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Rutgers 2019-20 Wrestling Schedule Out

Link to schedule:


The Cornell match probably the highlight at The RAC this year. Will be interesting to see if Foca and Fernandes wrestle or RS. Not sure if Fernandes is better than the curren 285s.
 
What I found most interesting was the tweet that announced
Link to schedule:



The Cornell match probably the highlight at The RAC this year. Will be interesting to see if Foca and Fernandes wrestle or RS. Not sure if Fernandes is better than the curren 285s.
Neither of them are on Cornell's updated roster, so they are Grey Shirting.
 
What I found most interesting was the tweet that announced

Neither of them are on Cornell's updated roster, so they are Grey Shirting.


Ok, so what's the deal with Suriano? @Lex Knapp ? Anyone? He's not in the student database and didn't go to the FB game honoring his national title with Ashnault and Goodale.
 
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The start of a new season is only a few weeks away . Rutgers is coming off a historic season having two National Champions in Nick Suriano and Anthony Ashnault, a top 10 finish at the NCAA Tournament , and Coach Scott Goodale receiving the Tournament Coach of the Year award.
The new 2019-20 season will see Rutgers and other teams with very different lineups, with graduation and Olympic Red Shirts being a big factor. Rutgers will open the season unranked and besides missing the two champions, will have also lost to graduation NCAA qualifiers John Van Brill and Nick Gravina. Rutgers brings in the #4 ranked recruiting class, but it remains to be seen if any will break the starting lineup. A closer look at Individual weight classes will take place later this month. However, we can count on NCAA qualifiers at 141 Peter Lipari and 174 Joe Grello.
The Rutgers’ Schedule will be highlighted by a Home match against #21 Cornell, and nearby away matches at #17 Princeton at Jadwin Gym and also AT Madison Square Garden where they take on University of Michigan (unranked 4 Olympic Redshirts). . Finally, after the regular Dual season ends The Big 10 Tournament arrives at Rutgers, which RU will host for the first time at The RAC in Piscataway on March 7 and 8. For this article I am using The Open Mat pre season rankings since they are available for all to see without a subscription (unlike Flowrestling this year).

Open Mat Team Rankings


Nov.2, Saturday - Quad meet vs Centenary, LIU, and Pitt Johnston. - For the second season in a row, Rutgers opens with a home Quad meet against 3 opponents they should have relatively no trouble defeating. With this quad meet , RU will be able to get plenty of experience to all the wrestlers who aren’t redshirting. RU faced Centenary in last year’s opening Quad and beat the D3 team from Hackettstown 48-3. LIU had a 7-11 record last year, Pitt-Johnston was an impressive 16-3 last year and could present some interesting matchups.

Nov. 15. Friday at Fresno St-
RU opens their Away season with a tough weekend in California. First up will be Fresno St. who were at the RAC last season, losing to Rutgers 30-6. With so many talented wrestlers gone from this year’s RU squad, the match could be much closer. Highlight should be the heavyweight match between Chris Colucci and FSU’s AJ Nevills. They wrestled last year w Nevill’s winning in OT. This match could come down to this match , both teams appear close this year.

Nov. 16, Saturday at Cal St Bakersfield- CSU was 7-9 last season in the PAC12, best win probably over Stanford. I see RU winning a close meet against CSU.

Nov. 23. Navy Classic at Annapolis, Md.- This is an individual tournament with mostly entries from Mid Atlantic colleges. More than 1 entry per school per weight permitted. Team scores not tallied

Dec. 7 Saturday, Maryland.- Big 10 Opener for RU. Should be win for RU, Maryland rebuilding with a new Head Coach, has a few NJ HS wrestlers in their lineup ( 125 Brandon Cray - Steinert HS, Kyle Cochran 157 Paramus HS, and 174 Josh Ugalde Bound Brook HS).

Jan.1-2 Wednesday Southern Scuffle , Chattanooga, Tn- One of the best Holiday season tournaments along with the Midlands and Cliff Keene in Las Vegas. RU makes its first trip South for this Tournament. Other Scuffle entries are #3 Oklahoma St., #10 Iowa St., and #12 Pittsburgh.

Jan. 10, Friday at #5 Ohio St- Huge away matchup for the young Scarlet Knights taking on always tough Ohio St Buckeyes under Tom Ryan. OSU has several returning All Americans in 133 Luke Pletcher and 197 Kollin Moore, and other NCAA qualifiers.

