RU Wrestling lands top NJ wrestling prospect

[Lex Knapp]

Rutgers wrestling fans have been patiently waiting to hear who the “BOOM” was around noon today. It was a big one for sure!

Brian Soldano, one of the best New Jersey wrestlers in the class of 2022, announced on Instagram this evening that he has committed to Rutgers University.

Click the link below for more on this huge in state pick up for Rutgers wrestling!
https://rutgers.rivals.com/news/rutgers-wrestling-lands-brian-soldano-nj-s-top-recruit-in-2022-class

 

[koleszar]

Now that's a high caliber get. Good job staff.

 

[Jersey Boys]

Back in business!

 

[SCNJ]

Wonder what weight he ends up at in college. 160 as a HS sophomore last year. I imagine 174, maybe 184 unless he significantly bulks up. 197 seems like a big ask.

Kids a horse though. He didn’t really have much trouble running through the state tournament last year and he was never even close to being in danger in the finals.

 

[RutgersAlum]

Wonder what weight he ends up at in college. 160 as a HS sophomore last year. I imagine 174, maybe 184 unless he significantly bulks up. 197 seems like a big ask.

Kids a horse though. He didn’t really have much trouble running through the state tournament last year and he was never even close to being in danger in the finals.

Great get early - excellent top game with some funky moves.

 

[rondi]

Welcome to The Banks, Brian!



Go RU!
Diane

 

[RutgersAlum]

Article in NJ.com https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2020/07/...mpion-brian-soldano-njs-top-2022-recruit.html says he will wrestle at 157 or 165. Wow is that correct?

I would be shocked to see Soldano stay at the same weight for the next couple of years.This kid is still growing I would assume.

 

[Clearscreen25]

Article in NJ.com https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2020/07/...mpion-brian-soldano-njs-top-2022-recruit.html says he will wrestle at 157 or 165. Wow is that correct?

I would be shocked to see Soldano stay at the same weight for the next couple of years.This kid is still growing I would assume.

I saw that too and thought it was surprising. If I remember correctly, he wrestled Freestyle last year at 170 before the HS folkstyle season. I would expect him to go 170 at least by his senior year in high school and maybe both junior and senior years.

I seriously doubt he will be 157 in college.

 

[SCNJ]

Article in NJ.com https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2020/07/...mpion-brian-soldano-njs-top-2022-recruit.html says he will wrestle at 157 or 165. Wow is that correct?

I would be shocked to see Soldano stay at the same weight for the next couple of years.This kid is still growing I would assume.

Surprising but not impossible. I had a friend who grew early and was pretty much the same weight in 7th grade as he was as a graduating senior.

Soldano has been 160 for 2 years so he might be able to hold the weight down. 157 seems incredibly light though. He’s going to pack on some muscle with a big 10 lifting program.

 

[ScarletGrapfan]

Yea my guess is he will be a 165 maybe a 174. He is short and stocky, his older brother is tall and skinny, do not think he gets much bigger by the looks of his build.

My take on him-his freshman year, had a great year but DNP'd at states. Had a ton of pins but relied on a bunch of crazy moves. The difference in his skill set his soph year was huge. Yes, he still had the ability to pin with "junk" but his set ups and takedowns were excellent. His only loss last year was to Nationally ranked Clayton Ulrey(who he would have pinned if the period did not end, he was flat!). I don't think he loses another HS match and dominates the States next two seasons.
Very excited about this get!

 

[CampKnight]

Wonder what weight he ends up at in college. 160 as a HS sophomore last year. I imagine 174, maybe 184 unless he significantly bulks up. 197 seems like a big ask.

Kids a horse though. He didn’t really have much trouble running through the state tournament last year and he was never even close to being in danger in the finals.

Doesn’t matter what weight he is at. He will be a top 5-10 pound for pound recruit by his senior year.

Yea my guess is he will be a 165 maybe a 174. He is short and stocky, his older brother is tall and skinny, do not think he gets much bigger by the looks of his build.

My take on him-his freshman year, had a great year but DNP'd at states. Had a ton of pins but relied on a bunch of crazy moves. The difference in his skill set his soph year was huge. Yes, he still had the ability to pin with "junk" but his set ups and takedowns were excellent. His only loss last year was to Nationally ranked Clayton Ulrey(who he would have pinned if the period did not end, he was flat!). I don't think he loses another HS match and dominates the States next two seasons.
Very excited about this get!

