After Rutgers wrestling finds heavyweight in transfer portal, what will its 2025-26 lineup be?
Hunter Catka is the latest to join the Scarlet Knights.
After Rutgers wrestling finds heavyweight in transfer portal, what will its 2025-26 lineup be?
- Thread starter Tango Two
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Surprised 125 is listed as Smith and not Smith/Gibson
I was wondering that as well. Maybe 125 will be a big stretch for Gibson even though he said he can make it.
I'm just happy that we have those two and the new Cali kid coming in, with Shawver still on the team. Sucks DP left, but happy that it will open up the door between those two. I suspect that they'll split matches for most of the season, unless there is a clear #1. I truly think both have more of an offensive game than DP. Although, when DP is offensive he's one of the top 125lbers. Anyhow, next chapter, exciting new beginnings. Gonna be a fun squad next year. Still need to pick up another heavyweight though. I wouldn't stop at the portal this year. It would be great if they can land another big guy, if he's open for RS.
It’s easier to look like ya got more offense when u face lesser competition.. until Smith/Gibson can beat NQ/AA lvl competition highly doubtful their offense is more effective then DP. Hoping they can come close to replacing DP’s production but won’t be expecting anything until they are up against elite competition.
Unless we land a blue chip big guy(like Mocco) there is no gtd for production in the b10… transfer is the safer route rn for an AA..
Did you have any hwt recruit target in mind?
I’m looking at the 215/hwt hs rankings rn and almost all are committed.
Noticed the only uncommitted left is from
NJ is Christian Alvarez.. would have to imagine that he’s Sammy’s brother. Unless RU goes all out to get Merrill?? He’s probably following his brother.
Hodgins from Howell(190 soph) could be an interesting prospect.
I had mentioned Merrill before realizing that his brother is at Okie; he'll follow, I'm sure. There don't seem to be any quality heavies available. Maybe a good idea to look internationally?
I heard Christian Alvarez already has a bunch of D1 football offers - the kid is a mountain.
Hodgins great but I believe his Dad is a PSU alumni
That would make sense if they go same Weight and both wants to start. Any inkling to where Merrill would like to go if not to okie state wit his bro?
Christian Alvarez has no relation to Sammy Alvarez. He lives in my town, great kid, the only reason he wrestled this year was because dellagatta transferred and joes needed a heavyweight. He is set on playing football in college, if he wrestles next year it’ll be his last year on the mat.
I don't find much of a need to click on a NJrag.com article which is behind a paywall, when they most likely get much of their info from this board on a routine basis. So thank you to the guys who visit the room and can keep us updated when they can/want to.
It seems we may see Gibson at 125. If he remains healthy, that's great, and he will be competitive. Smith may be as tall as he's going to get, so he needs to be put on a program to build considerable muscle mass. Nutrician, legal, and healthy supplements, and lots of weight work can do the trick. I'd like to be more confident of it happening. He's a talented kid.
We all know how good Shawver can be when he's committed. I hope he concentrates more on his own development than the distractions Goodale spoke about.
I'll be very interested to see how well Parkins does against Olivieri.
I think Clark has reached his potential. If Nini applies himself, I think he can be a threat.
Let's all hope that Harer improves where needed and increases his strength. I really don't want to see him become another guy best in his first year. Remember, he was a great get.
Barbosa looks solid at 165. Ford might be a good backup, but Blanchette is not as strong as I had hoped. He was a pinning machine in high school up in New England.
Pinto will be solid and much more consistent than Turley. Chapman is an excellent backup and, hopefully, will be a solid replacement the following year.
A SCW will also benefit from a good strength-building program.
I'm thinking Cotton will be more consistent, but not as winning as Poz.
No idea about Catka. I don't expect Yara-Slav level.
Agree with most except for the Clark. Assessment. He has seems to improve every year and this would potentially be the first time he wrestled two years in a row at the same weight. I think he has room to continue to grow and improve
Catka was R12 and 8 of the top 12 finishers at heavyweight graduated , I’d say he has a solid shot at AAing , he had a lot of teams after him …only lost 1-0 in the blood round to your new RTC guy Elam
He lost his starting position to Mullen (or was injured?), who did the same as Yara, going 1-2 at the tournament. Hopefully, he'll have a better chance with those graduates out of the way.
It's just a hunch about Clark. You're right that he improved over the past couple of years, but those years were each at lower weights than the year before. He's now at the weight he competed at in high school. He was bumped up two weight classes to start, and his performance suffered, although it probably made him stronger. The following year, he dropped down one and did better, then back down to his proper weight class and did better yet. Now we'll see if he can show improvement year over year within the same weight class.
Messner: What do you find funny about my post? You put the imbecilic giggle emoticon, but nothing intelligent to add.
Virginia tech was going to start Mullen no matter what. He was the biggest recruit since Mekhi,they beat out Penn state who heavily went after Mullen and they went through the trouble of figuring out the football and wrestling situation for him , catka would’ve had to be teching him everyday to keep the job
I thought they beat out Rutgers for him. It could have been a room thing where Mullen had become familiar with Catka. Can't blame him for transferring if what you allege is true. Does he only have one year left?
I heard Catka beat Mullen in the wrestle off.
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Catka was a two time ACC finalist and a blood round guy. He ain't no slouch. I didnt watch Mullen other than the match with Slava and I wasnt impressed. I wouldnt be surprised if Catka beat him in the room.
Yea I heard catka won a wrestle off then lost to Mullen a week or so later at an early season tournament and that was it they declared the competition over …I think catka is wrestling in the R12 at worst this season
Mullen is no slouch , this was only his redshirt freshman season, he beat 2 blood round guys and made the ACC finals , he’s still adjusting to not being stronger then everyone he wrestles and relying more on his actual wrestling , he ll be fine in the long run
Thanks. I didnt mean to infer Mullen as a slouch. He just didnt impress me against Slava. Slava was in full control the entire match. I expected more from Mullen against Slava.
After Rutgers wrestling finds heavyweight in transfer portal, what will its 2025-26 lineup be?
Hunter Catka is the latest to join the Scarlet Knights.www.nj.com
I know yall brought in cotton but you think there is any chance you guys would bring in TJ Stewart ? He is still sitting in the portal still, 2 yrs left , AA and wants to go 197 I know his dad is a psycho but from a lineup/ wrestling perspective it seems like it would make perfect sense
Who with $$ is out there trying to get Stewart right now? All the big programs are good at 197 for the foreseeable future and Stewart is coming off a pretty rough year..off the top of my head I can’t think of many other fits for him
Nah, we are waiting for Crackers' bus to show up with with half a team of AAs. 😉
I'd definitely kick the tires if he wants to come compete against Cotton, since he still needs to develop quite a bit to be a contender in the B1G and score points at the national tournament, but not sure if that's what he's looking for at this point in time.
Rumors were NC St when Fishback left but no announcement has been made yet
If Stewart has the grades. NC State is waiting to see if he passes this semester.
Thanks Mike. I had heard his grades were an issue but wasn't aware of NC st waiting for his grades that makes a ton of sense
