Let's be perfectly clear about something before I begin. When I say backups, I mean backups. I mean guys that legitimately sought and fought for a varsity spot in the 2018-2019 and ended up losing it to another wrestler on their team. I DO NOT mean guys who are currently redshirting and I DO NOT mean guys who lost their spot do to an unfortunate injury. Now that I've said that I have a feeling that I'll still be asked why I left off so and so who is currently redshirting or why so and so who is out with a knee injury wasn't mentioned.
The point of this blog is to illustrate and give testimony to just how tough NCAA Division I wrestling is. Expectations for National championships and All American statuses are often overly abundant. It's tough enough just to make the NCAA tournament, let alone secure a place in the top eight. Hell, it's tough enough just to make the varsity lineup! And hopefully this blog I've written will convince you as to why.
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NICK NEVILLS
SENIOR - HWT
PENN STATE
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I think it goes without question that the best backup in the country this season is Penn State HWT Nick Nevills. Behind #3 Anthony Cassar, Nevills would most likely be ranked in the top five in the nation if he were varsity. He took third at the BIG 10's and fifth at the NCAA's as a sophomore and then placed third again at the BIG 10's with a seventh place finish at the NCAA's as a junior. Even this year as the Nittany Lion's backup he has had a fairly standout season. A major decision over #20 Billy Miller of Virginia Tech, as 7-1 decision over #18 Joey Goodhart of Drexel and a 2-1 decision over #16 Matt Voss of George Mason. To top it off a third place showing at the prestigious Southern Scuffle tournament.
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DAKOTA GEER
SOPHOMORE - 197 lbs
OKLAHOMA STATE |
The 2017 EWL champion/Freshman of the year who qualified for the NCAA championships and finished 31-10 as a true freshman. This year Geer has victories over Jacob Seely of Northern Colorado 13-2, Noah Adams of West Virginia 10-6, Kellan Stout of Pittsburgh 7-2, #19 Randall Diabe of Appalachian State F 5:18 and #14 Chris Weiler of Lehigh 13-5. No doubt about it, Geer will help lead the Cowboys to all sorts of success in 2020 and 2021 but in 2019 he is a backup to #6 Preston Weigel.
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JEREN GLOSSER
JUNIOR - 157 lbs
IOWA |
Behind #7 Kaleb Young, Eddyville-Blakesburg head coach Brett Little would be the first to tell you how tough Glosser is. But don't take his word for it alone, results speak for themselves. This year Glosser has defeated #16 Jack Van Brill of Rutgers 9-2 and he's handed #13 Eric Barone of Illinois two losses including a 3-1 sudden victory and sticking him at 6:31. If that's not enough, he's also defeated Iowa State's Chase Straw twice this season 13-9 and 5-4, as well as Army's Luke Weiland 5-2, both of whom in the BIG XII and EIWA will be contending for NCAA qualification respectively.
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JAMAL MORRIS
SENIOR - 141 lbs
NORTH CAROLINA STATE |
You know those films like Disney's PARENT TRAP where twins will switch places during a scene to confuse others? I honestly think that the Morris brothers could get away with that during tournaments. It has to be strange for Jamel knowing that the guy he has to battle for the starting position is his brother Jamal. It'll be Jamel who starts at the ACC championships here in a few weeks, but don't fool yourself. If it was Jamal he'd most likely earn his way to the NCAA's as well. He defeated likely SOCON champ Chris Debien 11-6 as well as #17 Sa'Derian Perry earlier this year.
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VINCE TURK
JUNIOR - 141 lbs
IOWA |
A man's man, a true team player Vince Turk is always their when the Hawkeyes need him. Currently behind #16 Max Murin, with Carter Happell, Jason Renteria and Justin Stickley in the room, he's in an all out war every practice of his life. Nevertheless I know damn good and well based on a fifth place finish at last year's BIG 10 tournament and a 6-5 win over #11 Ian Parker of Iowa State this year, that if need be, the Hawks could most certainly rely on him.
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AUSTIN ASSAD
JUNIOR - 125 lbs
MICHIGAN |
Assad has battled a number of injuries during his career and that maybe why he's currently behind #13 Drew Mattin. It may not be too as Mattin is one tough hombre himself, take nothing away. However Assad has proven that on another team, he might be varsity. This year alone he has a 4-0 victory over Indiana's three time NCAA qualifier Elijah Oliver and a 7-5 victory over #18 Drew Hildebrandt of Central Michigan.
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PAUL GLYNN
SOPHOMORE - 133 lbs
IOWA |
Paul Glynn is certainly no #3 Austin DeSanto, but do I believe that if he were varsity that he'd be a top twenty wrestler? Yes, I do. Glynn's a smart wrestler who knows how to get the W in desperate situations. He's proven that twice this year over likely NCAA qualifiers Josiah Kline of Arizona State and Dylan Duncan of Illinois who he defeated both by 3-1 sudden victory scores.
