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.