After what happened with his brothers, I'm not surprised OKST isn't a consideration. AJ will never be an option here. He was scheduled to be arraigned today and will stand trial on those sexual assault/battery charges from July, so I doubt any D1 program goes near him, even if he's acquitted. https://okcfox.com/news/local/forme...-garuccio-oklahoma-court-date-december-6-2022
There are NJ state champs and then there are the ones that are also highly rated on a national level. Not all are equal under the state champ umbrella. When looking at the national level, NJ has had much more that its share of representation in the NCAA championship rounds. Offhand, I remember seeing 25% or more of finalists being from NJ. The problem isn't attracting state champs, it's attracting the exceptional ones. Rutgers has done so with Soldano, Poz, Ashnault, Winston, Aragona, and some others. Suriano and Rivera went elsewhere initially, as did some others that transferred in after becoming unhappy where they were. NJ remains a top three wrestling state. I don't expect state champs from other states to solve much more than what we get from home unless they're the highly rated ones, and then why would they come to Rutgers when the NJ kids of that caliber usually don't? Rutgers would be right up there with the best teams if they landed the best the state had to offer. Look at the NJ kids out there now at other schools that are N/C contenders. There is an answer to solving the problem, but it isn't perpetuation of the status quo.
This is an interesting dilemma. Just looking at former NJ state champs we have had about 24 NJ state champs under Coach Goodale, 18 that didn't All American and 6 that were AAs. This excludes existing roster kids that were state champs and yet to AA.
Not wrong. I’ve noticed similar, generally a 1x champ doesn’t become anything special though it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
It’s not the number of state championship that matters but rather who you beat.. every state produces many state champions.. what Turley is a 4x VA state champion ? And a NJ state champion is on average more prestigious then the easier states to get a title.. but once again some years it’s easier to win a title so it’s more about who you beat that’s nationally ranked that’s the biggest predictor how you generally will do in college..
If AJ is able to wrestle in the future there will be teams that take him.. the allure of a champ is too huge.. didn’t Andrew Long get charged with sexual assault and then was able to wrestle afterwords? Penn state took him in no?
It’s like this for every state.. not every pa,oh,ca state champ in hs will become a AA in college.. in fact a majority won’t.. and it’s even less % for state title winners from other states.. on average the state titles from the elite states are harder to obtain bc of competition.. it always comes down to the nationally ranked competition u beat regardless.. you can be a 4x champ from any state but if u beat no nationally ranked competition then probably won’t do well in college when you meet the best of the best. This is why I think a super 32 title(or any tough hs tourney) is way more prestigious then any state title..
No. Long was initially dismissed from ISU for multiple unspecified rules violations related to alcohol, but then committed sexual assault/rape at PSU and went to prison. He had further alcohol issues at Grand View and went back to prison. No one will touch AJ, except for a Grand View type, but I doubt anyone will. I'd probably drop my season tickets and donations if he came here.
If the expectation is that all our NJ state champs AA, we aren't doing very well. We are 6 for 24. 100% is a nice goal; but, totally unrealistic. We are likely the 3rd best state for high school wrestling and there are 8 AAs per weight class so it may be realistic to expect 30 to 40% of champs to become an AA.
While regardless of what they did in hs and u can still develop them into AA is a nice theory that’s not how it works.. any coaching staff that lands Suriano/Brooks is going to “develop” them into AA and on the flipside no amount of coaching up, even Cael’s, is going to turn a random Chattanooga wrestler into an AA.. ofc AA is harder then winning n a state title.. there’s more state titlist every year then there are AA lol…and ofc non state champs can go on to AA but that’s the exception rather then the rule..
There is a massive difference between the guys at the top of the P4P big board and your typical one time state champion. Suriano and Andrew Clark we’re both state champions but hardly the same animal. Your average state champion h will have guys who are maybe multiple place finishers but never at top who are no worse prospects. Of course we would prefer the guys who are top 3 P4P or 3x champions and ready made AA as true freshmen. We cant build our roster with those types, so to a large extent we have to develop guys into AA.
Stanich got a forfeit at 126 against Hopatcong on 1/21/23, so he could decide to wrestle 126 for the tourneys.
Collins is at 126, and it sounds like Stanich is at 126 also. Zalesky will be in the mix with Walsh Pope John, Young Camden Catholic, Melamaud BC, Ortega Howell
Didn’t realize Collins was also dropping. They’re probably all ducking Santaniello who for my money is the best p4p wrestler in the state.
Yea Collins wrestled 126 against Delbarton last night and Stout dropped from 38 to 32. And agree everyone running from Santaniello.
Probably something minor I would think. The Portella’s aren’t entered either. Not 100% sure why.
Surprised Walsh isn't listed on the depth chart as a potential 2025 recruit. He may be nudged elsewhere by some coaches, but he's trained at SKWC some, so I'd think he's in the mix.
Yes from Nevada
Ludington and Vincenzo Lavalle are two of the underclassmen that we really need to land. I would hope with the success we've had with Hanover Park over the years we should be able to land Lavalle
Shore is loaded, but think you have "Shore colored glasses" lol. I think 4-5 champs is the max not the minimum. I hope RU gets Ludington, but he is not beating Simon Ruiz of Delbarton. Knox and Santaniello are as close to locks as possible. Delbarton could/will have 4-5 champs.
He is in the mix to place.....Jimmy Mullen vs Max Accardi in the finals.
I’m definitely a shore homer but this is my prediction at the moment
Mullen is not going to lose and is only a covid football year away from being the 5th wrestler to win 4 state titles in NJ. Acciardi is the next best but after that it’s really just picking names out of a hat. Aside from Mullen, heavyweight has had some real flukey tournament results over the years.
