Welch will come back even better in 2012 and have an advantage if he can remain at 157 with both David Taylor and Derek St. John moving up to 165.

2011 Team Stats

Dual Record: 18 - 2 (6 - 2 in Big Ten)

Big Ten Championship: 7th

NCAA Championship: Tied for 13th

Midlands: Tied for 13th

Individual Record: 349 - 202

Pins: 74

Tech. Falls: 23

Major Decisions: 60

Vs. PSU: none

Recruiting

With the outstanding 2010 recruiting class, recruiting in 2011 was not a priority for Northwestern. They nabbed one top 150 recruit in #124 Jameson Oster. With a relatively young group don't look for the recruiting to be very heavy in 2012 either.

2012 Outlook

The Wildcats will most likely not perform as well in tournaments without Brandon Precin and Andrew Nadhir who both normally go very deep. However this loss will be counter balanced by the talented wrestlers coming into the lineup. Most likely they won't perform as well when faced with Big Ten competition, but give them a year to develop more and this could be a very good team. They will still be a tough dual team in 2012.

The Wildcats wrestled an astounding 20 duals in 2011, but the schedule strength left something to be desired. Most of the teams were bad to mediocre, but Stanford and Pitt were in the mix. Their two losses came to Iowa and Michigan. In 2012 Northwestern will once again travel to the Midlands. Their schedule strength is once again okay, with Stanford included in the non-conference duals. Northwestern will keep its spot in the Big Ten ladder through 2012, looking to 2013 to make a leap forward.

Big Ten Preview: Ohio State

Wait what's out mascot? A nut? Oh...good...

Ohio State finishing in the bottom half of the Big Ten? That's a bit unheard of. Ohio State fell well below their standards in the 2011 season, which could be called a rebuilding season. Their good 2010 recruits went on red shirt for the most part and with a 2011 recruiting class that many believe to be the best in the nation, this team could be very good in the coming years.

2011 Summary

Ohio State sent 5 wrestlers to the NCAA tournament and had one All American, which proved to be the difference between the Buckeyes and the other teams at the bottom of the Big Ten (except for Indiana who had 2, hence them making the top 25).

Name: Ian Paddock (133)

Record: 18 - 10

Status: Junior

Big Ten place: 6th

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost to Devin Carter (Va. Tech, 8-16), won a wrestleback then lost to David Thorn (Minn, 2-8)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Pearsall (4-9) and Long (2-6)

Name: Colt Sponseller (165)

Record: 25 - 7

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: 2nd

NCAA place: All American 4th

Notable win(s): Beat Josh Asper (Maryland, 3-1)

Season ended when: Lost to Jordan Burroughs (Neb, 6-14) in the semifinals then lost to Andrew Howe (Wisc, 4-6) in the 3rd/4th match

Vs. PSU: Lost to Taylor 14-1 (Sponseller started the season at 157)

Name: Nick Heflin (174)

Record: 23 - 9

Status: Freshman

Big Ten place: 2nd

NCAA place: Round of 12

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost to Nick Amuchastegui (Stanford, 1-6) then missed All American by losing to Mike Letts (Maryland, 2-9)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Ruth 5-7

Name: C.J. Magrum (184)

Record: 13 - 13

Status: Junior

Big Ten place: 4th

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Eliminated by Joe LeBlanc (Wy, 8-12)

Vs. PSU: Beat Ortega 8-2

Name: Peter Capone (197)

Record: 20 - 17

Status: Sophomore

Big Ten place: 7th

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost to Andy Johnson (Neb, 2-12)

                                                                                 Vs. PSU: Lost to Ruth 6-18

Their only standout wrestler, Sponseller, graduated but the remaining four qualifiers have multiple years of eligibility left. Much like Michigan State, the Buckeyes only had a couple seniors leave the squad. Heflin looks like the best bet for any of these guys to make All American. As this core group develops further, an outstanding group of recruits from 2011 will fill in the holes around them or in some cases possibly replace them.

2011 Team Stats

Dual Record: 2 - 11 (1 - 7 in Big Ten)

Big Ten Championship: 8th

NCAA Championship: 29th

Cliff Keen Invitational: 12th

Individual Record: 204 - 220

Pins: 26

Tech. Falls: 7

Major Decisions: 27

Vs. PSU: Loss 3-42

Recruiting 

Ohio State's 2011 recruiting class was already very good but then the icing on the cake came with a gift known as Andrew Compolattano (#6, NJ). Compollattano had originally committed to play football at Rutgers, but then decided he wanted to wrestle instead. This put a top 10 recruit back on the market very late in the recruiting season. He ended his high school career at 175-1 and a 4 time NJ state champion. Compolattano attained the #1 spot for 215lbs by Intermat's ranking. Perhaps the only damage done to his recruiting was when Garth Lakitsky (PA) dominated him in the Dapper Dan classic. Lakitsky was up by 9 points before Compolattano injury defaulted out of the match. THe video can be found on flow wrestling and it looks more like he was embarrassed than hurt. Being back on the market, all of the big schools were on his list. He was very interested in Penn State but they couldn't offer him a scholarship right away, so he went to Ohio State instead. This is a wrestler to keep an eye on considering in his 4th state title match he pinned his opponent in 47 seconds. College will test how much of his style is strength and how much is technique. There could be some epic battles between him and Morgan McIntosh (PSU).

The class also includes #7 Hunter Stieber (OH, 141), #12 Kenny Courts (PA, 184), #27 Johnni DiJulius (OH, 125/133) and #31 Cam Tessari (OH, 149). Compollatano was not the only wrestler in this group to get upset at the Dapper Dan as Tessari was beaten by Evan Henderson (PA) 4-5 and Stieber was shut down and controlled by Travis Shaffer (PA) to lose 2-7. Oddly enough Shaffer was not even supposed to be the starter at 135 but an injury suffered by Dan Neff (PA) opened the spot for him.

