MVB took 5th as a junior and 2nd as a senior. If you can name a few guys who had a similar HS resume (2x placer but no titles) and a similar or better college career than MVB (3+ NQs or an AA) I would like to learn about them.
Recruiting
- Thread starter Racpack
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The problem with Crackers, if you refute his narrative and prove him wrong, he doesnt respond.
I would think that coaches don't have enough time to engage in forum banter. They have to have tougher skin than us casual fans.
Not defending crackers but would say his Brother and Theobold are 2. Good thing is both developed by our staff.
Fair, but like you said two guys from our program. The question is whether or not we are able to develop guys. I would say we’ve allowed the elites to be elite. We’ve taken the C and D level prospects and made them quality big 10 starters for the most part. I think the biggest room for improvement is taking those B+/B level recruits and turning them into A+/A wrestlers.
I’m not trying to prove him wrong, he may entirely be right. I just legitimately don’t know anyone outside of the Rutgers program that went from being consolation guy in high school to a big 10 placer in college. He may not have been an A+ wrestler overall but his developmental curve was certainly pretty steep for what he was recruited as.
The prove him wrong comment was directed at him based on his response to me. He made a statement to prove him wrong. So I did.
Sal Mastrani was never a state champ and AAed and made a blood round for Virginia tech , Konrad Dudziak from St. Peter’s was a multi time AA, Troy Heilman never state champ AA for North Carolina , Chad Walsh , 2 x AA for rider , Brandon Patezell for Lehigh …CJ Composto just did it this year for Penn and you find atleast a dozen more guys that made the blood round throughtout The years
No, I just have a business to run and don't have time to sit around and wait for someone's response, like you. Psufan 2427 touched on just a few, and they are many more. When I have as much time on my hands as you, I will come up with a list. Kevin Hoy from Air Force, Aaron Anspach from Penn State, and there was another heavyweight at Penn State that was never a Pa. place winner but was an NCAA runner-up. Nace from Rider was an NJ runner-up and AA'd.
Son of a bitch. Recruiting both HS and Portal has been awful this year.
Mastriani and Dudziak I’ll give you
Heilmann was all state 4x and a finalist 3x. A little more pedigree than MVB. Walsh same thing, 4x state winner and a finalist though that’s a little more comparable. Paetzell sure but like Theobold was developed by Rutgers, at least initially. Composto probably would have been a state champ his senior year if he wrestled.
The point is the chances of going from an also ran in high school to having a nice college career especially at the big 10 level is very rare. You had to dig back to early 2000s to find one of your few examples. All of these guys in general are the exception, not the rule. I don’t know how anyone can be sour about what the VB brothers did here.
Ha! I dont have as much time as you think. And your response went completely off the rails from what I was saying. Oh well. No biggie.
I just happened to know the Dudziak one off hand…Walsh went 8,5,5,2 , and was only considered a title contender his senior year and even then he wasn’t the favorite so I’d say he counts …I only briefly looked through some results and i saw atleast 10 non state champs that made the blood round so I would imagine there are some AAs I missed
just want to add I’m just throwing names out but I personally think Rutgers did a great job with MVB…early in his career he didn’t look like a D1 wrestler and turns into a Big 10 3rd and followed that up with another great year , he didn’t AA but alot more accomplished guys don’t AA every year
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You’re probably right, I’m sure there’s a bunch. I just don’t think it’s reasonable for that to be even close to the expectation. Anyone knocking MVB for not being an AA is out of their minds.
Completely agree …he had a great career compared to expectations when he first got to Rutgers
I'm not knocking him, but he could have done better than being a "one and done" type. I think the point is, is that his wins during the year, versus the post-season, show a decline in performance.
To quote Elie Weisel, "Silence is another form of agreement."
If you’re not enjoying RU sports now I don’t think you are going to.
I am not enjoying it now. It is not football, wrestling, basketball or wrestling seasons now.
wngarbarini
"Finesilver left a little while ago and had a good visit. He has to see Iowa State and Michigan."
Finesilver choose Michigan. Hopefully, our luck changes with Mullen
"Finesilver left a little while ago and had a good visit. He has to see Iowa State and Michigan."
Finesilver choose Michigan. Hopefully, our luck changes with Mullen
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Tate Samuelson a 3 time national qualifier from Wyoming just committed to Lehigh. With Beard, Lehigh has picked up 2 nice transfers. Samuelson's record was similar to Bulsak prior to his transfer. Unless the plan is to redshirt Poz, Samuelson was probably not a high priority. Not many quality kids remaining in the portal.
Are we punting on recruiting this year both in the portal and in HS? Honestly I feel like we're doing horrible this year which could be a result of maybe all of our scholarship money tied into last year's class.
Unlikely, as it seems that we were all in for Beard who would have cost a lot of money. He was an AA and could be one of the top three at his weight. Also imagine that Finesilver would have cost $ as well as Dellagatta who chose Cornell.
I don’t think we’re intentionally punting on a year but you also have to remember that there’s a roster limit and the bonus covid year caused our roster to balloon up. Not an excuse because every school has the same issue, but it could be a reason we haven’t pursued a ton of names like we normally do. Seems like this upcoming year we’re trying to land a few A+ recruits instead of 10 B level recruits.
Gotta follow the PSU blueprint of success….get a few A+ guys and walk-ons to supplements..
Fair as long as if we don't land any A level recruits we don't waste scholarship money on bench/practice room wrestlers.
The roster "limit" fluctuates. Anyway, looks like we had 34 last year and have 37 with incoming freshman, but I expect some to leave. Gapas, Benner, and Robinson have completed 4 years, so they could graduate and move on or be done. I could easily see 2 or 3 more, but probably not 🤷🏻♂️.
Any idea who was honored at senior day this past year? Not a guarantee but usually a good indication of who won’t be returning.
Talked to a friend of mine "in the know" about Mullen and he said we have zero shot of getting him here. I wouldn't lose much sleep over it. He would have been a round of 12 career type guy at best in college and is way too small to be an impact player at a big-time D1 school, let alone any shot at the NFL.
Angelo, Benner, Gapas, Robinson were those honored that still have eligibility left.
"The dual also served as Senior Day, as the program honored Bulsak, Gerard Angelo, Jake Benner, David Campbell, Andrew Gapas, Sebastian Rivera, Malcolm Robinson and Michael VanBrill prior to the match."
No. 14 Wrestling Caps Dual Season with Thrilling 21-17 win over Columbia - Rutgers University Athletics
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – 14 Rutgers wrestling (16-5) worked a come-from-behind win over Columbia (4-10), 21-17, on Saturday in front of 3,037 fans at Jersey Mike's Arena.
scarletknights.com
That's surprising. Makes sense that Michigan would give Suriano a former national champ good NIL $ when they were trying to win a national title during the 100th anniversary of wrestling at Michigan and the tourney was held in Detroit. Really surprising that they would give good NIL $ to a kid who has never been an All American entering his last year. I bet most wrestling NIL $ going to transfers goes to kids that were former All Americans.
NIL $ are all good but surely different amounts. I wouldn't expect Finesilver to receive nearly as much as Suriano.
Add it to the list. Where there's a will, there's a way ?
I would not have guessed zero but closer to that than 50%. Do they ever share a reason why they eliminate Rutgers? A lot can be learned from that.
Other schools' academics may be better ( at least in rankings), just not really feeling the Rutgers vibe, thinks he will have more success at a more proven school, coaches have a higher pedigree ( totally disagree with that because we Ash and Pritz), college club support and funding, and campus feel.
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