Bedlam

[Air_Thurman]

To me Haas is a pretty big piece to all of this. We need to get him in the program.

 

[Air_Thurman]

I'm prepared to take some heat for this statement but I don't see how you can compare Ferrari to Fix. Results wise it is the same as both had only one dual loss but on the mat there is/was no comparison.

Last year Fix could do anything; Takedowns from multiple positions/levels/takedowns, upper body throws, inside trips; Ride with legs, cross-body and shoulders, Turns with cheap tilts, arm bars and halves; Almost (if not never) ridden; and he works for and gets falls; He was nearly impossible to take down.

Ferrari relies almost exclusively on a double leg for take downs; I don’t remember a lot of near falls from him; not nearly as good escaping; 1 or two falls; He was nearly impossible to take down.

Since I first read Ferrari’s name on this board he has been described as “Outstanding”. I’ve seen every home match and a few on the road and I’ve yet to see anything “Outstanding” from him except his defense and his attitude. If memory serves (and mine is getting worse every year) he will try a single leg but relies on a double, often (if not usually) from his knees. Early in the season he hit a couple of good blast-doubles but at least one of those involved a pretty good head butt.

I hope he becomes a four/five timer but so far he seems to me like a one trick pony which is why he had so much trouble against the OU wrestler yesterday. As soon as he goes all-fours any good wrestler should just stand there and wait for him to be called for staling.

The first time I saw a wrestler on his knees was against Coleman Scott (I believe it was the Big 12’s in Stillwater) and it nearly shut him (Coleman) down. I thought it was staling then and I don’t like it now. If a wrestler is on his knees for more than a couple seconds and doesn’t shoot, it’s stalling IMO.

Someone else will have to compare their (Fix/Ferrari) statistics cause if I don’t work at least half of the time I’m at work, they might catch on.

Some valid points but I think you also have to remember you are comparing redshirt Fix to true freshman AJ who hasn't wrestled all that much competivily for about a year.

End of the day there are different ways to skin a cat. I don't think Ferrari has nearly the diverse offense Fix has. Not even close. I think AJ's defense is just as good.

I would put AJ a slight notch below Fix because of the offense. AJ has to mix it up some. I do think their accomplishments are going to end up being similar (on the college level).

I think outstanding is definitely not hyperbole when talking about AJ. He is in complete control every single match and for a true freshman I think that is a pretty big deal. He has shown he is neck and neck with the elite of the division in his only real shot.

His only other real competition has been Woodley and he dominated him. Yeah I wish he would have scored more but Woodley is a really solid guy who has a ton of experience. There was almost zero chance he was getting a takedown against AJ in either match.

I think AJ has shown just about everything you could want out of a true freshman in the upper weights.

 

[skylinepoke]

A couple of real good takes on AJ and I believe both to be correct.
A few years ago, 197 division was just a mini- heavyweight match. Pushing, arm wrestling, and plodding were the boring norm. Now, there seems to be many athletic and nimble guys at this weight and it has greatly enhanced my experience of watching. AJ fits in this group and as he adds experience and develops more offense, he will be a force in the future.

 

[ionel]

I'm prepared to take some heat for this statement but I don't see how you can compare Ferrari to Fix. Results wise it is the same as both had only one dual loss but on the mat there is/was no comparison.

Last year Fix could do anything; Takedowns from multiple positions/levels/takedowns, upper body throws, inside trips; Ride with legs, cross-body and shoulders, Turns with cheap tilts, arm bars and halves; Almost (if not never) ridden; and he works for and gets falls; He was nearly impossible to take down.

Ferrari relies almost exclusively on a double leg for take downs; I don’t remember a lot of near falls from him; not nearly as good escaping; 1 or two falls; He was nearly impossible to take down.

Since I first read Ferrari’s name on this board he has been described as “Outstanding”. I’ve seen every home match and a few on the road and I’ve yet to see anything “Outstanding” from him except his defense and his attitude. If memory serves (and mine is getting worse every year) he will try a single leg but relies on a double, often (if not usually) from his knees. Early in the season he hit a couple of good blast-doubles but at least one of those involved a pretty good head butt.

I hope he becomes a four/five timer but so far he seems to me like a one trick pony which is why he had so much trouble against the OU wrestler yesterday. As soon as he goes all-fours any good wrestler should just stand there and wait for him to be called for staling.

The first time I saw a wrestler on his knees was against Coleman Scott (I believe it was the Big 12’s in Stillwater) and it nearly shut him (Coleman) down. I thought it was staling then and I don’t like it now. If a wrestler is on his knees for more than a couple seconds and doesn’t shoot, it’s stalling IMO.

Someone else will have to compare their (Fix/Ferrari) statistics cause if I don’t work at least half of the time I’m at work, they might catch on.

Fix FR year he was 5-0 (at Reno, MF at SS) he teched two unranked wrestlers, majored a ~#50 and beat two top 15 guys by score of 2-1 in each match.

 

[Wrassler17]

Daton & AJ have different styles, but a couple of things regarding their true freshmen campaigns...

Daton was at 125 that year and wrestled very few matches. He missed the Scuffle because he got sick, so his best wins were against Fausz & Bresser (both very close matches). They were probably on Woodley's level, but Daton didn't face anyone like Adams that year in folkstyle unfortunately.

The closest we saw was Daton against NaTo in the U23 finals in Oct '17. Daton won both matches, but NaTo got to Daton's legs multiple x with his hi crotch. Daton's elite freestyle defense (quad pod) allowed him to avoid some of those takedowns.

Conversely, virtually no one gets to AJ's legs. Woodley didn't. Rocky Elam didn't. Adams did, but with a misdirection single on the edge (credit to Adams). IMO he will not fool AJ with that again. On the offensive side, Daton was much more diverse, but he didn't have the leg attack (double) that AJ does.

