I know Matter can be harsh on RU but if you’re being honest with yourself. Matter has more knowledge on RU wrestling than 99% here. I believe Matter is like me (a Jersey guy) that would love to see RU become a top 10 team consistently.
No. 18 Rutgers Wrestling Treks to 2022 Ken Kraft Midlands Championships
- Thread starter Tango Two
- Start date
Of all the dumb things that have been said this week, Penn State being weak at 125 is probably the most accurate statement even if it’s not a big deal.
It is hard to be a Rutgers fan and a reader of this board. To learn more about wrestling and other teams, it is best to frequent other Boards. What's wrong with admiring Penn State and trying to get to their level. They do have posters who bash us with their BOOM jokes and the Matter guy clearly wants Rutgers to fail. But most to the posters understand the sport and add value. On this Board we often bash each other and call out posters who question results.
In the New Year, I hope we praise the team when we do well and raise questions when performance is mediocre.
In the New Year, I hope we praise the team when we do well and raise questions when performance is mediocre.
Here's Matters knowledge of Rutgers Wrestling, "Goodale sucks and needs to be fired immediately". That's all he posts.
So you'd loved to see Rutgers wrestling do well and boast about being a NJ resident, but the board you're both apart of absolutely trashes Rutgers wrestling and the State of New Jersey any chance they get. I don't see you or him sticking up for either and usually Matters the ringleader of the trashing. Real strange way to show your love.
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Can’t argue with this statement!
Maybe Shawver will transfer to PSU next year😉. I always liked him.
1. I never watched college wrestling until Frank the Tank went to PSU so I started following and obviously what Cael was doing was “different.” Bringing an exciting style which I liked and became a huge fan watching Magic Man.
2. Most of Matters “trashing” is based on facts. Matter is from Jersey and I believe he is a RU fan but something triggered him. I’m not Matter so I can’t speak for him. The one thing about Matter (agree or not). He argued with factual statements
3. The Suriano thing did rub some PSU fans the wrong way. Not because he went to RU but because how the whole situation was handled. He did the same thing to RU. So I’m sure some RU fans have a bad taste in their mouth about him as well.
4. I’m a Goodale fan. Grew up with him and competed against him in HS so RU was how/why RU became my 2nd favorite team.
5. Before Frank the Tank went to college, all I watched was HS wrestling in the Shore area. Once I started following PSU, now I can’t watch HS anymore
That’s my story..
Some people are sensitive here because during the Suriano era, Penn State fans would often come here and pretend to play nice (sometimes even have decent input and conversation) and then would go back to their board and rip everything Rutgers fans said in the thread.
I hate Penn State and the cult following, but I actually find most of their wrestlers to be extremely likable. The fan base overall can go kick rocks though.
Got it. So you didn’t wrestle at Penn state or even go there, you just decided one day to be a college wrestling fan and chose the best team in the country as your team? Got it…makes perfect sense.
Ut oh, I hope not. I'd like to see him in the line-up. Something is up there with his refusal to consider redshirting. I'm hoping there won't be hard feelings.
Don't try to make sense from our three scholars; they can't articulate an intelligent argument, so they blurt out insults and then giggle at each other's comments. They think calling someone a Penn State fan is an insult or somehow discredits the person.
I haven't counted recently, but doesn't Penn State usually have several NJ guys on the team? They would definitely be more fun to follow than Rutgers, but I've chosen Rutgers because I'm a fan of NJ wrestling and I want to see it represented at the college level in-state. I don't believe I'm critical of the Rutgers wrestlers, although some might think so; I'm critical of the program. It would be too easy to be a fan of Penn State, although I admire their success. Besides, I have no Pennsylvania connection aside from a son that went to Pitt. I live in SC now, but follow Rutgers football for the same reason as wrestling. However, I do admit that I follow Clemson as an emotional antidote to having just watched a Rutgers game.
He literally explained why he chose to be a Penn State fan. He’s got a personal connection to one of their former wrestlers
Cats out of the bag. Unfortunately I have been forced to do a gender reveal at midnight. I will also be posting a selfie of myself..
Thank You..I haven’t posted much on here in a couple years. That being said, I enjoy reading your posts. You ask some good questions and I feel somehow you get unfairly treated
GO TOUCH GRASS. No one gives a toot about your back stories…
80% of this forum posters treat it like it’s Facebook.