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BO PIPHER
SOPHOMORE - 157 lbs
PENN STATE |
Gotta mention Bo Pipher who is behind arguably the best wrestler in the nation right now #1 Jason Nolf. Pipher already showed us what he's capable of and what to expect next season out of him by placing second at this year's Southern Scuffle.
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JAROD VERKLEEREN
FRESHMAN - 149 lbs
PENN STATE |
He might actually be the starter by the BIG 10's. I'm not for sure. If not it'll be #11 Brady Berge and if that's the case, it makes Verkleeren one of the best backups in the country.
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FABIAN GUITTERREZ
SOPHOMORE - 125 lbs
CHATTANOOGA |
Without a doubt Guitterrez is the second best wrestler in the SOCON. Having split matches with teammate Alonzo Allen this season, he arguably might even be the best. Nevertheless it looks like Allen is going to get the nod and Guitterrez who has a 6-1 win over Indiana's Elijah Oliver and a 6:55 fall over Ohio's Shakur Laney, will have to wait till next year. With that said, look for him to become a two time SOCON champion.
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BRANDON COURTNEY
FRESHMAN -125 lbs
ARIZONA STATE |
With the return of Ryan Millhof which will now knock him out of the starting lineup, I think something needs to be said on behalf of Brandon Courtney. With Millhoff out, Courtney did a great job of holding down the fort for the Sun Devils. Victories included a 3-1 sudden victory over Dack Punke of Missouri, a 5:25 fall over likely NCAA qualifier Trey Chailfoux of Army and a 9-6 victory over likely SOCON champ Alonzo Allen of Chattanooga.
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YAHYA THOMAS
SOPHOMORE - 141 lbs
NORTHWESTERN |
I'm not 100% sure what is going on at Northwestern and who will be starting where at the BIG 10 championships. What I do know is that there is a chance that Yahya Thomas might be sitting this one out and others might be wrestling at 141 and 149 lbs. If that's the case, have to point out Thomas's third place finish at this year's Midlands, as well wins over L.J. Bentley of Pittsburgh, Joey Gould of Bucknell and Vince Turk of Iowa.
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JONCE BLAYLOCK
SENIOR - 157 lbs
OKLAHOMA STATE |
A winning record every season, Jonce Blaylock is one of many Cowboys over the years who would have not only made the varsity on many other teams, but most likely would have been an multiple time NCAA qualifier. Instead, like other pokes before him, he'll end his career having never wrestled in a BIG XII championship. Having noteworthy wins every season, this year's include a 6-5 over Air Force's Alex Mossing, a 3-1 over Iowa State's Chase Straw and a 5-4 over Lock Haven's Alex Klucker.
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ANDREW SHOMERS
JUNIOR - 165 lbs
OKLAHOMA STATE |
A former EWL runner-up for Edinboro, Shomers may drop back down to 157 lbs to challenge Wyatt Sheets for the starting spot. If he doesn't, come BIG XII time, he'll be behind #10 Chandler Rogers at 165 lbs. Wins over Justin Thomas of Oklahoma, Dewey Krueger of Central Michigan and Gordon Wolf of Lehigh suggest that he'd be a varsity start/NCAA qualifier at other schools.
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JAKE JAKOBSEN
SOPHOMORE - 197 lbs
LEHIGH |
Currently behind #14 Chris Weiler, Jakobsen has wins this season over West Virginia's Noah Adams F 6:35 and Michigan's Jackson Striggow both of whom could end up one of the thirty-three qualifiers for the NCAA tournament.
Are there more? Without a doubt. I thought of as many as I could and came up with fifteen, but now as I end this Willie Scott of Rutgers, 174 lbs comes to mind. Currently behind Joe Grello, Scott placed fifth at this year'd Midlands championships. An accomplishment worth mentioning, especially for a backup.
It makes one wonder if this would be an issue if all of the teams that used to have wrestling still had wrestling. Next year with the addition of Arkansas-Little Rock, Presbyterian College, Cal Baptist and Long Island University we will be up to 80 teams. I'm not 100% positive how many wrestling teams there would be if no school had ever dropped wrestling, but I can tell you this. Out of all the schools that I know for a fact used to have wrestling, if they still all had wrestling today there would be 223 teams in Division I. Or a least close to it because some of the schools I mention I'm not sure if they'd be DI or DII.
Regardless over double the amount of schools we have today. And would it make a difference in relevance to the question I ask? The answer is maybe. I do think that if we had more opportunities for kids to wrestle that they might choose to wrestle. Especially those from states without much or any opportunity. Some kids want to stay close to home, and when Georgia, Nevada, Florida, Texas, ect don't give them that opportunity, they might chose to stay home anyway and not wrestle.
Yet the other side of the coin is that some kids will always want to go to a top tier program. They'd rather sit on the bench for four years for an opportunity to win a national title at Penn State or Oklahoma State or Iowa, than they would go to a smaller school and be the stud that puts that program back on the map.
So I guess it works both ways, but never the less I'd like to see the sport continue to grow like it will next season. UALR and Presbyterian are hopefully the start of something to continuously happen. No more Eastern Michigan's dropping, and more and more schools adding. That is my hope.
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