He's what I wrote on BSD a couple of weeks ago with a couple of edits post conferences:
Let's see them put some space between themselves and the other pretenders first. They'll be in a very tight race with tOSU for 2nd this year. In the near future, they have a logjam from 133 to 157 but some question marks after that. Just about every spot in their lineup is a step below PSU and looks to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
125 Lilledahl is better than anyone they have or coming in. Can Spratley make the finals this year? He's got one more year, LL has 2. After that we've got Sidun coming in. He's better than Cowboy commits Zinkin and Villasenor. There's always questions about 125s holding the weight, Zinkin may never get there again.
133/141 Blaze, Ono, Desmond v. Jax, Ramirez, Vega and the smaller Rainey. This is going to be the best of the head to heads going forward. I'm bullish on Blaze over Jax and confident Ono can be as dominant at folk as he is at free. Expect a lot of back and forth here particularly if Vega can make a good showing against Mendez.
149 Van Ness then questions v. Swiderski then the bigger Rainey. Nobody's beating SMFVN this year or next. After that our options are Blaze or Desmond growing. Sam Herring, Mangano, and Dalton Perry are possible option though not as highly touted.
157 Duke this year then Kasak v. Robideaux. We saw Duke handle Robideaux in free last summer and that PJ we saw this past weekend isn't losing to anybody. Can Kasak hold this weight for 2 more years?
165 Mitchell/Duke v. Dee Lockett. I like Dee but he's not beating either of these 2. Dee may turn out to be the best wrestler to never win an NCAA title but he's got some work to do to get there.
174 Levi/Henckel v. Facundo then questions. Facundo can't beat these guys, that's why he's in Stillwater. Redshirting Routledge looks to be the best option next, he and Lockett should man 165 and 174 but I can't say which order. Jaydin James is coming to PSU in the fall, he won Cadet Worlds last summer. He'll certainly redshirt but will be a title contender when he can find a spot in the lineup
184 Rocco v. Ryder is an easy call. Asher is in the wings after Rocco and DT is gonna be looking for an upgrade particular if Ryder's shoulder remains a problem. There's a phenom by the name of Michael White coming to Stillwater next fall but it's questionable if he can make 184. He just won Indiana States at 190 lbs.
The kid wanted to be a football player but due to a period of homelessness for him and his family he missed football and the wrestling coach pulled him out of study hall to join the wrestling team. He's green as green can be but sounds like an exceptional athlete. I don't expect he'll hold 184 for long, if at all.
197 Josh Barr, Connor Mirasola v. Cody Merrill. Best Cody can do is try to finish 2nd behind these guys but there's a lot of other guys he has to pass first. Other than White, DT has just picked up Ladd Holman '27, #43 on Willie's Big Board.
285 Cole Mirasola v. Doucett/Ross will be a good battle this year. Doucett has made a big jump since DT coached him up. Cole should outplace him this year. Dreshaun Ross comes in next year and should/will be a title contender. Cowboy fans are predicting a 1 year fill in from the portal to allow Ross a redshirt but no idea who that could be. Cole beat Ross 2 matches to none in the best of 3 Junior WTT over the summer. Right now, Elijah Brown has committed to Cael. He's going to be a long term project, currently a senior at Belle Vernon wrestling 215. Let's see how he does in the State Tournament.
tl;dr version. DT is building a great team and should easily be number 2. Beating number 1 is gonna be a challenge. The recruiting battles are going to be big but David has a lot more holes to fill right now. I'm high on a couple of sophomores, Sammy Sanchez, 120lbs, from Aaron Nagao's high school Esperanza, CA and Cam Howard,157, from KDs club in New York.
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