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Tanner Lafever

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We just wrapped up the men's wrestling media day a little bit ago - and tomorrow morning we'll be back at Goschke for the Hawkeye women.

I'm sitting down to write up a few articles right now (all of which I'll link in this thread after publishing), but if you guys have any questions go ahead and drop them here and I'll answer what I can from what I heard today.

Here's Tom Brands' full introductory presser, if folks want to check that out as well:

 
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Squatch96

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Jul 3, 2025
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Tanner Lafever said:
We just wrapped up the men's wrestling media day a little bit ago - and tomorrow morning we'll be back at Goschke for the Hawkeye women.

I'm sitting down to write up a few articles right now (all of which I'll link in this thread after publishing), but if you guys have any questions go ahead and drop them here and I'll answer what I can from what I heard today.

Here's Tom Brands' full introductory presser, if folks want to check that out as well:

Click to expand...

Is 149 the only spot in the lineup where there's a pretty serious lineup battle?
 
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Tanner Lafever

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And here's a piece with some extended thoughts/quotes on the return of Gabe Arnold (from both Gabe and Tom Brands):

Iowa's Gabe Arnold striving for consistency after rollercoaster year - On3

To my knowledge, today marked the first public media appearance for Gabe since last season - and we all know it was hardly the smoothest summer for him between then and now.

As he's been in each of our (limited) previous interactions, Gabe was an absolute joy to chat with - not to mention incredibly self-reflective on all that he's been through over the past year or so.

I hope you guys will check it out.
 
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Tanner Lafever

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My final article from men's Media Day:

First impressions, final forays at Iowa Men's Wrestling Media Day - On3

I talked with Ayala and Caliendo about their mindset entering their final season as Hawkeyes, and Bailey/Endene/Williams about how their brief experience in Iowa City has differed greatly from their presumptions about 'Iowa wrestling' before donning the Black & Gold themselves.
 
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blcoach80

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Feb 24, 2018
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Tanner Lafever said:
My final article from men's Media Day:

First impressions, final forays at Iowa Men's Wrestling Media Day - On3

I talked with Ayala and Caliendo about their mindset entering their final season as Hawkeyes, and Bailey/Endene/Williams about how their brief experience in Iowa City has differed greatly from their presumptions about 'Iowa wrestling' before donning the Black & Gold themselves.
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Thanks for the write ups Tanner. Good stuff. The season can't start soon enough!
 
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Stick Kitty

Stick Kitty

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dt21 said:
you don't think gabe and pat are having a pretty serious battle
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I am sure its a good scrape in the room but I don't personally see anyway I would start Gabe over Patrick unless he is injured. Bottom line is Gabe struggles to put up points. Moving him down a weight imo will not drastically change that and morph him into some new creature. He is what he is.

Patrick is a 2-5 AA and could win from behind in QTRs or on Sat morning if needs to. Gabe likely to be a 5-8, can never fall behind by 2 TD's and will take an OT match or two going his way to get to that.

That said I am excited to see what Gabe can do after Patrick graduates, if he is still on the team.
 
Stick Kitty

Stick Kitty

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Kueter is healthy, added 15 pounds and up to 245. Talks about being back on the football team and possibly now going from LB to DE but hasn't spoken to the coaches on that yet.

He is going to surprise some folks if healthy and bigger, well as much as a preseason 5 guy can- although he has shown he losses weight when practices start.

And about time the DE talk starts. I still envision he and Epenesa as bookends. Plus there is a lot of good young LB's waiting- lead by Cam Buffington.

Its coming together for both sports- just be patient.
 
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Praguehawk

Praguehawk

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Stick Kitty said:
Kueter is healthy, added 15 pounds and up to 245. Talks about being back on the football team and possibly now going from LB to DE but hasn't spoken to the coaches on that yet.

He is going to surprise some folks if healthy and bigger, well as much as a preseason 5 guy can- although he has shown he losses weight when practices start.

And about time the DE talk starts. I still envision he and Epenesa as bookends. Plus there is a lot of good young LB's waiting- lead by Cam Buffington.

Its coming together for both sports- just be patient.
Click to expand...
The DE thing always made so much sense to me. I really don’t understand why it wasn’t the plan all along.
 
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TheREALSpooner

TheREALSpooner

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Stick Kitty said:
I am sure its a good scrape in the room but I don't personally see anyway I would start Gabe over Patrick unless he is injured. Bottom line is Gabe struggles to put up points. Moving him down a weight imo will not drastically change that and morph him into some new creature. He is what he is.

Patrick is a 2-5 AA and could win from behind in QTRs or on Sat morning if needs to. Gabe likely to be a 5-8, can never fall behind by 2 TD's and will take an OT match or two going his way to get to that.

That said I am excited to see what Gabe can do after Patrick graduates, if he is still on the team.
Click to expand...

A little data for us to consider:

Bonus Points Matches
Gabe Arnold: 9
(1 Fall, 3 tech Falls, 5 majors)

Patrick Kennedy: 10
(2 Falls, 7 tech falls, 0 majors)

Do we agree that Patrick is more likely to put up points? Absolutely.

Do we agree that Gabe is challenged offensively and being up a weight didn't have a considerable effect on his offensive performance? I'm not sure we do.
 
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maxpain

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I think Gabe will be a different guy at 174. Time will tell what happens but let’s not forget that at this time last year everyone thought Brands was the guy at 174 since Kennedy couldn’t get it done at NCAAs and Brands was a proven high AA. That sounds awfully familiar when hearing the chatter on 174 this year.
 
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Tanner Lafever

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maxpain said:
I think Gabe will be a different guy at 174. Time will tell what happens but let’s not forget that at this time last year everyone thought Brands was the guy at 174 since Kennedy couldn’t get it done at NCAAs and Brands was a proven high AA. That sounds awfully familiar when hearing the chatter on 174 this year.
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This.