He still has a lot of time to grow and develop in High School. Hopefully he keeps the upward trend going and works hard. Every indication is that he will and we know he has a great coach in Billy Smith.

 

[SCNJ]

Soldano allowed one escape in 5 matches at the state tournament, in a bracket where he faced the eventual 2nd, 4th, and 5th place finishers, all of which are committed to D1 schools.

 

[Racpack]

No one should complain about wrestling recruiting. The coaches are killing it and exceeding expectations. They are putting together the makings of a top 5 team. Just need to steal one kid a year from PSU, Cornell, Ohio State, or Iowa and we will be team. What a job our coaches are doing!

 

[cyrock3]

Pretty psyched about adding Soldano. Between Aragona/Hamilton/and now Soldano, we have a streak of grabbing a Top Ten P4P recruit every year going. :)

Edit: We don’t have a streak as the incoming class does not have a Top Ten P4P. Though... we all know Poz is going to be great!

 

[Caliknight]

Wrestling question from a neophyte. What is a typical middle weight class wrestler walking around at as opposed to stepping on a scale to fight?

 

[SCNJ]

Wrestling question from a neophyte. What is a typical middle weight class wrestler walking around at as opposed to stepping on a scale to fight?

In college? I’d estimate about 15-20 or so pounds heavier than their weight class.

 

[koleszar]

Wrestling question from a neophyte. What is a typical middle weight class wrestler walking around at as opposed to stepping on a scale to fight?

As a follow up to @SCNJ 's answer which I agree with. Anything over 20lbs. and coaches will start to get a little concerned. They're constantly asking, "how's your weight doing?". The standard answer is to lie by 5 to 10 lbs.:WideSmile:

 

[ScottRU93]

My friend wrestled for RU on early 90’s at lowest class at that time, maybe 125? He was walking around between 150-160 in offseason. It was brutal watching him lose weight. He was miserable. Probably wasn’t the most disciplined person. Lol.

 

[SCNJ]

Lowest weight class in the 90s was 118. A cut from 150 would be extreme but doable I’d think. Probably way less regulated back then and also likely a lack of awareness of the dangers of an extreme cut.

 

[RU23]

In college? I’d estimate about 15-20 or so pounds heavier than their weight class.

Yeah, I remember talking to Ken Theobold when he was here. He wrestled at 149, and in the summer he said he was about 165.

 

[SCNJ]

Sammy Alavarez recently said on one of the podcasts he’s around 150 right now and neither he or Goodale sounded concerned about his ability to make 133

 

[bsh75]

A followup to the weight question. What would be the walking around weight in season? I know there is an effort to reduce weight just prior to weigh ins. What is normal and what is considered unsafe. I know there are rules limiting how wrestlers can drop down a weight class in season.

 

[SCNJ]

A followup to the weight question. What would be the walking around weight in season? I know there is an effort to reduce weight just prior to weigh ins. What is normal and what is considered unsafe. I know there are rules limiting how wrestlers can drop down a weight class in season.

Probably around 5 pounds. The bigger guys maybe 7ish or in that ballpark. These guys can cut that weight in a few hours of practice by working out and not drinking a lot of water.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Wonderful article in Sussex County newspaper.

https://www.njherald.com/sports/202...ing-state-champ-brian-soldano-chooses-rutgers

 

[RU Diesel07110]

Probably around 5 pounds. The bigger guys maybe 7ish or in that ballpark. These guys can cut that weight in a few hours of practice by working out and not drinking a lot of water.

College matches are usually once a week so thinking it’s more than that. Would be a good question for AA on the podcast.

 

[SCNJ]

College matches are usually once a week so thinking it’s more than that. Would be a good question for AA on the podcast.

Could be. Monday’s are probably the fat day but I imagine they’re not walking around 5 pounds over for more than a day or two.

 

[Caliknight]

Thanks guys, as someone who knows nothing about this it is sort of fascinating. How do these guys usually cut weight, so it's 5 pounds, in a day or so? Obviously taking in fewer calories but what else?

Also, what are the advantages of someone who is walking around at 160, wrestle at 140 (if that's a weight class)?

Playing lacrosse, weight isn't really an issue. It's more based on can you run. If you are overweight, that gets exposed real quick. But everything was based on performance, not weight, thought of course it was tracked.

 

[belushijo]

Kudos. Great pickup by Goody. More recruits like this please and thank you.

 

[SCNJ]

Thanks guys, as someone who knows nothing about this it is sort of fascinating. How do these guys usually cut weight, so it's 5 pounds, in a day or so? Obviously taking in fewer calories but what else?