Different styles, but both elite and both flashing terrific upside.

 

[osu2082]

I'm prepared to take some heat for this statement but I don't see how you can compare Ferrari to Fix. Results wise it is the same as both had only one dual loss but on the mat there is/was no comparison.

Last year Fix could do anything; Takedowns from multiple positions/levels/takedowns, upper body throws, inside trips; Ride with legs, cross-body and shoulders, Turns with cheap tilts, arm bars and halves; Almost (if not never) ridden; and he works for and gets falls; He was nearly impossible to take down.

Ferrari relies almost exclusively on a double leg for take downs; I don’t remember a lot of near falls from him; not nearly as good escaping; 1 or two falls; He was nearly impossible to take down.

Since I first read Ferrari’s name on this board he has been described as “Outstanding”. I’ve seen every home match and a few on the road and I’ve yet to see anything “Outstanding” from him except his defense and his attitude. If memory serves (and mine is getting worse every year) he will try a single leg but relies on a double, often (if not usually) from his knees. Early in the season he hit a couple of good blast-doubles but at least one of those involved a pretty good head butt.

I hope he becomes a four/five timer but so far he seems to me like a one trick pony which is why he had so much trouble against the OU wrestler yesterday. As soon as he goes all-fours any good wrestler should just stand there and wait for him to be called for staling.

The first time I saw a wrestler on his knees was against Coleman Scott (I believe it was the Big 12’s in Stillwater) and it nearly shut him (Coleman) down. I thought it was staling then and I don’t like it now. If a wrestler is on his knees for more than a couple seconds and doesn’t shoot, it’s stalling IMO.

Someone else will have to compare their (Fix/Ferrari) statistics cause if I don’t work at least half of the time I’m at work, they might catch on.

He is comparison true freshman years. Daton was 5-0 as a true freshman. Daton was an Uber talent much like Ferrari but also struggled to find his offense against quality competition right out of HS (like most true freshman). He had very close 2-1 wins over the only two ranked opponents he faced that year.

197 is a very tough weight for true freshman and limited offense is what most young guys deal with as they transition. What we have seen from AJ so far points to a very high ceiling very similar to what we saw from Fix at the same stage.

 

[osu2082]

To me Haas is a pretty big piece to all of this. We need to get him in the program.

All of highly rated guys developing are critical but Haas is a major piece.

PSU has raised the bar dramatically. We have a very small margin for error because of it and without an RTC this run is of massive importance for our program for factors beyond raising a trophy.

We can’t afford to have hiccups in development for whatever reason like we have had recently with guys like Smith, Rogers, Kaid and G.

We need to get these top tier recruits turned into hammers who are dominant forces and multiple time NC contenders. That’s what they do in Happy Valley and we need to it here not only to win a title but to show the wrestling world we still can with our current setup.

 

[tom_v31]

I like Ferrari a lot, but I do agree that he should not rest on his laurels. This isn’t high school anymore and he needs to develop a more diverse repertoire of moves. That being said, he is a true freshman, I think, and his upside and potential is through the roof. I just hope he has the desire and drive to be one of the ‘greats’ and not one of the ‘OKs’. Coach Smith talks about this in a he podcast, “the Smiths”.

 

[Air_Thurman]

Really good/in-depth post on themat looking at potential seeding and points at the Big 12. Still think we are in decent shape when it comes to the conference.

Big 12

 

[Harleycowboy]

Voinovich will be a 149/157 and is a blue chip recruit (top 15 P4P). Younger Mastro projects as a 157/165 and is a top 10 P4P blue chipper. Travis is a top 100 national recruit who projects at 141/149. All were in this 2021 class. The Blankenship kid from Bixby who is a top 2022 kid will be in the 141-157 mix.

Another one to watch is the older Mastro who is our current 125 as he will likely end up at 133 or possibly even 141 in a few years as well.

As far as HWT. We will be looking at one of 3 guys. Doucet who was the #6 ranked 220 prospect, Surber who will be bulking and was a highly ranked prep and then the highest upside prospect in Haas who was ranked the #1 HWT prospect in 2021 and top 10 P4P.

Blankenship I believe has been at 132 for the last 2 years. My hope is that he grows a little more and is big enough to wrestle 141 for us. I see Voinovich and young Mastro as 149/ 157 because neither has grown much in the last 2 years. I think this works best for us with Anthony Ferrari hopefully growing a little bit more to grow into a 165. Maybe we work redshirts so that none of these 3 don't make the team for a year since Wittlake will likely hold 165 for 3 more years. I know Wrassler and I thought that Maybe Voinovich can wrestle 141 a year since he made 65 at juniors this year. I also think 133 is no good for older Mastro since Daton likely has that weight class for 3 more years. As you know wrestlers weights change sometimes over time so I hope it works out well for us because many times it doesn't.

 

[osu2082]

Blankenship I believe has been at 132 for the last 2 years. My hope is that he grows a little more and is big enough to wrestle 141 for us. I see Voinovich and young Mastro as 149/ 157 because neither has grown much in the last 2 years. I think this works best for us with Anthony Ferrari hopefully growing a little bit more to grow into a 165. Maybe we work redshirts so that none of these 3 don't make the team for a year since Wittlake will likely hold 165 for 3 more years. I know Wrassler and I thought that Maybe Voinovich can wrestle 141 a year since he made 65 at juniors this year. I also think 133 is no good for older Mastro since Daton likely has that weight class for 3 more years. As you know wrestlers weights change sometimes over time so I hope it works out well for us because many times it doesn't.

I’ll be surprised if the older Mastro can wrestle anything under 157. He is projected as a 165 but could probably hold 157 for a year or two.

Anthony sure looks like he will be a 165 or 174.