80% of this forum posters treat it like it’s Facebook.
rufeelinit asks a good question. A lot has changed since Ashnault and Suriano won titles. Some of the changes reported in the media and by Coach Goodale include
Ashnault becomes member of Rutgers the coaching staff
Leonardis resigns from coaching staff to become SKWC Executive Director
The SKWC splits from Princeton & the NJRTC
Suriano transfers to Michigan and wins NCAA title
Graff leaves the SKWC and joins NJRTC/Princeton
Martin joins the SKWC as athlete
Rivera transfers to Rutgers and places 3rd in NCAAs
Buxton becomes Head Coach of the SKWC
Leonardis resigns as SKWC Executive Director
Pollard becomes SKWC Executive Director
Martin leaves the SKWC
Rivera joins SKWC and places 5th in World Championship
Ashnault leaves coaching staff and joins NYRTC/Columbia as athlete
Co-Presidents of SKWC resign
Pollard replaces Ashnault as Rutgers Assistant Coach
Kiss resigns as Volunteer Coach
Mytych replaces Pollard as SKWC Director
Buxton replaces Kiss as Volunteer Coach
Have the changes since Nick and Anthony won titles reflect progress, instability, or a little of both? In March it will be four years since Nick and Anthony won their titles. No sure if we capitalized on their success or not. Seems like a mixed bag.
This is one of the most bizarre posts I’ve seen on this forum
Are you saying you think Shawver would beat out Howard at 125😉? Either way, ever since Suriano left there seems to be a curse there 😉
Matter… would love.. to see RU become a top 10 team consistently?? BAHAHAHAHAH.. Matter cracks me up but you got the wrong guy.. ever since he got banned on this forum his whole Schtick on PSU forum is hating on RU.. not sure what he said to get banned here but kinda wish he got unbanned 🤣😂🤣
It took two ncaa champs for us to barely crack the top 10 that year.. so are we getting closer to being a consistent top 10.. maybe but.. idk where the points will come from.. a positive note is we are on 6th straight year of multiple AA.. that streak will be put to the test this March..
No inside info at all, but I don’t think Howard gets healthy enough to ever make an impact. Shoulder injuries are a bitch
Not easy when the guy you recruit for the weight leaves or get injured. It’s not like there are a ton of great kids in the transfer portal. Last year we got Hildenbrandt who faltered in the tournament after being AA previous year. It’s not like Cael isn’t trying which is all you can ask of your coach.
Suriano was supposed to be the guy..he leaves, they recruit Teasdale who was supposed to be a stud but ended up having personal issues. So those 4 yrs are tough to make up for.
4 yrs later they bring in Howard, always hurt and I have no confidence he’ll ever be healthy. Those 4 yrs will be tough and just try to do best you can. Steen who is their current 125 is too small for the weight IMO but I like his effort.
If you have studs at all the other weight classes, it makes the sting not so bad.
A kid like Shawver would be nice addition. Not a stud but an upgrade of what they have until Mason Gibson comes in a couple years.
Hopefully Rutgers makes it work with Shawver. Him and Peterson would make a solid 1-2 at top of lineup next year if one of them can fill into 133
Now putting on my Rutgers hat..
This year going to be tough. Best you can hope for is to see development. I can’t see any AA’s from this years group and no chance of any champs.
Best shot to AA would be Peterson as 125 is a weak weight after Spencer and with Glory presumably moving up to 133.
I have no confidence in Alvarez winning 3 matches in March. So I don’t see him on podium.
Soldano.fun wrestler to watch but likely bloodround guy this year. He would be my 2nd most likely RU wrestler to AA but just don’t see it this year.
No one else on this team has a shot, unless Poz comes out of redshirt and returns to his freshman year form. He is the one guy that is most perplexing to me. Looked like a world beater freshman year and ever since he seems lost.
next year could be a solid year for RU if you get Peterson/Shawver combo to work. Poz/Soldano combo at 184/197. Alvarez another year to feel comfortable at his weight and White to get back to his form of last year redshirt season.
This year going to be tough. Best you can hope for is to see development. I can’t see any AA’s from this years group and no chance of any champs.
Best shot to AA would be Peterson as 125 is a weak weight after Spencer and with Glory presumably moving up to 133.
I have no confidence in Alvarez winning 3 matches in March. So I don’t see him on podium.
Soldano.fun wrestler to watch but likely bloodround guy this year. He would be my 2nd most likely RU wrestler to AA but just don’t see it this year.
