Because his upside is a top 3 guy in the country
Portal April 1st
- Thread starter sdvike
- Start date
If he's healthy, no one else in the portal at 133 comes close to his talent level. If you're looking for a high ceiling guy, that's Crookham.
133 is so top heavy and Crookham, healthy is the ONLY option out there that at least has a chance to be competitive with the top 4. He is really that good. Any other guy you are hoping he can maybe sneak onto the podium. He is too good to not take the risk…
Bc the staff hasn't recruited and or developed a better option. I hope he chooses the Hawks, he's a stud when healthy.
Ferrari vs Mess. Interesting, the guy who lives off takedowns against the guy who has yet to give up one. Somethings got to give.
Askren said on a recent video Mitchell isn’t a 174 and would stay at 165
I think majority of those 33’s will bump next year. I think forest definitely will and they’ll have Ramirez or the smaller raney possibly make the weight. I expect Davino to bump so they could have Bouzakis go 33 and than have kilkeary or munareto go at 25. Seidel looks big and they could move him up and go with the original starter Campbell, also crook the 41 pounder just entered the portal making that seem more likely. Then psu could either go blaze 33 and ono 41 or vice versa but I kinda think ono will be 33.
Crookham and his surgeries/injuries would certainly be on Brand(s) for the Hawks.
I am very interested to see which move and which don’t. My prediction is this:
133 - Davino, Siedel
141 - Jax, Larkin, Blaze
I think Corby also said he expects most of them to move to 141. I just think that once Jax moves up it will provide more incentive to stay down at 133. Blaze is the one I struggle with. I think him at 141 is a toss up.
Needless to say - this is NOT like the start of free agency in the NFL where signings go ape sh*t. Different animal all together - I get it.
Any word on the Larkins? They’d be perfect fits. I’d prefer Kyler over Knox despite losing to him at nationals. You see interesting results in the blood round especially from guys who lost in the quarters but I believe he majored and teched Knox during the year. I think 33 will clear and he’ll be somewhere within the top 5. His brother beat Robideau and had a crazy match at nationals with him so both could be high placers/title contenders.
Also if we got Larkin and crookham, crookham could possibly go 41 which I think could benefit him with his injury history. Don’t know if he has any interest in 41 but I think it be a good idea
Also if we got Larkin and crookham, crookham could possibly go 41 which I think could benefit him with his injury history. Don’t know if he has any interest in 41 but I think it be a good idea
I think Iowa's looking something like this:
Need
133-The good news is that there are three guys in the portal that have placed top 8 (Crookham, Knox, Fugitt). There are also a couple Blood round guys (Rivera and Ungar).
165-The pickings are pretty slim at 165 right now. The best true 165 pounder in the portal right now is probably Shawn Taylor. As far as guys that could potentially drop from 174, there are a handful of guys that might be worth looking at (Carter Shubert-OU and Gage Wright-NC State). I would love to see someone like Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) or Brayden Thompson (Okie State) but I don't think either could go at 165. Maybe someone like Michael Kilic (ASU) or Matthew Henrich (Va Tech) could bump up but I don't know.
Want
157-Zepeda is probably the best of the bunch at 157 right now. Michael Kilic (ASU) could go here and be an improvement over Voinovich at the weight.
I think there's a chance we could look at a one-year guy at 197 if we think Ludington needs another year of development or at 125 if we have concerns over Luca's recovery. Beyond that, I don't know if we would be looking at any other weight classes unless someone specific jumped into the portal or if we are planning on moving guys to different weights (i.e. Bailey to 133-->look at 141, Block to 157-->look at 149).
I expect to see more movement in the portal over the next 3-5 days. One of the things that I haven't seen anyone talk about on here is the fact that a school has 48 hours once a guy submits his name into the portal to actually enter it. It gives the school a chance to walk a guy back from the ledge before the vultures jump into the fray. There may be a lot of guys that have submitted their names that aren't currently on any publicly available list because the school hasn't entered their name in officially.
