Wrestling Rutgers wrestling lands late 2019 commit

[Lex Knapp]

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What was already a stacked recruiting class just got a bit stronger for Rutgers wrestling.

Ryan Vulakh, from Pope John Paul II high school (PA), has committed to Rutgers University. Vulakh was originally committed to George Mason, but de-committed earlier in the year. Vulakh's final two school choices came down to Rutgers and Arizona State.

Vulakh brings an impressive resume to the banks, which includes Powerade and Beast of the East titles. Vulakh capped off his senior campaign with a PIAA state title at 152 - lbs, where he was also named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler. Vulakh finished his high school career ranked 3rd in the country by Intermat at 152.

FULL WRESTLING COMMIT LIST HERE!

 

[Richie O]

 

[RutgersAlum]

An excellent get for us - He should slot right in at 157.

 

[bigmatt718]

Thats a NICE late get.

 

[LETSGORU91]

Nice job Goody!!!!! Keep reeling them in!

 

[Clearscreen25]

Vulakh was 35-0 this season. He won the Beast of the East, Escape the ROck and pinned or teched his way through the PA AA tourney winning the Outstanding Wrestler Award:
http://pac-10sports.com/featured-athletes/male/ryan-vulakh-0038398

 

[CollegeAve]

Welcome!

 

[R U Crazy]

WOW, HUGE

 

[R U Crazy]

141: Aragona/Briton
149/157: Vulakh/Harrison
157/165: Kanniard
174/184: Turley
285: Delvecchio

It will be hard for anyone to knock this class (Thou, I am sure some will try)

 

[RU23]

Amazing get. Our middle weights for the future are in excellent shape. 125/133 and 197/285 have me concerned.

 

[Lex Knapp]

141: Aragona/Briton
149/157: Vulakh/Harrison
157/165: Kanniard
174/184: Turley
285: Delvecchio

It will be hard for anyone to knock this class (Thou, I am sure some will try)

To add to this, that is:
#1 Aragona/#14 Britton
#3 Vulahk
#10 Kanniard
#6 Turley
#9 Delvecchio

 

[dollarbill]

B1G wrestling ninety minutes from your family's home. PA pipeline is just starting. Welcome to the Banks Ryan! $$$$

 

[rugrapfan1]

It’s great to see after AP KT SD and the great one AA move on...the the RU Wrestling coaching staff continues to bring studs to make the program continue to grow.

 

[RUonBrain]

To add to this, that is:
#1 Aragona/#14 Britton
#3 Vulahk
#10 Kanniard
#6 Turley
#9 Delvecchio

Which of these guys has a chance at being AA, and how many years until then?

Thanks

 

[KidDagger]

Which of these guys has a chance at being AA, and how many years until then?

Thanks

All these guys have a chance at being AA.. statistically though, the higher class ranked u r coming out of hs the better odds u will end up being an AA... so I’d say JoJo has the best chances..

Some wrestlers AA their freshman year.. some it takes to sr year if they do... generally, the higher ranked u r in hs the better chances u will make an impact right away..

 

[LETSGORU91]

Aragons, Vulahk, Turley in that order IMO. The trajectory of their improvements over the past year have been very, very good. If they continue upward, I like their chances. It's all a crap shoot though. I hope the others are significant late bloomers (they are not slouches now btw) and hopefully ALL make AA in the future

 

[Ole Cabbagehead]

This seems like a huge get for us. This is now the upgrade in recruiting we have all been waiting for. Obviously need to keep it going, but adding Vulakh to this class makes it very strong, because you add another top recruit. Really, to get to where we need to be, you need guys ranked top 3 in their weight class. Vulakh checks that box, plus he is a PA guy which is awesome. Rutgers must be NJ and Eastern PA. We cannot rely solely on NJ talent.

I also really like the trajectory of these guys. Aragona, Turley and Vulakh all seem like the type of guys who have not yet hit their ceiling, which is really what you want to see.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

For someone like myself who knows very little about wrestling,is this now the best wrestling class Rutgers has brought in ?

 

[RU23]

For someone like myself who knows very little about wrestling,is this now the best wrestling class Rutgers has brought in ?

Debatable. The 2016 class had 5 guys in the top 71 nationally (though none higher than #50). Grello, Correnti, Mulligan, Paetzell, and Mackall. It also featured Donner, who was ranked 14th nationally at 182, and MVB who was unranked.