No one else on this team has a shot, unless Poz comes out of redshirt and returns to his freshman year form. He is the one guy that is most perplexing to me. Looked like a world beater freshman year and ever since he seems lost.
next year could be a solid year for RU if you get Peterson/Shawver combo to work. Poz/Soldano combo at 184/197. Alvarez another year to feel comfortable at his weight and White to get back to his form of last year redshirt season.
Nice analysis, .. hoping RU continues multi AA streak to 7(didn’t know it’s that long) in a row this year but this will def be the toughest year..
Peterson looked like a sure fire AA contender when he nearly upset Glory the first meeting and majored Miller but he hasn’t picked up another signature win to really cement him in podium contention.. was hoping he beat Barnett or Kardinale at midlands but yeah rn his next big test will be vs Ohio state’s Heinselman.. if he wins there yeah he’s probably our best shot at AA rn..
Agreed on Alvarez, outside of the most hardcore RU fans it’s hard to see him on podium this year..
Soldano.. when he was majoring the clarion kid, teching Montalvo, and bonusing everyone else it really looked like he might be the next big thing.. even the breakdown at the barn podcast guys were comparing him to the next Nolf/Nickal.. reality set in a bit when he lost to Munoz and even more weaknesses were exposed at Midlands.. Soldano will no doubt still be a stud but gotta temper some expectations.. if he figures things out he’s going to be a dangerous out.
Doubt Poz comes out of RS unless Janzer is completely done and even then, don’t think so.
I think you might be overlooking Heilman’s chance to AA… r16 last year and he beat the Penn kid who just won the midlands bracket.. 133 is deep but I think the rank 6-20th guys can all beat each other..
Next years lineup could include all of Peterson, Shawver, Alvarez, Olivieri, Poz, and Soldano. Clark/White could battle it out at 157. Boone has looked pretty good as well. That’s a pretty good dual lineup. 165 probably always gonna be a disaster and depending on how Soldano and Poz shake things up there’s room for someone to challenge Turley at 174 or Janzer at 197
Thanks for the thoughts. Probably pretty accurate. PS is luck to have that situation only at 125. We tend to have a lot of development years and in a few cases, the kids improve. However, overall, Rutgers doesn't have a good year-over-year improvement on the individual level.
Maybe but maybe also a determined Soldano. From what I have heard, Peterson has a can-do attitude, which is critical to success. I wasn't confident he was going to be able to come back from time off, but his attitude has carried him through.
He's a puzzle. His first match at Midlands looked to tell a dim story, but he somehow pulled it off. Oddly, he started looking stronger from that point. I suspect he's still struggling mentally with weight loss. If he can gather enthusiasm and be more aggressive, he might do well.
I still think he has big potential if he can be convinced to stop exposing his back. He isn't strong enough to stay out of trouble with the better wrestlers. He, like several others, needs to find someone to help him get out from bottom. Maybe Buxton?
Yeah, I've been worried about Poz. He's my favorite guy on the team. I've seen too many wrestle their best in their first year. I found it interesting that he chose to train in the off- season at his old club. I hope he can put it all together again. Like at 125, someone is going to have to move up a weight class. Waiting for next year to decide is too late, That preparation needs to start now.
Next year is always going to be great.
Why do we always seem to punt on 165? Can't we throw Griffith an NIL bag and call it a day? What about trying to convince Mike O'Malley to transfer here as a grad transfer for 174?
Don’t need to convince me on either guy. I’d take pretty much anyone there.
If you think ..matter ..is knowledgeable then your dumber then he is..the guy hates RU and came here simply to say just that
Can't imagine who wouldn't want these two Jersey kids. They would elevate the program and make us a serious top ten contender. Can we offer them the coaching and work out partners they want?
When Koll got the Stanford job he brought in Vincenzo Joseph a 2 time-national champ (2017 and 2018) to train with Griffith. Then Joseph left to concentrate on his freestyle career and Koll brought in Ryan Deakin, the 2022 national champ.
When Ashnault our 2019 national champ left to concentrate on his freestyle career, Goodale brought in Pollard. Pollard is a nice guy who lacks wrestling credentials to attract upperweight wrestlers. He is not big enough to roll around with the big guys.
Pollard is 43. Pritzlaff who was a 2000 and 2001 national champ is around 44, Goodale is about 50, and Buxton is over 65. With age we get wisdom and experience. Plus Buxton and Pritzlaff have documented coaching and wrestling success. In addition, most recruits will want at least one quality training partner as a coach who is in the prime of his career.
Insiders on this forum have said that we went after upperweight coaches and were turned down. If true, that's unfortunate.
