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| 125 Brock Hudkins Senior Record: 49-28 NCAA: 17'R12, 18'NQ MAC: 17 3rd, 18'2nd MIDLANDS: 19'R12, 20'5th |
Health. Health is the key with Brock Hudkins. If he is and can stay healthy, we're looking at an All American contender. He already owns victories over other All Americans including a 3-1 sudden victory over Drew Hildebrandt of Central Michigan and a 4-3 victory over Michael McGee of Arizona State. Injuries, not opponents, are his biggest obstacle.
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| 133 Asa Garcia Freshman Record: 23-6 |
Garcia has shown signs that he's capable of a top 33 showing this season. He owns a win over NCAA qualifier Jack Medley of Michigan and should have similar victories this season.
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| 141 Cayden Rooks OR Paul Konrath Sophomore Or Junior Record: 28-24 OR 42-21 NCAA: 21'NQ OR BIG 10: 21'WC OR MIDLANDS: OR 18'7th |
An NCAA qualifier last season, Rooks' most notable victories were a 6-1 decision of MAC runner-up McKenzie Bell of Rider as well as a 5-3 sudden victory over multiple time Midlands medalist Colin Valdiviez of Northwestern. With that noted, a healthy Paul Konrath could as easily be the starter here. While he has yet to have success at 141 lbs, he did prove his potential at 133. He owns a 3-2 victory of Korbin Meyers of Virginia Tech as well as a 4-3 victory over Tariq Wilson of North Carolina State, both All Americans.
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| 149 Graham Rooks Sophomore Record: 39-28 NCAA: 20'NQ, 21'NQ BIG 10: 20'WC, 21'6th |
Rooks strikes me as the type that if he keeps making improvements and continues to work on the little things, he'll eventually contend for All American honors. Not sure if it'll be this season or not, although it could be. Thus far he owns two victories over 3rd place All American Yahya Thomas of Northwestern.
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| 157 Kasper McIntosh Sophomore Record: 24-20 |
The BIG 10 is a tough conference & there is no guarantee of making it out, but if McIntosh can produce more victories like his 3-2 decision over North Dakota State's Luke Weber, he should prove to be a top 33 wrestler this season.
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| 165 Nick South Freshman Record: 23-13 |
Feel the same about South as I do about McIntosh. No guarantees, but wins such as a 5-0 shutout over Jake Tucker of Michigan State, suggest to me that South is capable of NCAA qualification this season.
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| 174 D.J. Washington Record: 32-16 NCAA: 21'NQ BIG 10: 21'6th MIDLANDS: 20'6th |
Technically still only a freshman, D.J. Washington has plenty of time and plenty of room to continue to improve. Obviously what sticks out most thus far in his career is a 10-9 victory over NCAA champion Carter Starocci of Penn State. Consistency was a bit of a problem for Washington last season, but that could easily be blamed on youth and inexperience. Fixing little mistakes & capitalizing upon his strengths, I think the Hoosiers have a guy that could stand on the NCAA award stand by year's end.
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| 197 Garrett Hoffman Senior Record: 29-22 NCAA: 17'WC |
Injuries have kept Hoffman from having the career that he would have otherwise had. 5 years is a long time to come back after spending most of your time on the sidelines trying to get healthy. Nevertheless, if finally healthy, Hoffman could be one of the biggest surprises of the year. He owns an 11-8 decision over NCAA champion Anthony Cassar of Penn State, and Hell, not even Gable Steveson was able to do that.
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125 - Darkhorse All American if healthy
133 - NQ
141 - NQ
149 - Extremely Darkhorse All American
157 - NQ
165 - NQ
174 - All American
184 - DNQ
197 - NQ
HWT - DNQ
As you can see Health will be one of the Hoosier's biggest challenges this season. A healthy Hudkins is AA material, but an unhealthy Hudkins might not even make the NCAA's. A healthy Paul Konrath could be dangerous. Who knows what a healthy Garrett Hoffman would look like? D.J. Washington and Graham Rooks still young, could potentially improve tremendously. Indiana has a lot of good things that COULD happen.
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