 

[KidDagger]

For someone like myself who knows very little about wrestling,is this now the best wrestling class Rutgers has brought in ?

The “best” class we brought in ranking wise was the 2007 class.. it featured #2 p4p class recruit Winston and #17 Melde and a bunch of NJ state champions.... although this class didn’t feature any all Americans, it really built the foundation for us for years to come... there were many national qualifiers from this class and we were very competitive in dual meets.

 

[KidDagger]

Debatable. The 2016 class had 5 guys in the top 71 nationally (though none higher than #50). Grello, Correnti, Mulligan, Paetzell, and Mackall. It also featured Donner, who was ranked 14th nationally at 182, and MVB who was unranked.

This class had a lot of promise... Grello, Correnti, Paetzel, and Mackall all ended up being NCAA qualifiers and MVB still has a chance to become one so.. overall this class produced 4-5 ncaa qualifiers so not bad at all but paetzel and mackall transferred out..

I’d say the 2019 class is stronger though and I don’t think it’s close.. it’s very important to get the top tier guys for better AA chances and this class has 3 top 50 p4p and one in the top 10 p4p .. which is huge...then u add in top 100 guys like Kanniard, DelVecchio, and Britton and I’m very excited for this class... I’d say this is our best class ever..

 

[Ole Cabbagehead]

This class had a lot of promise... Grello, Correnti, Paetzel, and Mackall all ended up being NCAA qualifiers and MVB still has a chance to become one so.. overall this class produced 4-5 ncaa qualifiers so not bad at all but paetzel and mackall transferred out..

I’d say the 2019 class is stronger though and I don’t think it’s close.. it’s very important to get the top tier guys for better AA chances and this class has 3 top 50 p4p and one in the top 10 p4p .. which is huge...then u add in top 100 guys like Kanniard, DelVecchio, and Britton and I’m very excited for this class... I’d say this is our best class ever..

I strongly agree. Wrestling is not like football for basketball, where Top 100 guys are all difference makers. In the Big ten especially, Top 100 is more of a floor then a signal that someone is going to be a factor, let alone a starter. I would argue a class with 1 guy in the top ten and 4 unranked guys is a stronger class then one where there are 5 guys ranked in the 50-75 range. Basically it is 1 guy to zero.

All in all, generally speaking we need guys ranked top 6 or so in their weight class, and preferably top 3. Those are your recruits who will be likely to score points at NCAA tournament.

 

[LetsGoRUwrestling]

Wow..Powerade Champ, Beast of East Champ, ETR Champ and a PA undefeated State Champ. This is just a late steal by the RU Staff..Great job!

 

[KidDagger]

Wow..Powerade Champ, Beast of East Champ, ETR Champ and a PA undefeated State Champ. This is just a late steal by the RU Staff..Great job!

He’s also ranked as the third best prospect coming out of PA this year. Only Behind PSU commit starroci and Iowa state commit Ryan Anderson

 

[R U Crazy]

1) The Best class RU ever had was Anthony Ashanults Class.
Multiple AA's and 1 National Championship
2) The second best Class is the class that started it all....Scott WInston's class
3) 2019 Class... Aragona/Briton/Vulakh/Harrison/Kanniard/Turley/Delvecchio
RU Middelweights get to train with Anthony Ashnault and we should have 141 to 165 set for 4 years. Turley/Delvecchio will improve out upperweights.


We need to look for a stud lower weight next class and continue the search for an elite upperweight (training with Pat Downey will help)

This is My opinion of course.

 

[KidDagger]

1) The Best class RU ever had was Anthony Ashanults Class.
Multiple AA's and 1 National Championship
2) The second best Class is the class that started it all....Scott WInston's class
3) 2019 Class... Aragona/Briton/Vulakh/Harrison/Kanniard/Turley/Delvecchio
RU Middelweights get to train with Anthony Ashnault and we should have 141 to 165 set for 4 years. Turley/Delvecchio will improve out upperweights.


We need to look for a stud lower weight next class and continue the search for an elite upperweight (training with Pat Downey will help)

This is My opinion of course.

Well I was talking bout best class ever in terms of on paper.. before we know the results.. who else was in Ash’s class btw?? Gravina and

 

[R U Crazy]

OK, Only 1 All American (I thought Scott Delvechhio was this class).
But Anthony Ashnault was a 4 time All American and national Championship
This makes it #1 in my book.

