Getting my wrestling fix today by watching this highlight of Johnny Thompson. Dude was probably my favorite OK State wrestler. I was in high school and my parents had season tickets on the front row. I remember him being funky, strong, and mad. What I see now watching this highlight is that he was very good with leverage/momentum, and used a looooot of double leg takedowns. And his double legs had variations - he'd pull ankles together and drive forward, or he'd hook an ankle with his ankle and drive forward, or he'd get in on a single leg and turn that into a double leg. Pretty fun to rewatch this.
Johnny Thompson Highlight
- Thread starter newguy123
- Start date
Easily in my top 5. Gas tank, creativity, toughness defense and oh that double leg and snake.
Thanks for that highlight video. He was one of the best although this idiot was disappointed when we signed him. In High School he won a ton of his matches by close decision. How wrong could I have been but I should be used to that. His matches with Lewis were historic.
I did notice in the highlight reel that he never took you down. Just another great OSU wrestler that never took oberebo down. How long is that list now?
JT didn't have to, he snaked the O from a standing position and pinned him before a takedown was called.
Johnny was one of those guys that had the attitude of leaving everything on the mat. He wasn’t the most skilled but he wrestled hard! I wish that some of our wrestlers had more of Johnny in them.
That video made me sad.
That is how we used to do it. Some guys were slick, some were mean. They all went to win and winning was what mattered.
Somewhere along the way, we lost the grit. Nobody seems to have some gravel in their craw.
That is how we used to do it. Some guys were slick, some were mean. They all went to win and winning was what mattered.
Somewhere along the way, we lost the grit. Nobody seems to have some gravel in their craw.
Your guys haven't lost any "gravel in their craw."
Much like Iowa - you can't train the same way you did in the 90s and have guys win consistently and at the end of the season.
I was friends with Thompson in college. I know how we "trained" back then.
The guys we had back then treated it like a fight, not a technical ability combined with a mind test. You may need to change some training techniques for injuries but the mentality sure seems different.
Can’t train the same….why? If anything there’s less matches and it’s less physical. Seems like guys with grit and grind would have an even bigger advantage against today’s softies.
Basically, guys have more wear and tear. All of your recruits are coming with 6+ years of grinding, competing, lifting and training. So no, training like they did in the 90s makes no sense. Recovery is a bigger deal and its better in many ways than constantly "doing more."
And if you don't think the guys who wrestle for John are tough - you have no idea what you're talking about. The strategic wrestling you're seeing? That's more a case of conserving energy - because of the training and the weight cutting. It's why you see guys do so much better when they move up.
So there’s more wrestling and training in HS so they can’t go as hard in college…..interesting.
Theres alot of good stuff here.
1. Yes, I hadn't thought about the specialization of lots of these guys that train year round or train hard much of the year.
2. Recovery is HUGE and a college Wrestling season doesn't allow for much of it.
3. Yes, 100%! You don't Wrestle for a powerhouse school and not have at least a large amount of tough in you. I was mainly referring to mean and tough at the same time.
3. I get what you mean. But I think it's just more of a case of being the better wrestler in most instances. I'll give you a good example. Preston Weigel? I show video of his mat returns to my team when its time to review that. The amount of force he put into his returns? Man, he was trying to legally murder his opponent.
He's a favorite of mine and yes, I thought he was aggressive, but not mean. Thompson was mean! He snaked people so tight they had to go or die. Tyrone Lewis, violent aggression that was under control.
It was athletic brawler type. Not it seems methodically slick?
He lives in Piedmont and at one point was helping out with their little league program.Near Stilly? Can we get him in for some clinics??