HS Recruiting News
- Thread starter DEWrestlingFan
- Start date
This last 2 weeks turned a wasted recruiting year into a good one. We are on a good course with recruiting the last 2 years and need to keep this up for 2025 . Now we need the great development which includes a thousand or so factors but good coaches do this even though its expensive, its hard work, sometimes boring. very time consuming, takes great thought and a willingness to change. Champions want this bad enough and do all of this. Coming out of high school the last 2 years I believe we have brought in 5 potential National Champs,( Thompson, Hughes, Carroll, Merrill and Sakamoto). We brought in several potential All American transfers ( Sprately, Jamison and Alverez) which is good. But what has happened and what we did with the 20,21 and 22 recruiting classes so far is sad. I as always am hoping for great change.
Some of this is true a wasted recruiting class. Don’t know where you were going with that, but we can always anticipate a negative comment from you for sure.
Sakamoto and Merrill are easily the top two kids in the country this year
whoa, whoa, whoa sir..
You have Sakamoato as a better recruit than Lilledah, Ferrari, Davino???
This IS folkstyle recruiting rankings.
Has any of them beat a sr. World champion this you
Lilledah andDavino would never take him down so I’m going to say yes Ferrari might lol
Where I am going with this is there appears to be hope now of becoming a title contender because maybe we will make the changes necessary to get off of this horrible path we have been on the last 2 years ( which I believe we were on this course for much longer and have been posting that). I am viewed as a negative poster but I have posted how I have seen the Program. I am actually excited how are staff turned this recruiting class around and how Lee has mentioned changes our staff will be making. However, I need to see development and therefore I am hesitant. The recruiting has been real good for about 5 years but we need results in duals, at conference and most importantly at nationals. I admit to being on the negative side of things but this post I believe is true with the negative but does indicate potential hope for our near future.
Everyone sleeping on McComas?
I see him making the lineup at some point and being an AA. Maybe more.
I see him making the lineup at some point and being an AA. Maybe more.
Think he's got a very high ceiling. Had a fantastic summer and seems motivated.
And its easy to change the system when nothing's going bad. The question is, will john avoid his typical tendencies when there are bad outings.
I think the big question is who is running the practices? Is Coleman or John? I kinda felt like this hire was for Coleman to handle the Micro stuff (day-to-day practices, individual work etc.) while John handles the Macro. Just my two cents.
no way that ever happens. John will run the room until he's out of there. and he should. He just needs to be tempered a bit and maybe a bit more willing to embrace sparring/peaking.
Wrassler 17 says we may be sleeping on McComas and that would be a great sign of our Program changing in a very good way. It has not been common for us to take a wrestler say rated 50 in the class and he becomes a real good wrestler. Blair says only 1 guy can change the system and I agree. In his meeting with the media he said he has been woke up about the transfer portal but I hope he has woke up on a lot of things. Blair you are right that your head coach can not be asleep since he is driving. I am hoping Coach Smith is now awake in all areas of Oklahoma State wrestling.
I wonder if bringing in Scott was also to help fix get over the hump
Sakamoto isn’t in the country either….or maybe that is accurate as he could be top 2 in his country.
John’s intensity and enthusiasm in his interview in the other thread gets me fired up…not. Geez he seems like a spent force.
John’s intensity and enthusiasm in his interview in the other thread gets me fired up…not. Geez he seems like a spent force.
Sakamoto lost to Kodai Ogawa 11-4 in the finals of Japan's WTT. Ogawa is 24 & Sakamoto is 18. Article said it was a close match until Ogawa broke it open in the 2nd period. Ogawa went on to take 5th at Worlds in September.
Sakomoto lost in the quarters by pin at Junior Worlds. He was in on his opponent's leg, he got sloppy and put a knee too close to his shoulder and got cradled, early. Despite the results he might be a much better wrestler than the guy he was wrestling? I need to see more of him to see how actually good he is. Japanese light weights tend to be very good and so him representing Japan at Juniors or getting in the finals for their WTT as Wrassler 17 indicated gives me great hope.
With the new 3 pt takedown he should have an easier transition to folk as his mat wrestling won’t have to be as important for winning matches. Still should be good with turns. Biggest hurdle obviously will be getting off bottom.
2025 recruiting class will be very important and Flow just came out with their 2025 recruiting class rankings. Ladarion Lockett is rated 3rd in this class and at 160, Daniel Zepeda is rated 5th and is at 138, Kody Routledge is rated 17th and is at 152, and De'Alcapon Veasey ranked 49th and is a 182. The Cortez brothers are rated 16th and 38th and wrestle 120 and 126.
I’ve said it several times and I’ll keep saying it. Lockett and Routledge are must gets!
