Just thought I'd pass on a few thoughts from Fargo. First off what a great display of talent, it just keeps on getting tougher every year. There were some really good wrestlers that didn't make it on the award stand more so than I have noticed in the past. As you could guess there were a bunch of college coaches on hand, even some acting as coaches for some states. As a whole I think the state of Iowa results were a tad disappointing and the lack of talent in the Cadet division for Iowa is blinding. Nagy was impressive for Iowa in both styles, but he is a foreign exchange student. We absolutely need better participation in the Olympic styles from our youth or we will continue to slide down the latter of the nations elite. For those that don't think that Freestyle and Greco matter when it comes to Folkstyle results you are mistaken, there is not a Folkstyle tournament in the US at the HS level that tests the mental and physical make up of a wrestler like Fargo, wrestling is wrestling no matter the rules.
As for some of the best wrestlers in the upcoming senior class I saw there you have to start with Devin Peterson and Thomas Gilman. Peterson is special talent, his ability to move so effortlessly is amazing and he is one of the best big man prospects I have seen in some time. The knock on him was his ability to take on physical wrestlers and he more than showed that he can handle being physical. Gilman was the talk of the tournament amongst most coaches. I have seen 100's of Thomas' matches and this might have been one of the few times he looked a little off the whole tournament which is saying something since he brought home the stop sign. Thomas is leaving to wrestle oversea's in a few weeks so he really trained right through this tournament and you could see he was not as fresh as he normally is. He has great head and hands defense and has very violent hands and is excellent in the front head position. What a lot of people didn't get to see is excellent array of setups and lower leg attacks and I think that had to do with a little fatigue from the training he has been doing up to the tournament.
Zane Richards was another guy who looked great out there. It was my first time getting a chance to talk with him in depth and there is only one word to describe him and that is intense. I think he is going to be a very successful collegiate wrestler. Jason Tsirtsis also looked good out there, but there are times when he coasts a little too much when he has the ability to score. There are a lot of similarities to his brother Alex, but also their styles are a tad bit different. One guy who who continues to impress me is Ben Whitford, although he is not an upcoming senior I had to mention him because I think he is the real deal.
As for Iowa I was really impressed with Alex Meyer, no one in the state has improved as much as Alex since February. He had some impressive wins and the best thing about him is that he expected to have success. Kyle Larson also had a good tournament placing 4th at a very tough weight. Clark needs to get more physical and use his hands better. Miklus gets better everytime out and needs to work on being more solid with fundamentals. Koethe is learning that he is not going to be able to bulldog everyone he faces and until he gets better at wrestling out in space he won't have the type of results he wants. Even at 152 he looked small against the top guys in the weight. Meeks is still trying to figure out some things in the Olympic style circuit, he is going to have to make adjustments to beat the best in the nation when it comes to freestyle. Peters to me just lacks awareness out there when he wrestles guys that can push him for a full match, he probably could have made 112, but he didn't look like he was smaller than the other guys.
As for the Iowa recruits Klapprodt and Rhoades, they both struggled against top rated talent. Neither are very mobile and have trouble if they cannot out muscle their competition.
UNI has three very capable upper weight wrestlers coming in with Caldwell, Cabell and Krumweide. Caldwell has improved a bunch and I think the month he spent up in Madison training really helped him. Cabell really competed hard and took a huge step forward in my eyes. Krumweide is tough to gauge, he needs to continue to develop physically to be effective at the next level.
As for some of the best wrestlers in the upcoming senior class I saw there you have to start with Devin Peterson and Thomas Gilman. Peterson is special talent, his ability to move so effortlessly is amazing and he is one of the best big man prospects I have seen in some time. The knock on him was his ability to take on physical wrestlers and he more than showed that he can handle being physical. Gilman was the talk of the tournament amongst most coaches. I have seen 100's of Thomas' matches and this might have been one of the few times he looked a little off the whole tournament which is saying something since he brought home the stop sign. Thomas is leaving to wrestle oversea's in a few weeks so he really trained right through this tournament and you could see he was not as fresh as he normally is. He has great head and hands defense and has very violent hands and is excellent in the front head position. What a lot of people didn't get to see is excellent array of setups and lower leg attacks and I think that had to do with a little fatigue from the training he has been doing up to the tournament.
Zane Richards was another guy who looked great out there. It was my first time getting a chance to talk with him in depth and there is only one word to describe him and that is intense. I think he is going to be a very successful collegiate wrestler. Jason Tsirtsis also looked good out there, but there are times when he coasts a little too much when he has the ability to score. There are a lot of similarities to his brother Alex, but also their styles are a tad bit different. One guy who who continues to impress me is Ben Whitford, although he is not an upcoming senior I had to mention him because I think he is the real deal.
As for Iowa I was really impressed with Alex Meyer, no one in the state has improved as much as Alex since February. He had some impressive wins and the best thing about him is that he expected to have success. Kyle Larson also had a good tournament placing 4th at a very tough weight. Clark needs to get more physical and use his hands better. Miklus gets better everytime out and needs to work on being more solid with fundamentals. Koethe is learning that he is not going to be able to bulldog everyone he faces and until he gets better at wrestling out in space he won't have the type of results he wants. Even at 152 he looked small against the top guys in the weight. Meeks is still trying to figure out some things in the Olympic style circuit, he is going to have to make adjustments to beat the best in the nation when it comes to freestyle. Peters to me just lacks awareness out there when he wrestles guys that can push him for a full match, he probably could have made 112, but he didn't look like he was smaller than the other guys.
As for the Iowa recruits Klapprodt and Rhoades, they both struggled against top rated talent. Neither are very mobile and have trouble if they cannot out muscle their competition.
UNI has three very capable upper weight wrestlers coming in with Caldwell, Cabell and Krumweide. Caldwell has improved a bunch and I think the month he spent up in Madison training really helped him. Cabell really competed hard and took a huge step forward in my eyes. Krumweide is tough to gauge, he needs to continue to develop physically to be effective at the next level.