Setbacks against the PA team at the Dapper Dan aside, this is a monstrous recruiting class. I would not call it epic or legendary without at least having the #1 recruit in the mix or a couple more top 10 recruits, but this is hands down a huge impact class which Ohio State sorely needs. Expect more than one of these guys to jump in to the lineup right away.

2012 Outlook 

With another year of experience under the belts of the young starters and an awesome recruiting class coming in, Ohio State will burst back into the top half of the Big Ten in 2012. Ultimately still having a young team will prevent them from dislodging any of the big 3 in the Big Ten (PSU, Iowa, Minn) but they will make it competitive. Expect good things out of this team after taking their lumps last season.

The 2011 schedule for the Buckeyes did them no favors when looking at their dual record. Of their five non-conference duals they only won one (against Edinboro). The other four duals were against Pitt, Nebraska, Cornell and Northern Iowa. In 2012 Ohio State will open the dual season at the Harrisburg duals. They will continue to schedule tough competition with Old Dominion, Va. Tech, Pitt and Kent State included on the schedule. They will once again travel to the Cliff Keen Invitational and take part in the National Duals.

Big Ten Preview: Purdue

Maybe we should just, you know, make boilers

Purdue used to be a significant player in the Big Ten but has since slid down into the more obscure area of the conference. The good part of the story is that the Purdue wrestling faithful are still just as supportive as ever. If you don't think the community still loves Purdue wrestling, just visit their athletic web site and go to wrestling. You will be met by a hype video for their 2011 dual against Missouri. This proud program will undoubtedly climb its way back up the ladder.

2011 Summary 

Purdue qualified 5 wrestlers for the NCAA tournament but produced no All Americans. Additionally stand out 149lb Ivan Lopouchanski transferred to Purdue at the end of the year from UNC Greensboro that eliminated its wrestling program. Ivan also qualified for the NCAA's and will be included in the breakdown.

Name: Camden Eppert (125)

Record: 13 - 17

Status: Red Shirt Sophomore

Big Ten place: 5th

NCAA place: Round of 33

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Back to back losses to Ryan Mango (Stanford, 9-11) and Alan Bartelli (Boise St, 0-4)

                                                                                  Vs. PSU: none

Name: Ivan Lopouchanski (149)

Record: 41 - 10

Status: Red Shirt Sophomore

Big Ten place: N/A (Transfer)

NCAA place: Round of 12

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Drew Darrion Caldwell (NC State, 7-18) and was eventually eliminated by Jamal Parks (OSU, SV 6-8)

Vs. PSU: Beat English 4-2

Name: Colton Salazar (157)

Record: 17 - 11

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: 5th

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost to Adam Hall (Boise St, 2-6), Frank Hickman (Bloom, 4-6)

                                                                                  Vs. PSU: none

Name: Luke Manuel (174)

Record: 22 - 10

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: 4th

NCAA place: Round of 12

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Blanked by Jon Reader (ISU, 0-13), won two then got eliminated by Ed Ruth (PSU, 6-7)

Vs. PSU: Lost to Ruth 6-7

Name: AJ Kissel (184)

Record: 22 - 10

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: 7th

NCAA place: Round of 32

Notable win(s): Chris Perry (OSU, 1-0)

Season ended when: Back to back losses to Joe LeBlanc (Wy, Fall), Austin Trotman                                                                                             (Ap. St, 4-7)

                                                                                 Vs. PSU: none

 Name: Logan Brown (197)

Record: 22 - 9

Status: Graduated

Big Ten place: 6th

NCAA place: Round of 24

Notable win(s): none

Season ended when: Lost to Zac Thomusseit (Pitt, 2-3) and Brent Haynes (Missouri, 6-9)

Vs. PSU: Beat Ruggear 12-3


None of the NCAA qualifiers had very good showings, except for the transfer Lopouchinski who made it to the Round of 12 in his first year of collegiate action. Eppert got in basically becasue the Big Ten is good enough to have that many slots available, and an injured Brad Pataky (PSU) bumped a lot of 125lb wrestlers up a spot. Eppert will most likely finish his career in mediocrity, but Lopouchinski will be an All American at some point after toughening up from the Big Ten conference gauntlet.

2011 Team Stats

Dual Record: 8 - 8 - 1 (3 - 5 in Big Ten)

Big Ten Championship: 9th

NCAA Championship: Tied for 39th

Cliff Keen Invitational: Tied for 8th

Midlands: 27th

Individual Record: 264 - 221

Pins: 37

Tech. Falls: 11

Major Decisions: 49

Vs. PSU: none

Recruiting 

Purdue's 2011 recruiting class needed to be a big one since 6 of their starters graduated, and instead they had an okay one. The class included three d1 wrestling top 150 recruits with #77 Danny Sabatello, #107 Drake Stein and #111 Chad Welch. If Purdue hopes to improve the program, it needs to start with better recruiting classes.

2012 Outlook 

Purdue is going to take it on the chin this year...hard. Four of their NCAA qualifiers graduated this season. Their only hope is that the wrestlers waiting in the wings can have a big impact. There isn't much else to say here. Lopouchinski will be the stand out wrestler for the team but they will still be lucky to get more than one win in the Big Ten, if even that.

Despite having a depleted roster, the Boilermakers still have a pretty aggressive schedule. They will once again travel to the Midlands and take part in the National Duals. Their non-conference dual schedule includes challenges in Missouri, American, Lehigh, Rutgers and Central Michigan. The challenging schedule should help mold the young wrestlers on the team, which could give them an edge over other weak Big Ten teams that took an easier schedule.