2024
Kolter Burton
J.J. McComas
Rin Sakamoto
Cody Merrill
2025
Kaden Purler
Beau Hickman
Ethan Teague
(3) LaDarion Lockett (160)
(5) Daniel Cepeda (138)
(16) Isaiah Cortez (120)
(17) Kody Routledge (152)
(38) Elijah Cortez (126)
(49) De'Alcapon Veazy (182)
Vince Bouzakis
Kollin Rath
William Henckel
Claudio Torres
2026
Jax Forrest
Bo Bassett
Michael Mocco
2027
Ignacio Villasenor
Kolter Burton
J.J. McComas
Rin Sakamoto
Cody Merrill
2025
Kaden Purler
Beau Hickman
Ethan Teague
(3) LaDarion Lockett (160)
(5) Daniel Cepeda (138)
(16) Isaiah Cortez (120)
(17) Kody Routledge (152)
(38) Elijah Cortez (126)
(49) De'Alcapon Veazy (182)
Vince Bouzakis
Kollin Rath
William Henckel
Claudio Torres
2026
Jax Forrest
Bo Bassett
Michael Mocco
2027
Ignacio Villasenor
Also Beau Hickman at #58. Looks like he made a nice jump since the last update.
2 stall points for Ferrari and an escape for Voinovich. Quite the exciting match.
VV won with a ride out in OT against J. Jesuroga in the semis (2-1). Another barn burner.
Your list is getting long, but a few others to consider for it:
Ishmael Guerrero, Class of 2025. Not on the elite level at the moment. Lost 11 times last year as a sophomore, but his schedule was brutal. Lost to Lockett 2x, Joe Sealey, Swaw (freshman at Illinois), Gavin Fernandez (freshman at Cal Poly), Maxximus Martinez (former top 10-20 level recruit in the 2023 class), Ethan Teague (OSU commit), Landyn Sommer (OU commit), and a couple of other tough CA youngsters in Posada and Pile. Guerrero just went 3-0 at the Viking Open with 3 first period pins against lower level college competition.
Travis Grace, #37 2026 Big Board from Gilroy. Judging from his social media, he is an OSU fan. Lost 5-6 times that I can find in 2022-23 as a freshman. Close loss to #15 on the 2023 big board, Nicco Ruiz. Lost to Pile 2X and Posada. Lost in the blood round of the CA state tournament to a kid that is now at Southern Oregon University where he was up 11-0 before getting reversed to his back and pinned.
Joseph Jeter, #38 2026 Big Board from Edmond North. Also went 3-0 at the Viking Open. As a freshman, placed 3rd at OSSAA and 3rd at Fargo (Cadet).
Yes, victor has changed a lot
yes, Victor has changed a lot 1-1 against Cal Baptist one one in the semi’s who won in the finals and looks like he’s turned the corner
Cardenas (Stanford) & Steed (Mizzou) have already been mentioned as 157 transfer options. Couple of others based on the latest Intermat rankings...
Joey Blaze of Purdue (#15) & DJ McGee of George Mason (#25). Both would have 3 years of eligibility remaining. Blaze is Marcus's older brother and McGee is related to Willie McGee of the Cardinals.
I think Steed & McGee could maybe even go 165, so multiple transfers are possible.
Joey Blaze of Purdue (#15) & DJ McGee of George Mason (#25). Both would have 3 years of eligibility remaining. Blaze is Marcus's older brother and McGee is related to Willie McGee of the Cardinals.
I think Steed & McGee could maybe even go 165, so multiple transfers are possible.
A couple hours after defeating then #1 in country, Cortez and making the finals at Fargo, Beric decommitted from OSU. Almost immediately afterwards, head coach John Smith called and Beric promised to never speak negatively about the program or coach Smith.
Beric gave me permission to share the following. Before Spratley was recruited to OSU and almost 1 year after Beric verbally committed to OSU, he took an unofficial visit with a top 5 ranked school that offered a full ride, plus some. For those that are well connected like Blair, they will easily be able to verify this with a few phone calls.
Beric will not challenge for the starting spot for another 2 years. Putting the work in and earning that spot was never the issue. Was his parents concerned he would have to sit behind a upperclassman for a year or two? Sure but that's nothing unusual for parents of an incoming freshman. Beric was heavily recruited by many top 10 schools but the opportunity to wrestle for the great John Smith was too good to pass up.
Why did Beric pick Coach Roger Kish and OU? Many reasons but I will give you three, Character, Discipline and his ability to transfer if it ends up not being a good fit.
It didn't hurt that Beric's father and the OU's coaching staff have mutual friends from the Central Midwest and he was business partners with one for nearly 10 years.
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“character and discipline” should be said of any major wrestling program. So you’re saying that he decommitted because he may want to transfer? If so, not the best mentality to have before you even step foot on campus. Wish him the best of luck though and personally think, “I wasn’t gonna start for at least 2 years” is a better look.
I’m sure Beric is a good guy. I hope the best for him.