Jan. 12, Sunday, at Michigan St- RU finishes up it’s first away Big 10 Weekend against Sparty of MSU. RU beat MSU last year 22-20 , hoping to keep it going, but in this rebuilding year that might be tough.

Jan. 17, Friday, #21 Cornell- Big Friday night match against the Big Red of Cornell, which has a NJ flavor to it’s roster, although most redshirting or backups this year. This match will be missing 2 NCAA champs, Nick Suriano of RU and Yanni Diakomihalis of Cornell unless they decide to pull their Olympic Redshirts for second semester.


Jan. 19 Sunday, at Penn St- RU travels to State College, Pa to take on the defending National Champions. A challenging match to say the least. Although PSU graduated 3 National Champs, they still have several returning NCAA Champs in Anthony Cassar 285, Vincenzo Joseph 165 (2018 champ) and Mark Hall (2017), and a lineup of almost all NCAA qualifiers with numerous All Americans.

Jan. 24, Friday, Indiana- RU beat the Hoosiers last year in Indiana, and are 3-0 against them since 2014, but this year could be tougher. The best match could be at 174 between 2 NCAA qualifiers in Joe Grello of RU and Indiana’s Covaciu, Jacob.

Jan. 26, Sunday, #25 Purdue- RU looks to sweep the weekend against another team RU beat last year (22-15). Again with a younger lineup, it won’t be easy. Purdue has returning qualifiers in 124 Devin Schroder, 141 Nate Limmex , 149 Griffin Parriot, 174 Dylan Lydy. 184 Max Lyon, and 197 Christian Brunner. 141 and 174 could see matchups with all NCAA qualifiers (RU w Peter Lipari and Joe Grello).

Feb.1, Saturday at Madison Sq Garden, Michigan- A big day at MSG w RU Wrestling in the afternoon and RU Basketball taking on Michigan at night. Michigan has 4 NCAA qualifiers (Micic, Amine, Massa, Storr) taking Olympic Red shirt years, although like RU’s Suriano, 1 or more could be back for 2nd semester). UM will still have a formidable lineup with NCAA qualifiers in 125 Drew Mattin and 285 Mason Parris. But RU has real chance hear to win after losing to Michigan 3 straight times in Big10 duals.

Feb 7, Friday , Illinois- Another Big Friday night match at The RAC. Illinois is 2-1 against RU in Big10 Duals. For the first time in what seems forever, Illinois will be without now graduated NCAA Champ Isaiah Martinez. This could be a close match. Illinois has returning NCAA qualifiers in 125 Travis Piotrowski, 133 Dylan Duncan, 141 Mike Carr, 157 Eric Barone, & 174 Joey Gunther.

Feb. 9, Sunday at Rider - The first of 2 in state rivalry matchups this season. Last year RU beat Rider 28-6 at The RAC, but with a rebuilding RU team and a veteran Rider team, this year could be different. Rider has returning NCAA qualifiers in 157 Jesse Dellevecchia and 197 Ethan Laird. And at 125 Anthony Cefolo is preseason ranked 19.

Feb. 14 Friday, #14 Northwestern- Valentines Night at The RAC- how Romantic ! RU is 3-0 against NW since joining the Big10. This year's match should be a cliffhanger. NW has NCAA returning qualifiers in 125 - Sebastian Rivera ( All American, also from CBA, NJ), 157 Ryan Deakin and 174 Tyler Morland,

Feb. 23 Sunday at #17 Princeton- Final Dual of the season before RU hosts The Big 10 Tournament at The RAC. The Tigers have not beaten Rutgers in about 30 years, but this year RU will have to win some close ones plus pull off a few upsets to prevent a veteran Princeton team from finally winning . Princeton has 2 returning All Americans in 125 Pat Glory and 197 Pat Brucki, plus NCAA qualifiers 157 Quincy Monday, 174 Travis Stefanik, 184 Kevin Parker. How many RU fans will make the short trip down to Jadwin Gym (I expect many).

March 7 & 8- Big 10 Tournament- Rutgers Athletic Center, Piscataway NJ- All the Big10 teams arrive to battle it out for Individual Medals, Team Trophy and for seeding implications for the NCAA National Tournament that will take place March 19-21 at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Mn.
 