#12-Rutgers Scarlet Knights
5-Year Cycle: UR, #21, #24, HM
Recruits:
TR-Ethan Orr, NJ (Labette) (165)
#3-Anthony Ashnault, NJ (141)
#11-Tyson Dippery, PA (149)
#15-Corey Stasenko, NJ (125/133)
HM-Nick Gravina, NJ (157/165)
HM-Taylor Jackson, FL (184)

Others: Josh Patrick, PA (125); Garrett Conner, OH (184/197); Anthony Messner, NJ (184/197)

 

[ScarletGrapfan]

OK, Only 1 All American (I thought Scott Delvechhio was this class).
But Anthony Ashnault was a 4 time All American and national Championship
This makes it #1 in my book.


#12-Rutgers Scarlet Knights
5-Year Cycle: UR, #21, #24, HM
Recruits:
TR-Ethan Orr, NJ (Labette) (165)
#3-Anthony Ashnault, NJ (141)
#11-Tyson Dippery, PA (149)
#15-Corey Stasenko, NJ (125/133)
HM-Nick Gravina, NJ (157/165)
HM-Taylor Jackson, FL (184)

Others: Josh Patrick, PA (125); Garrett Conner, OH (184/197); Anthony Messner, NJ (184/197)

Well, you are the only one who ranks recruiting classes after the fact. This class 2019 coming out of High School is much better than the 2013 class(and Delvechio was part of the class). The 2013 class had 3 in the top 100, Ash, Scott and Dippery with only AA in the top 50.

 

[RobotHunter]

Curious with all of his accomplishments and undefeated state champ and ranked #3 in one of the top wrestling states in country why he was committed to George Mason...seems strange.

 

[Clearscreen25]

Curious with all of his accomplishments and undefeated state champ and ranked #3 in one of the top wrestling states in country why he was committed to George Mason...seems strange.

George Mason has a very PA-heavy staff with a lot of ties to PA high schools.

Ryan de-committed earlier this spring and had reported interest from PSU, Arizona State and others, I'm sure.

 

[KidDagger]

Curious with all of his accomplishments and undefeated state champ and ranked #3 in one of the top wrestling states in country why he was committed to George Mason...seems strange.

In an interview he said he wanted to be part of a building program... we r the perfect fit!

 

[wngarbarini]

This class in 2-3 years could make us a trophy candidate at the NCAAs

 

[Abro1975]

This class in 2-3 years could make us a trophy candidate at the NCAAs

Getting the Ferraris and Van Ness would just about do it.

 

[KidDagger]

OK, Only 1 All American (I thought Scott Delvechhio was this class).
But Anthony Ashnault was a 4 time All American and national Championship
This makes it #1 in my book.

#12-Rutgers Scarlet Knights
5-Year Cycle: UR, #21, #24, HM
Recruits:
TR-Ethan Orr, NJ (Labette) (165)
#3-Anthony Ashnault, NJ (141)
#11-Tyson Dippery, PA (149)
#15-Corey Stasenko, NJ (125/133)
HM-Nick Gravina, NJ (157/165)
HM-Taylor Jackson, FL (184)

Others: Josh Patrick, PA (125); Garrett Conner, OH (184/197); Anthony Messner, NJ (184/197)

Who’s to say we don’t have a recruit in the 2019 class who can’t top or match 4xAA 1x champ ?? Might also have multiple AA from 2019 class

 

[Clearscreen25]

I watched a bunch of Vulakh’s matches on Flo. Here are some thoughts. First and foremost, he wrestles with an edge and a nastiness to him that we see in Iowa wrestlers. He is on offense from the start and is looking to score a bunch of points.

Like most high schoolers, he is very strong on his feet. He goes for a lot of ankle picks and low singles. His style on his feet looks very Shnaulty-like and I’m sure he will enjoy working with him. He really finishes once he has a leg and he often finishes with a bit of a snarl in his takedowns. Not a lot of upper body moves, but a series of quick low singles and ankle picks.

In the Pittsburgh Classic, he wrestled Cam Amine (#2 ranked Michigan commit) and lost in Sudden victory when a big move failed. Amine had him tied up around the head and shoulders most of the match which neutralized a lot of Ryan’s offense on his feet. It was hard to tell, but it looked like the winning takedown came off a tie up where they both tried a throw and Amine came out on top. If he stayed away from the tie-ups, I think he would have had more success with his shots. This is a strategy against him I’m sure he will see in college.

