Minnesota's Brayton Lee looks to take the #1 seed here, but he'll more than be challenged as he fights for a title. In this bracket, he not only has returning 2021 NCAA champion Austin O'Connor of North Carolina but also North Dakota State's Jared Franek, who took him into sudden victory the last time the two met. One of two Darkhorses, Ed Scott of North Carolina State did drop an 11-3 major decision to O'Connor last season, but he has been on a role as of late, recently sticking Iowa All American Kaleb Young in a little over a minute. Oklahoma State's Wyatt Sheets, another Darkhorse, is 1-1 with Franek having dropped a 7-5 decision and having won a 14-5 major decision.
If any weight class at the Scuffle is going to have some big surprises, it is 157. I wouldn't even call these four the top candidates for place-winners, but I would pay very close attention to all four for various reasons.
Parker Kropman of Drexel is one of those wrestlers that has been sneaking in and out of the rankings his entire career. He'll pop up out of nowhere, as he did when he knocked off Matt Kolodzik of Princeton 3-1 his sophomore season & then he'll lay low for a while. When the wrestling community isn't expecting much out of him, whammo he'll score another major upset. Is that going to happen at the Scuffle? Well, it WILL happen at some point this year. Kropman's never let us down in the past Scuffle is as good of a place as any.
Scott mentioned above is currently 15-1 on the season. His sole loss? Ironically enough, teammate A.J. Kovacs who owns a 9-8 decision over his workout partner. Kovacs himself is 10-1 & to add to the irony, his only loss on the season is to Scott!
Sometimes all you need is a change of scenery and that very well could be the case with Peter Pappas of George Mason. Pappas recently transferred to George Mason from Edinboro. I do not know the backstory and I do not know why, but obviously Pappas needed a change. Throughout his career Pappas has had many notable wins including Kendall Coleman of Purdue, Graham Rooks of Indiana, Izzak Olejnik of Northern Illinois, Mike Van Brill of Rutgers, Holden Heller of Hofstra and Jordan Slivka of Ohio. Yet this season he's looked sluggish and unfocused going 2-5. I'm not expecting Pappas to magically start wrestling extremely well, but I am hoping to see the transfer have a positive effect on his performance. This will be his first competition competing in a Patriot singlet.
If you've been reading JT#1 for a while, you know that I'm a fan of Dazjon Casto of The Citadel. He had huge 3-1 victory over Justin Thomas of Oklahoma at CKLV, but then dropped two heartbreakers in a row to Nebraska's Peyton Robb & Navy's Andew Cerniglia to finish one match shy of placing. This is the Bulldog's last opportunity to get a medal from a major in-season tournament before he graduates this spring. He more than has the talent and ability. Love to see him make the award stand.
Other competition that will fight for a medal....
#21 Chase Saldate Michigan State
#22 Connor Brady Virginia Tech
#23 Jarett Jacques Missouri
#24 Colton Yapoujian Cornell
#32 Cody Bond Appalachian State
Michael Petite Buffalo
Adam Santoro Cornell
Charlie Darracott Stanford
Bryce Sanderlin Davidson
Kyle Mosher Columbia
Parker Kropman of Drexel is one of those wrestlers that has been sneaking in and out of the rankings his entire career. He'll pop up out of nowhere, as he did when he knocked off Matt Kolodzik of Princeton 3-1 his sophomore season & then he'll lay low for a while. When the wrestling community isn't expecting much out of him, whammo he'll score another major upset. Is that going to happen at the Scuffle? Well, it WILL happen at some point this year. Kropman's never let us down in the past Scuffle is as good of a place as any.
Scott mentioned above is currently 15-1 on the season. His sole loss? Ironically enough, teammate A.J. Kovacs who owns a 9-8 decision over his workout partner. Kovacs himself is 10-1 & to add to the irony, his only loss on the season is to Scott!
Sometimes all you need is a change of scenery and that very well could be the case with Peter Pappas of George Mason. Pappas recently transferred to George Mason from Edinboro. I do not know the backstory and I do not know why, but obviously Pappas needed a change. Throughout his career Pappas has had many notable wins including Kendall Coleman of Purdue, Graham Rooks of Indiana, Izzak Olejnik of Northern Illinois, Mike Van Brill of Rutgers, Holden Heller of Hofstra and Jordan Slivka of Ohio. Yet this season he's looked sluggish and unfocused going 2-5. I'm not expecting Pappas to magically start wrestling extremely well, but I am hoping to see the transfer have a positive effect on his performance. This will be his first competition competing in a Patriot singlet.
If you've been reading JT#1 for a while, you know that I'm a fan of Dazjon Casto of The Citadel. He had huge 3-1 victory over Justin Thomas of Oklahoma at CKLV, but then dropped two heartbreakers in a row to Nebraska's Peyton Robb & Navy's Andew Cerniglia to finish one match shy of placing. This is the Bulldog's last opportunity to get a medal from a major in-season tournament before he graduates this spring. He more than has the talent and ability. Love to see him make the award stand.
Other competition that will fight for a medal....
#21 Chase Saldate Michigan State
#22 Connor Brady Virginia Tech
#23 Jarett Jacques Missouri
#24 Colton Yapoujian Cornell
#32 Cody Bond Appalachian State
Michael Petite Buffalo
Adam Santoro Cornell
Charlie Darracott Stanford
Bryce Sanderlin Davidson
Kyle Mosher Columbia
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