I love everything that Patrick Kennedy is about - including his skills as a damn good wrestler.

But if Gabe Arnold is right, I think it'd be a fool's errand to call 174 anything less than a legitimate toss-up between the two.
 
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Corby2

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Tanner Lafever said:
This.

I love everything that Patrick Kennedy is about - including his skills as a damn good wrestler.

But if Gabe Arnold is right, I think it'd be a fool's errand to call 174 anything less than a legitimate toss-up between the two.
Click to expand...
Its gonna be about who beats the competition. Gabe will need to open up and score points like he's capable of doing. If he's winning and not putting up points he won't be the guy. PK is gonna be scoring lots of points. And everyone knows Tom likes offense
 
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AJD

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Corby2 said:
Its gonna be about who beats the competition. Gabe will need to open up and score points like he's capable of doing. If he's winning and not putting up points he won't be the guy. PK is gonna be scoring lots of points. And everyone knows Tom likes offense
Click to expand...
Agree. Case in point. The Ohio State dual win against Ryder Rogotzke. That won't be enough.
 
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WDMHawk72

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Corby2 said:
Its gonna be about who beats the competition. Gabe will need to open up and score points like he's capable of doing. If he's winning and not putting up points he won't be the guy. PK is gonna be scoring lots of points. And everyone knows Tom likes offense
Click to expand...
People forget too - Kennedy came out of the 11 hole last year at natty's. His confidence has to be extremely high going into his final season. O'toole and Hamiti both gone makes for an interesting weight class.
 
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ILLHawk135

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Feb 22, 2021
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Disappointed to hear both Williams and voinovich are moving up to 57. Seems like a bad move for the line up. With Henson redshirting, I went from thinking Williams was a realistic finalist contender to now just getting on the podium at 57 would be a success.
 
TheREALSpooner

TheREALSpooner

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ILLHawk135 said:
Disappointed to hear both Williams and voinovich are moving up to 57. Seems like a bad move for the line up. With Henson redshirting, I went from thinking Williams was a realistic finalist contender to now just getting on the podium at 57 would be a success.
Click to expand...

If you just figured this out after the Henson RS decision, you weren't paying very close attention.
 
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ILLHawk135

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TheREALSpooner said:
Fairly obvious he was cutting too much for 149, so I disagree.
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In his interview he even says he might not look like a full 57. I don’t think it was obvious at all coming in as everyone assumed he’d be a 49. Obviously he knows what’s best for him but the line up looks worse on paper with him at 57 rather than 49.
 
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ChicagoHawk2020

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ILLHawk135 said:
In his interview he even says he might not look like a full 57. I don’t think it was obvious at all coming in as everyone assumed he’d be a 49. Obviously he knows what’s best for him but the line up looks worse on paper with him at 57 rather than 49.
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Who would be at 157 if not Jordan? Both the guys you could say, he’s clearly better than. I’m willing to give Block a shot at being the guy at 149.
 
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ILLHawk135

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ChicagoHawk2020 said:
Who would be at 157 if not Jordan? Both the guys you could say, he’s clearly better than. I’m willing to give Block a shot at being the guy at 149.
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Voinovich would have been my guess but with the rumors of Williams to 57 I was hoping he’d stay at 49 which isn’t the case. I just can’t picture Williams beating duke/kasak, Taylor, Shapiro, Cardenas, and would be pleasantly surprised if he beat watters. While stiles is ranked 3rd at 49 and I watched Jordan major him in the conference finals last year and I think he could also go with McNeil
 
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Jacob1one!

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Aug 4, 2022
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Just curious as he seemed to love the tournament and did he say the rich OSU donor flew up to Iowa City to consult on the idea? That is cool.
 
jrod65

jrod65

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Jacob1one! said:
What did Tom mean when he said “they played dirty” in regards to the national duals.
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I interpreted it as Tom joking about how they got Iowa to join the event. As in "they played dirty" by offering a purse that will grow each year if profits are there and Tom couldn't pass up the opportunity, even if Iowa already has one of the toughest schedules.
 
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Jacob1one!

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jrod65 said:
I interpreted it as Tom joking about how they got Iowa to join the event. As in "they played dirty" by offering a purse that will grow each year if profits are there and Tom couldn't pass up the opportunity, even if Iowa already has one of the toughest schedules.
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Ah, makes sense. Thought maybe a jab at PSU or something.
 
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Tanner Lafever

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jrod65 said:
I interpreted it as Tom joking about how they got Iowa to join the event. As in "they played dirty" by offering a purse that will grow each year if profits are there and Tom couldn't pass up the opportunity, even if Iowa already has one of the toughest schedules.
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That's what I thought, too.

Thought I'll admit I did a double take at the press conference when Brands first said it.
 
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TheGreatDivider101

TheGreatDivider101

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Tanner Lafever said:
We keep rolling with Media Day(s) content after the Iowa women took their turn in front of reporters this morning.

Here's a few of my overarching takeaways from Coach Chun's season-opening press conference:

Chatting with Chun: Iowa head coach speaks ahead of new season - On3

You can also watch the full press conference below - or read the transcript HERE.



More to come later today!
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Tanner:
Am I to assume that the more to come are interviews with individual women wrestlers?
 
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Corby2

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ILLHawk135 said:
In his interview he even says he might not look like a full 57. I don’t think it was obvious at all coming in as everyone assumed he’d be a 49. Obviously he knows what’s best for him but the line up looks worse on paper with him at 57 rather than 49.
Click to expand...
Williams got big this off-season and can't make 149 he was still thinking about it in August but it wasn't an option. He won't be a small 157
 
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