Ferrari

[Fryowa]

He's the real deal and needs to take a front seat to Arnold next year. Arnold has shown he can't motivate himself for big matches and it's time to go buy a big transfer for 174. Dropping down a weight class very rarely works out in college unless you're a beast and Arnold ain't a beast. Ferrari is very obviously heads and tails above Arnold, shit happens and at an elite program sometimes you have two really good wrestlers in one spot.

I don't want to see Ferrari at 97 to make room for Arnold. He's got a very clear path to multiple nattys the next four years at 84 and Arnold ain't going to work out going to 74. There's no reason to force Ferrari to 97. Cut bait and go pay some big money for a 74. If Iowa can find a 25 and a HWT they can be a very competitive 1b to Penn State rather than just a VERY distant 2nd.

Same thing with the Ben Kueter experiment. No Iowa wrestler should be getting teched like he did last night to anyone not named Gable Steveson. I'd say let the kid go wrestle somewhere else but he'll never leave Iowa, so let him go play football. He ain't got the stuff.

 

[Hay Man]

Totally agree on the Ferrari and Arnold take.

What is the thing Kueter is missing? Is he too small at heavyweight against the top guys? He looks to be in good shape, but gets gassed once he's wrestling from behind.

 

[Sighhawk]

Arnold -174, Ferrari - 184 , Big Ben has no Defense below the belt and hes not athletic enough for the top piers. He looks confused out there.

 

[Sighhawk]

UNI- looking for football players

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

In fairness to Kueter, I mean, good God. I'd be hard pressed to find another wrestler that has faced that kind of murderer's row in the same season: Gable arguable the best ever at the collegiate level and already in the discussion at freestyle, Kerkvliet, who has gradually developed into a folkstyle force, and Hendrickson, who had 59 pins at the Air Force Academy, and is a freestyle world champion. Smh.

To make noise at HW (in folk), Kueter is going to have to learn how to use his length to his advantage. If I were him, I'd be watching footage of the successful lanky wrestlers like Evan Wick and Ethan Lizak. They were terrors on top once they got hooks in. Otherwise, he's just another example of why a 225-230 weight class is needed.

I don't see either Ferrari or Arnold at 197, so, yeah, something's got to give there. Gabe is a bit of an enigma to me. The talent and athletic ability is there, but it's almost like he goes into a passive mode if he misses on some good shots. At this level, you have to able to adapt and overcome against top-tier opponents. There seems to be a mental hurdle there for some reason.

The other variable is that, with the history of the Ferrari family, can we expect him to stick it out? He comes across as a pretty level-headed young guy, but that family is a bit nuts and they will always be in his ear.

 

[Fryowa]

Arnold -174, Ferrari - 184 , Big Ben has no Defense below the belt and hes not athletic enough for the top piers. He looks confused out there.

Arnold is a natural 84 and possibly 97. There is no way he can be effective at 74. It’ll be the same thing as Kaleb Young and Nelson Brands. Both cut down a weight their entire career to make room for other guys and neither one succeeded. Kaleb Young was in elite shape but he was totally gassed every match he wrestled. Doesn’t matter how good of shape you’re in, if you are under fueling your natural body to stay 10 lbs lighter you can’t perform at a top level.

 

[Fryowa]

In fairness to Kueter, I mean, good God. I'd be hard pressed to find another wrestler that has faced that kind of murderer's row in the same season: Gable arguable the best ever at the collegiate level and already in the discussion at freestyle, Kerkvliet, who has gradually developed into a folkstyle force, and Hendrickson, who had 59 pins at the Air Force Academy, and is a freestyle world champion. Smh.

To make noise at HW (in folk), Kueter is going to have to learn how to use his length to his advantage. If I were him, I'd be watching footage of the successful lanky wrestlers like Evan Wick and Ethan Lizak. They were terrors on top once they got hooks in. Otherwise, he's just another example of why a 225-230 weight class is needed.

I don't see either Ferrari or Arnold at 197, so, yeah, something's got to give there. Gabe is a bit of an enigma to me. The talent and athletic ability is there, but it's almost like he goes into a passive mode if he misses on some good shots. At this level, you have to able to adapt and overcome against top-tier opponents. There seems to be a mental hurdle there for some reason.

The other variable is that, with the history of the Ferrari family, can we expect him to stick it out? He comes across as a pretty level-headed young guy, but that family is a bit nuts and they will always be in his ear.

Like I said it isn’t a knock against Kueter personally but he doesn’t have what it takes to be an elite ncaa HWT. He’s going up against guys who not only have 30 lbs on him, but they are the best of the best mentally and technically. Like with car engines, there’s no replacement for displacement. I do think he’d dominate a 230 lb class.

It’s time to go buy an elite 25, 74, and HWT in the portal. With Bassett and others coming and Ferrari having 4 years Iowa can at least give PSU a run at it. Yeah it sucks OSU has Forest but they are still a long ways from a complete roster. Iowa has a chance at making a run at 2026 with those 3 key weights being addressed.

If we’re being honest about Kueter, there are tons of examples of college wrestlers who went ballistic at the high school level but didn’t pan out in college. The two don’t always translate.

 

[Fryowa]

UNI- looking for football players

Kueter has said multiple times his life dream has always been to be a Hawkeye. He’s ride or die and he’ll never make that decision.

 

[Fryowa]

Totally agree on the Ferrari and Arnold take.

What is the thing Kueter is missing? Is he too small at heavyweight against the top guys? He looks to be in good shape, but gets gassed once he's wrestling from behind.

1) Way too small to wrestle HWT in college folk. That’s why he is dominant in freestyle…he actually has a weight class there. Right now his guys have 30 lbs on him.

2) HWT is the most stacked it’s ever been in history unfortunately. Them’s the breaks.

3) He’s got a case of big fish/small pond in high school biting him in the ass. He steam rolled Iowa kids his whole folk style career. (the VAST majority of whom will never see a college mat, and everyone thinks that should translate to being a contender in college. His freak athleticism at that level made up for his shortcomings in technique and strategy that are now being exposed.

 

[Fryowa]

The other variable is that, with the history of the Ferrari family, can we expect him to stick it out? He comes across as a pretty level-headed young guy, but that family is a bit nuts and they will always be in his ear.

My take…

The family is indeed nuts, and the dad is even nuttier than AJ. His instagram account you can see he is very clearly a roided-out, guido-type 40 something who’s got a few screws loose.

The Ferrari’s have never been team guys, they want two things…individual titles and money. Angelo has to know by now that 84 is his ticket to a natty and he also knows he can likely wrestle all 4 years for Iowa there. PSU isn’t going to touch that kind of family with a 10’ pole so that option is out.

That leaves money. He going to have to get paid and hopefully Iowa can do that. Also hopefully his brother getting bounced from place to place and ending up at a small school with meager facilities, wrestling lower-level guys etc. showed him that his only chance to wrestle at a world class training center is at Iowa. There’s also no replacement for the environment at CHA. Nowhere else can you wrestle half your matches every year at the Mecca in front of packed crowds on BTN. PSU doesn’t even have that and even if they did they wouldn’t take him.

Long story short, Iowa is his only option to be in front of those huge crowds, in the nicest/newest training facility in the world. Now we’ll see if his dad will eff it up.