Practice Observations

U

USAFhawk

Well-Known Member
Some great intensity and wrestling today at the open practice. The team for the most part had a great off season and they looked sharp for an early season practice.

Most entertaining match up of the day was Kelly vs. Marion, they went after each other all practice, with Marion getting the best of the battle as you would expect. Kelly looked good and is pretty lean, still has a ways to go to get to 149. Ramos and Dennis also had some intense moments. Ramos looked good getting off shots, had some trouble finishing, but was aggressive as always. McD looked as tough as ever, has really sharpened up his finishes. Carew was working with Slaton in a controlled manner. He has been a little nicked up and they are being careful with him, I have seen him live quite a bit this year and he is going to open a lot of people's eyes....if he can stay healthy. Nick Moore is really looking good, he does such a good job using his hands to move his opponent and does a really good job penetrating and cutting the corner. Evans was working with Keddy, with Keddy doing a lot of teaching. Evans needs to become more effective on his feet, if he wants to be able to use his riding skills. He wrestles a little high and straight legged which limits his motion. He has trouble getting to the legs and needs to develop effective set ups. Gambrall sat out practice after getting knocked in the head pretty good. Lira is probably the front runner at 197. He has bulked up quite a bit and has really stepped up his intensity. He is a guy that is going to give great effort no matter what. Telford worked out with Beatty and definitely enjoyed the size avantage. He has really good feet for a HWT and does a great job getting the legs for such a big guy. Rasing was going with Ambrose, with both guys being bigger than they were a year ago.

Any questions just ask, I will do my best to answer them.
 
USAFhawk - I was wondering why Gambrall wasn't wrestling. Do you expect him to sit out for long? Kelly didn't look a lot bigger than Marion to me. Is the rumor true that he is going 149? Do you think Nick Moore will be the guy at 165? Lira definitely seems to have a good motor. Lofthouse seemed to be doing some coaching with him early on. It looks like he put on some good weight. I'm assuming that the options at 197 that Tom Brands mentioned would be Lira and Wagner. Lira looks bigger, but Wagner had the better season last year.

Any word on the recruits? Gable was talking with some of them at the end of practice. I heard Tom say they had 11 in. I think these were the 11 with the intermat rankings.

1. (5) Thomas Gilman – 125/133
2. (8) Nate Skonieczny – 141-149
3. (10) Jordan Rogers – 174/184
4. (15) Zane Richards – 125/133
5. (18) Cory Clark – 125/133
6. (20) Sam Brooks – 184/197
7. (54) Alex Meyer - 165
8. (76) Zach Witte – 149/157
9. (NR) Phillip Laux - 125
10. (OTC) Nathan Burak – 184/197
11. (NR)Connor Ryan – 125/133
 
Glad to hear about practice. Sounds to me that Kelly must be close to making that 149 mark if he is working out with Marion. Also who was Nick Moore working out with? Your observation of Evans is interesting. It's obvious Evans has to tweak some things however I give him a pass, if what they are saying is true about his current weight being 170, seems to me he was wrestling someone who carries alot more weight then he does, heck maybe even 30 pounds! I personally think Evans will be fine and will be the 65 pounder if he can make the cut. What sparked my curiousity is Gambrall. If injured does that rearrange the line up? Could we be seeing a possible line up of Moore at 65, Evans 74 ( the lighter one between him and Ethan) and Lofthouse at 84? Last but not least I would bet Telford is the heavy this year just a gut feeling.
 
Gambrall should only be out for a short time, always have to be cautious when it comes to head injuries. Kelly is definitely trying to make the cut to 149 and he is still has a little ways to go, but he looks as lean as he has since being here. Kelly is a brawler and is nasty, he really frustrates his opponents with his style as it is tough to get to his legs. He is very strong , but we will see if he is able to keep that strength at 149. I do think Nick Moore is the better wrestler at 165 right now, over the past year and half of watching these guys work out, Nick has shown a more broad skill set at this stage. Evans looks very tough against the mid level guys in the room and in competition, but when he steps up in competition he usually struggles on his feet and he isn't nearly effective from the top position. I know the coaches are fired up about him so we will see how it plays out. I think Telford wins the HWT spot also, he attacks more and is more effective from his feet.

As far as the recruits go, there were quite a few guys there. I only got a chance to talk to a few of them, but the majority liked what they had seen so far. I think Iowa will get a few out of the group, but a couple of the heavy hitters want to take other visits before deciding.
 
Thanks for the response much appreciated. Did you have any idea who Nick Moore was wrestling I don't believe you answered that question.