Also, what are the advantages of someone who is walking around at 160, wrestle at 140 (if that's a weight class)?

Playing lacrosse, weight isn't really an issue. It's more based on can you run. If you are overweight, that gets exposed real quick. But everything was based on performance, not weight, thought of course it was tracked.

A 160 pound human who weighs in at 141 is going to be stronger than a normal 141 pound human. You’re really just cutting as much fat and water weight as possible, then hydrating after the weigh in. Depending on how much time is between weigh ins and the match, a 141 pound wrestler could be a few pounds heavier than his weight during weigh ins

You’d be surprised how much weight a person can lose in a short amount of time. If you work out and do a bunch of wrestling drills at practice, go hard and don’t drink any water, you can drop 3-5 pounds in only a couple hours. I bet these top wrestlers with a good workout can lose even more than that if they really wanted to.

 

[rcube1994]

A 160 pound human who weighs in at 141 is going to be stronger than a normal 141 pound human. You’re really just cutting as much fat and water weight as possible, then hydrating after the weigh in. Depending on how much time is between weigh ins and the match, a 141 pound wrestler could be a few pounds heavier than his weight during weigh ins

You’d be surprised how much weight a person can lose in a short amount of time. If you work out and do a bunch of wrestling drills at practice, go hard and don’t drink any water, you can drop 3-5 pounds in only a couple hours. I bet these top wrestlers with a good workout can lose even more than that if they really wanted to.

Do they have to weigh in each day for a multiday tournament? Wonder how much their weight fluctuates.

 

[koleszar]

Do they have to weigh in each day for a multiday tournament? Wonder how much their weight fluctuates.

Multi day tournaments you weight in once in the morning each day. Most tournaments have a 1lb allowance on the second day. Dual meets a lot of times they'll go on the honor system. However, some coach's will request a face to face weigh in. We always thought those coaches were d*cks.

 

[Leonard23]

Dual meets a lot of times they'll go on the honor system. However, some coach's will request a face to face weigh in. We always thought those coaches were d*cks.

Honor system for duals? No way for anything, including tourneys. You have coaches at every level, all the way down to rec and club, that are lying and cheating about weight so they have kids down a weight class from what they really weigh. Step on the scale.

 

[ScarletGrapfan]

Honor system for duals? No way for anything, including tourneys. You have coaches at every level, all the way down to rec and club, that are lying and cheating about weight so they have kids down a weight class from what they really weigh. Step on the scale.

There is no honor system for college dual meets. Both teams weigh in at the same time together.

 

[Leonard23]

There is no honor system for college dual meets. Both teams weigh in at the same time together.

I know

 

[koleszar]

Honor system for duals? No way for anything, including tourneys. You have coaches at every level, all the way down to rec and club, that are lying and cheating about weight so they have kids down a weight class from what they really weigh. Step on the scale.

Back in my day there was. I guess that has changed in today's scheme of things.

 

[koleszar]

There is no honor system for college dual meets. Both teams weigh in at the same time together.

There used to be. I guess it's time to realize I'm getting old and should start putting the disclaimer of "back in my day" in my posts. Hell we used to fix the scale with fishing weights when an opposing coach would request one.

 

[ScarletGrapfan]

There used to be. I guess it's time to realize I'm getting old and should start putting the disclaimer of "back in my day" in my posts.

Lol, yes they sometimes allowed day before weigh ins at your own school!!! Nobody ever fudged it...lol

 

[SCNJ]

Do they have to weigh in each day for a multiday tournament? Wonder how much their weight fluctuates.

Multi day tournaments, you weigh in at some point each morning. You get an extra pound allowance on every consecutive day.

In high school, there’s a day I believe in January where all wrestlers get a 2 pound allowance for the remainder of the season because the kids are still growing. I believe they also get an additional pound on match days if either team’s school was closed the day prior for holiday, weekends, or snow.

 

[SCNJ]

There used to be. I guess it's time to realize I'm getting old and should start putting the disclaimer of "back in my day" in my posts. Hell we used to fix the scale with fishing weights when an opposing coach would request one.

If a 145 pound kid wrestles a 132 pound kid at the 138 pound weight class and seriously injures him, both coaches are going to get sued.

 

[RU Diesel07110]

Only honor system weigh ins I remember were real young youth wrestling tournaments. If you were challenged and weighed in heavy you were eliminated. If you were on weight the challenger was eliminated