Originally posted by CB4OSUWrestling:
From what I have seen this year(contrary to what you "insiders" have expressed) Nolan Boyd is still the same wrestler he was last year and will be no help at nationals. The same can be said for Marsden as he totaled 1 half shot in his last 2 matches at nationals and for the life of me I can not figure out how he expects to win a match without taking a shot. Any time he wrestles one of the top 10 types he goes into a shell and either takes 1 shot or no shots in the match. GWH wrestled his butt off but he is simply too small at 133 to compete with the bigger 33 pounders so maybe he can put on some muscle and be ready to compete next year, only time will tell.
Our results at nationals were both good and bad as Eddie did about what he was expected to do as did GWH and Heil wrestled hard and competed, sad about Kindig and Collica is just not a 57 pounder although he wrestled hard and has improved he is simply not big enough for 157. Dieringer was awesome but seemed to gas at the end of the championship match or may have just not been feeling up to his normal self but he was still heads above the field, Crutchmer was a beast and got hosed in the match to wrestle for third but would have probably lost and placed 4th but you never know. Boyd has no chance to help until he learns some defense and better positioning and obviously we have nothing at 197 plus until Marsden gains some confidence and understands no matter who you are wrestling you must take multiple shots or make offensive moves he is never going to live up to his potential.
I am not an "insider" and I did not sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but here are my thoughts on the points you made.
Nolan is NOT the same wrestler he was last year. He has wrestled much more under control this year and has eliminated many of the "dumb" mistakes he made last year. Yes, he still has room for improvement, but he is better than he was.
Totally agree with you on Marsden. He is a 4th year junior and he should understand what is required by now. The last month or so has been very disappointing.
GWH was supposed to redshirt this year, giving him time to build some muscle and add some weight. He is a tiny 133 pounder, but his heart is a s big as Texas. The kid does not know the meaning of the word "quit", but his lack of size and experience cost him dearly in a couple of matches. He scored some points for us, which is realistically all that could be expected of him.
Eddie met his seeding, which puts him right where we expected. He is small for 125, but his attitude seems to be much better this year.
You are correct that Collica is not a 157 pounder. He is very small for the weight and got manhandled by a couple of guys. However, he was the best option for the weight and wrestling up a weight will, I think, pay off in spades when he drops to 149 next year.
Alex was tentative and seemed to lack some of his normal power and explosiveness. That is most likely due to the injury he received Friday evening. Without the injury, I am positive his finals match would have ended early in a fall or tech fall.
Crutchmer got hosed, but the silver lining was that he got to beat Evans from Iowa.
Will we be a contender next year? Maybe not, but I think we will be better. I am pretty confident that we will be in the top 3.
at did wrestle his true freshman year but he was getting his butt kicked early on in the season and Marsteller was really not close to starting. I think Nick would be in that boat. He may have a lot more upside than Eddie but I seriously doubt he could beat him out next year. Eddie was a high recruit when he came in also. There is also the fact that John is not going to let them wrestle as freshman if they are just nominally better. He had no options with Gary Wayne as the younger Kindig just could not win at that weight. One of my all time favorite wrestlers back in day was Bill Harlow but he has indicated in interviews that everyone in room from 167 up was beating up on him when he first came in. Nick looks like he could be a multiple national champion or at least All American but not next year.