Didn’t see too much of him on bottom as he usually escaped very quickly against high school competition. Obviously, this will be a skill he needs to develop against college wrestlers.

On top, he is looking to score and turn. He does not seem content to ride, which may simply be a result of high school competition. More importantly, he is really punishing on top and will quickly switch if something is not working. There is a definite toughness and edge about his wrestling style.

This kid is impressive. I was really surprised by how punishing he is. Some wrestlers are slick, some are oxes, some are strong defensively, etc. Ryan is nasty, combined with his skills. RU fans will love the edge this kid brings to a match.

I think Turley will be a fan favorite for his style, and I think Ryan will be as well.

 

[ScottRU93]

Really think we have 4 gems in Aragona, Vulakh, Turley, and Kanniard. Don’t sleep on Kanniard. Think he can also be special.

Also like the depth with the other guys:
Britton, DelVecchio, etc.

And next year we already have Shawver, Poznanski, and O’Neill committed.

Going to be lots of good competition in that room.

 

[silentwillie]

Really think we have 4 gems in Aragona, Vulakh, Turley, and Kanniard. Don’t sleep on Kanniard. Think he can also be special.

Also like the depth with the other guys:
Britton, DelVecchio, etc.

And next year we already have Shawver, Poznanski, and O’Neill committed.

Going to be lots of good competition in that room.

Are there rankings for our junior commits yet?

 

[Leonard23]

I watched a bunch of Vulakh’s matches on Flo. Here are some thoughts. First and foremost, he wrestles with an edge and a nastiness to him that we see in Iowa wrestlers. He is on offense from the start and is looking to score a bunch of points.

Like most high schoolers, he is very strong on his feet. He goes for a lot of ankle picks and low singles. His style on his feet looks very Shnaulty-like and I’m sure he will enjoy working with him. He really finishes once he has a leg and he often finishes with a bit of a snarl in his takedowns. Not a lot of upper body moves, but a series of quick low singles and ankle picks.

In the Pittsburgh Classic, he wrestled Cam Amine (#2 ranked Michigan commit) and lost in Sudden victory when a big move failed. Amine had him tied up around the head and shoulders most of the match which neutralized a lot of Ryan’s offense on his feet. It was hard to tell, but it looked like the winning takedown came off a tie up where they both tried a throw and Amine came out on top. If he stayed away from the tie-ups, I think he would have had more success with his shots. This is a strategy against him I’m sure he will see in college.

Didn’t see too much of him on bottom as he usually escaped very quickly against high school competition. Obviously, this will be a skill he needs to develop against college wrestlers.

On top, he is looking to score and turn. He does not seem content to ride, which may simply be a result of high school competition. More importantly, he is really punishing on top and will quickly switch if something is not working. There is a definite toughness and edge about his wrestling style.

This kid is impressive. I was really surprised by how punishing he is. Some wrestlers are slick, some are oxes, some are strong defensively, etc. Ryan is nasty, combined with his skills. RU fans will love the edge this kid brings to a match.

I think Turley will be a fan favorite for his style, and I think Ryan will be as well.

This is an excellent late pickup for us. He improved a lot since the 2018 PIAA semi loss to Sasso, where he was dominated, and he has the potential for multiple AAs, if that improvement trajectory continues. He would benefit from a redshirt year to get stronger, and needs to get better on bottom against the elite kids, as most HS wrestlers do.

 

[RU23]

Really think we have 4 gems in Aragona, Vulakh, Turley, and Kanniard. Don’t sleep on Kanniard. Think he can also be special.

Also like the depth with the other guys:
Britton, DelVecchio, etc.

And next year we already have Shawver, Poznanski, and O’Neill committed.

Going to be lots of good competition in that room.

Agree on Kanniard. I see some Perrotti in him. Turley I could see being similar to Gravina, but hopefully without the injuries. Fan favorite for sure.

 

[MS-RU]

Are there rankings for our junior commits yet?

Class of 2020 Big Board from Flo:

#41 - Connor O'Neil: Runner-up to future teammate Kanniard. Solid middleweight prospect. (#8 @ 160)

#45 - John Poznanski: Runner-Up to Foca. Excellent combo for RU w/ O'Neil. (#5 @ 182)

#62 - Dylan Shawver: 3rd at state tournament and the highest non-senior placer in his Ironman bracket. (#6 @ 126)