I still think there are a couple of guys that are log jammed that we will see enter the portal. I won't be shocked to see at least a handful of these guys enter in the next couple of weeks:
Need
133-The good news is that there are three guys in the portal that have placed top 8 (Crookham, Knox, Fugitt). There are also a couple Blood round guys (Rivera and Ungar).
165-The pickings are pretty slim at 165 right now. The best true 165 pounder in the portal right now is probably Shawn Taylor. As far as guys that could potentially drop from 174, there are a handful of guys that might be worth looking at (Carter Shubert-OU and Gage Wright-NC State). I would love to see someone like Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) or Brayden Thompson (Okie State) but I don't think either could go at 165. Maybe someone like Michael Kilic (ASU) or Matthew Henrich (Va Tech) could bump up but I don't know.
Want
157-Zepeda is probably the best of the bunch at 157 right now. Michael Kilic (ASU) could go here and be an improvement over Voinovich at the weight.
I think there's a chance we could look at a one-year guy at 197 if we think Ludington needs another year of development or at 125 if we have concerns over Luca's recovery. Beyond that, I don't know if we would be looking at any other weight classes unless someone specific jumped into the portal or if we are planning on moving guys to different weights (i.e. Bailey to 133-->look at 141, Block to 157-->look at 149).
I expect to see more movement in the portal over the next 3-5 days. One of the things that I haven't seen anyone talk about on here is the fact that a school has 48 hours once a guy submits his name into the portal to actually enter it. It gives the school a chance to walk a guy back from the ledge before the vultures jump into the fray. There may be a lot of guys that have submitted their names that aren't currently on any publicly available list because the school hasn't entered their name in officially.
I still think there are a couple of guys that are log jammed that we will see enter the portal. I won't be shocked to see at least a handful of these guys enter in the next couple of weeks:
- Kody Routledge
- Cael Hughes
- JJ McComas
- Joe Sealey
- Braeden Davis
- Vinny Kilkeary
It will be interesting to see him in an Iowa singlet next year but I don’t think it will happen.
Yeah because having much better partners and resources would definitely send someone backwards. Great take
Iowa doesn't have any money. There are no resources to be had...or so we have been hearing. They are the little engine that could.
Nobody is saying Iowa doesn’t have resources. They certainly don’t have the resources of PSU and Okie State
Wow Iowa fans are more delusional than i thought. Crazy how you think you can train people up in the portal. Better work out partners maybe. Better wrestlers yes. Blaze training with Cali isn’t a good fit. He needs a scrambler to hone his skills. I always love how the cesspool says get them in the room and they will improve. How did that work out last year? Spencer and Desanto training with Peterson ? Yes i know injuries happen but Iowas room is not as elite as it used to be.
A "maybe" on better workout partners than Purdue makes the rest of your post hold zero weight.
And make a decision like that to train with Caliendo? I mean, Caliendo is good and all...but geez. Lol
better facilities, better resources, money, better training partners and a team trophy. Guess we had to spell it out for the feeble minded.
Guess the feeble minded don't realize that there are at least 4 better choices to get that sacred team trophy next year.
Yup, Blaze is telling himself..."I need to get in that Iowa room to get to the next level. " 
Nobody said Blaze was dying to go to Iowa but you’re the one that made the silly comment about the incentives.Guess the feeble minded don't realize that there are at least 4 better choices to get that sacred team trophy next year.
Also, please tell me what’s a bigger need for Iowa than 33 and 65 - and, tell me a better pick up than Blaze that actually makes sense. I’m all ears!
AJ alluded to going back down to 197 in his post NCAA interview. 174, 184, 197, and HWT will be a crazy backend of the lineup if AJ does come over here. What a lineup if this does come to fruition …
Hopefully his knees hold up as well as Blocks did after missing 2 yrs with 2 ACL tears. It’s a crap shoot. I would hope they would have our ortho guys look at him and his medical records.