As for the competition between Evans and Moore, I was talking to someone who was in the room on Wednesday and they said Evans was handling Moore, so I guess I will take a wait and see approach. I have watched many tapes on Evans after I found out we were recruting him, he seems to adjust his style to the wrestler he is wrestling. He obviously is use to more of an upper body style from the upper weight class he was in so there may need to be an adjustment. If the coaches are high on him there is a reason will be interesting to see how every thing pans out.

Once again thanks for the information.
 
I don't remember who Moore was going with on Saturday, I think it may have been DuCharme. Funny you say that about Evans on Wednesday, because in practice on Thursday Moore definitely handled Evans from the feet. I don't make a judgement from just one practice, everyone has good and bad days. The coaches are just as high on Moore as they are Evans.
 
Thanks guys for the report on the Sat practice.
Have no favorite in any weight just the best man be put on the mat,Hawks are gonna win it this year and go on a roll for years to come .

Also hope we can get a good recurit for 197 would not lhurt if we could get a good one at 189 also.
Can't wait for the season to start blow that whistle "Lets wrestle"..
 
Nick Moore was wrestling Patrick Rhoads in practice yesterday and looked very good. I am also of the belief that Moore will win the 165 spot this year. He is just a much more well rounded wrestler at this point in time.

I agree with about everything else that USAFhawk said and it was a great practice. Marion and Kelly were a lot of fun to watch and people are going to like Kelly's style if he gets into the lineup. He is definitely a brawler and has a high motor. Ramos and Dan Dennis was fun to watch yesterday as well as they both like to get after it. Telford and Rasing were going together for a while at the end of practice and Telford seemed to have an easier time getting to the legs.
 
USAFhawk said:
Carew was working with Slaton in a controlled manner.
Any questions just ask, I will do my best to answer them.
Click to expand...

USAFHawk--You mentioned that Dylan Carew was going with Joe Slaton. Is Slaton back in the Iowa room? I know that he worked with Schwab and UNI last year. Did see Joe walking on the way to the football game yesterday, so knew that he was in town.
 
Yes Joe is back in Iowa City working out with the HWC and helping out in a volunteer role. He left UNI shortly after the season last year.
 
I was also there and saw mostly what the others already said. Montell vs Kelly was for sure the best match up going and what most people i was around were talking about. McD was very workman like as he just scored points all day. Ramos looked good as did Ethan lofthouse. I was impressed with Brody Grothus. i saw him put DSJ on his back on 3 separate occasions. Now, DSJ dominated the go and rode him hard for much of the practice, but that's still impressive for a young guy to do that. He's dangerous and i think he'll be fun to watch. So overall it was great watching the guys and they were all looking good. One guy who did disappoint me was Nate Moore. He was getting killed by Zadick adn just look very disinterested. To me it really looks like he'll never be what i once thought he would be a few years ago which is sad. He just doesn't look like he's having much fun wrestling any more.
 
When we(my family) showed up it was full and I couldn't see everything but got a lot of info from FF and USA. Out of respect of both its there call on what they want to say & I think they do a GREAT job revealing what they can. They really know their stuff and I agree with what they said in their posts. I feel Moore is the guy at 165 although I am a BIG fan of Evans I just feel Moore is better right now. I can't wait for the season to start and get to a few more practices before it starts. I also thought Kelly impressed me with how hard he was going with Marion. I am a HUGE Carew fan so hopefully he can stay healthy and keep the 149 spot if not maybe Kelly can get there and do as well as I think a healthy Carew can do. Also I have VERY high expectations for DSJ this year. Hopefully he gets a shot at Dake before St. Louis so you can see what I mean. Cant wait for the season to start and see these Hawks bring home another National Championship!!!
 
The Hawks put more fans in the seats for practices than some teams can muster for an official dual!

Nice to hear the kids are allowed to get in on the action. What a great memory!
 
Was walk-on heavyweight Thomas Heiderscheit at practice? I've heard no mention of another heavy in the room and his name's not on the roster. He's the Ankeny heavyweight who was already attending Iowa to become a surgeon and whose coach wrote a letter to Brands. Would love to hear how he's doing. Thanks.
 
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I actually asked Tom about Heiderscheit on Saturday as he was not practicing. He said that there are still some issues with him having classes during practice times and he has not been able to practice with the team. They are trying to work through this and get it all cleared up.
 
Thanks fulsaas. That makes sense based on him being a walk on and already having his class schedule set prior to being accepted to the team. Will be great to have another heavyweight in the room so hopefully he can get it cleared up soon.
 
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