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Ok, so what's the deal with Suriano? @Lex Knapp ? Anyone? He's not in the student database and didn't go to the FB game honoring his national title with Ashnault and Goodale.
Nick is not enrolled in school because he cannot be in order to Olympic redshirt, although he is not technically an “Olympic redshirt”. There are criteria’s to meet in order to do so, none of which he fits. Therefore, a loophole in the system is not participating in classes. As far as not being at the national title ceremony, I am not sure what the reason is. However, if you’re asking if there is some sort of problems or bad blood between Nick and the program, that is not the case. Nick, with this year out of school, is free to train anywhere and everywhere, with the exception of organized Rutgers team practices. He was training at The Edge last week with the NYCRTC.
 
  • Nick is not enrolled in school because he cannot be in order to Olympic redshirt, although he is not technically an “Olympic redshirt”. There are criteria’s to meet in order to do so, none of which he fits. Therefore, a loophole in the system is not participating in classes. As far as not being at the national title ceremony, I am not sure what the reason is. However, if you’re asking if there is some sort of problems or bad blood between Nick and the program, that is not the case. Nick, with this year out of school, is free to train anywhere and everywhere, with the exception of organized Rutgers team practices. He was training at The Edge last week with the NYCRTC.
Are you sure about that? I thought the five year clock started upon full enrollment, and doesn't stop. And, not enrolling doesn't stop the clock.

"Division I five-year clock: If you play at a Division I school, you have five-calendar years in which to play four seasons of competition. Your five-year clock starts when you enroll as a full-time student at any college. Thereafter, your clock continues, even if you spend an academic year in residence as a result of transferring; decide to red shirt, if you do not attend school or even if you go part-time during your college career."
 
Are you sure about that? I thought the five year clock started upon full enrollment, and doesn't stop. And, not enrolling doesn't stop the clock.

"Division I five-year clock: If you play at a Division I school, you have five-calendar years in which to play four seasons of competition. Your five-year clock starts when you enroll as a full-time student at any college. Thereafter, your clock continues, even if you spend an academic year in residence as a result of transferring; decide to red shirt, if you do not attend school or even if you go part-time during your college career."

Correct 5 year clock keeps ticking.....Nick has not redshirted, so even if not enrolled he could use a redshirt this season.

However, Nick was granted an Olympic Redshirt from USA Wrestling even though he did not meet the criteria.
 
Nice writeup Abro. Agree we should have an NCAA qualifier at 141. I'm not sure who that is yet. Stay tuned. $$$$
 
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Correct 5 year clock keeps ticking.....Nick has not redshirted, so even if not enrolled he could use a redshirt this season.

However, Nick was granted an Olympic Redshirt from USA Wrestling even though he did not meet the criteria.

Nick did meet the criteria. Please see the Flo article that explains why they (Flo) erroneously initially said he did not meet the criteria.
 
There are four ways to qualify for an Olympic redshirt year

  1. Past national team members (top three from the World or Olympic Team Trials)
  2. Top eight at the 2019 Senior U.S. Open
  3. Top three at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championship; or NCAA champion from a previous year AND top two from the 2019 U23 World Team Trials (must accomplish both).
  4. Previous Cadet, Junior, U23 world medalist

Suriano would qualify for an ORS by criteria #3.

https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/6520887-updated-list-of-olympic-redshirt-qualifiers
 
There are four ways to qualify for an Olympic redshirt year

  1. Past national team members (top three from the World or Olympic Team Trials)
  2. Top eight at the 2019 Senior U.S. Open
  3. Top three at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championship; or NCAA champion from a previous year AND top two from the 2019 U23 World Team Trials (must accomplish both).
  4. Previous Cadet, Junior, U23 world medalist

Suriano would qualify for an ORS by criteria #3.

https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/6520887-updated-list-of-olympic-redshirt-qualifiers
The semicolon after the word "Championship" is not in the USA Wrestling 2020 ORS criteria: http://content.themat.com/forms/2020-Olympic-Redshirt-Criteria.pdf which would change that criterion.

USA Wrestling really just needs to rewrite Criterion 3 to say exactly what they mean. If the semicolon belongs, then make Criteria 3 two separate criteria. If it doesn't belong, rewrite the whole damn thing to clarify it.
 
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