2018 Season Expectations

[fan4wrestling]

The program has made huge strides the last two seasons. Last year was huge getting two all-americans including a finalist.

Projected Lineup:

125 - Justin Portillo - Had a good win at the end of the year against Kris Williams of Nebraska. The rest of the year he struggled against D1 competition. Hopefully, this weight will be competitive in duals.

133 - Gross - Ranked #1 in the country. It would be great for him to build off of last season and keep continuing to put up bonus points and be the first Jackrabbit national champion at D1.

141 - Pohlmeyer - Won 50% of his matches last year. Seemed to struggle later in the year. Has the ability to surprise some with a pin. Hopefully, he can improve his leg attacks and win more closer matches.

149 - C. Carlson - Seems to be a pretty athletic kid, hopefully going down a weight serves him well. He seemed to struggle against the better D1 guys.

157 - Zilverberg - Ranked #18. Looks like their are a pretty solid 8 guys at this weight. If Luke has solid season and the bracket falls right or there is an injury or two he could make the podium.

165 - Peterson - Won around 50% of his matches last year at 157. Wrestles pretty well on top. Hopefully continues to improve in the neutral position.

174 - Kocer - Ranked #11. I think David has the ability to make the podium if he is wrestling with confidence. After the first five guys at the weight there are probably ten solid guys competing to be in the top eight.

184 - Mueller - Won about 50% of his matches. Is a talented wrestler who moves well at 184 and hit some big moves. Hopefully, he improves his conditioning from last year. May have a chance to qualify for nationals if he has made some gains from last year.

197 - Rotert - Ranked #9. He has beaten the fifth ranked wrestler. He was making some real strides last year before his injury against Smith from West Virginia. I thought he had a real good chance to all-american last year before the injury. Hopefullly he has a great senior year and is on the podium at the end of the year.

285 - Macki - Hopefully, he continues making some strides. He added a little offense last year.

I just went with who I thought was the favorite for the spot. I know a few are in question, but I don't think there is a huge change in expectations if someone else grabs the spot.

Currently ranked 15th by flowrestling.

Duals:
Expectation: Beat 4 or 5 of NDSU, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Oregon State (20), Wyoming (19), Central Michigan (16).
Continued growth: Beat all 6 of NDSU, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Oregon State (20), Wyoming (19), Central Michigan (16).
Huge stride: Beat UNI (11), Minnesota (9)

NCAA:
Expectation: 2 All-americans and 5 NCAA qualifiers - repeat last years results
Continued growth: 1 National Champ and 1 other All-american or 6 NQ's
Huge strides: 1 National Champ, 3 All-americans and 6 NQ's

The jackrabbits should have a lot of competitive duals this year. I think a lot will depend on the six non-ranked guys. If we can get two of those guys to be NQ's that will be huge for the program as three of the ranked guys will be graduating this year. I like Mueller's physical gifts, if he is training hard he should be NQ. I think Carlson has a lot of upside too, hopefully we see flashes of it this year. Pohlmeyer and Peterson need to show growth and consistency to become NQ's, hopefully a year of experience as a starter will help their growth.

If things go well at nationals, I think we could be around 12th - 13th place (around 40 points last year). Last year the jackrabbits scored 28.5 points.

Getting a national champ would be huge for the program. I also hope a couple young guys have been improving over this off-season to be able to make the national tournament in March. We lose a lot of quality guys after this season.

[frontheadlock]

Re: 2018 Season Expectations

Thanks for the write up. A couple of questions..

Any truth to Brady Ayers to 97 and Rotert to HWY?
Also hearing Zach Carlson to 65

Will there be any open workouts before the first match?

Thanks in advance

[Jackedforlife]

Re: 2018 Season Expectations

I echo your sentiments on goals and I think the huge stride is a very good possibility and I'll go one further saying we will get 4 AA. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Brown may push to start at 125 as will Vough at 285. Both are true freshman but I think they will be pushing and will be successful. Brown has a crazy amount of talent and I see him as one that could be a 4 time AA. Vough has the height and size to match up well, I like Macki but he gives up so much size on the mat and his quickness doesn't make up for it. #GETJACKED

I'd be shocked if Rotert moved up, he give up so much in terms of weight it may render him ineffective. Macki was probably giving up 30+ pounds every match, Nate would give up 60+...that's tough sledding there.

[slosho]

Re: 2018 Season Expectations

I echo your sentiments on goals and I think the huge stride is a very good possibility and I'll go one further saying we will get 4 AA. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Brown may push to start at 125 as will Vough at 285. Both are true freshman but I think they will be pushing and will be successful. Brown has a crazy amount of talent and I see him as one that could be a 4 time AA. Vough has the height and size to match up well, I like Macki but he gives up so much size on the mat and his quickness doesn't make up for it. #GETJACKED

I'd be shocked if Rotert moved up, he give up so much in terms of weight it may render him ineffective. Macki was probably giving up 30+ pounds every match, Nate would give up 60+...that's tough sledding there.

Tough when the big guys can just Fat on ya, I know from experience.

[fan4wrestling]

Re: 2018 Season Expectations

Thanks for the write up. A couple of questions..

Any truth to Brady Ayers to 97 and Rotert to HWY?
Also hearing Zach Carlson to 65

Will there be any open workouts before the first match?

Thanks in advance

Z. Carlson is listed at 165 on roster. If the weight cut is not too tough on him, him and Peterson may have a nice battle to start.

Have not heard anything on guys going up that would seem strange unless Rotert has put on a lot of weight this summer which I doubt.

[fan4wrestling]

Re: 2018 Season Expectations

I echo your sentiments on goals and I think the huge stride is a very good possibility and I'll go one further saying we will get 4 AA. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Brown may push to start at 125 as will Vough at 285. Both are true freshman but I think they will be pushing and will be successful. Brown has a crazy amount of talent and I see him as one that could be a 4 time AA. Vough has the height and size to match up well, I like Macki but he gives up so much size on the mat and his quickness doesn't make up for it. #GETJACKED

I'd be shocked if Rotert moved up, he give up so much in terms of weight it may render him ineffective. Macki was probably giving up 30+ pounds every match, Nate would give up 60+...that's tough sledding there.

I wouldn't be too surprised if Brown was able to win the spot. I just don't see him being much more successful than our other options as true freshman to pull his redshirt. He did wrestle 120 as a senior and he is not the most physically put together wrestler. I think a year training should help him a lot. I do like kids that use wrestling as opposed to strength in high school.

I feel somewhat similar on Vough too. I know Bono doesn't mind blowing red-shirts too much so maybe both freshman start. Personally, I don't have huge expectations for either if they start this year. They could help us be a slightly better dual team.

If SDSU gets 4 AA this year, Bono should win national coach of the year. 4 AA's would probably put us around top 10 in the country.

[AmberValley]

Re: 2018 Season Expectations

Gross to battle Micic at All-Star Classic



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[Jackedforlife]

Re: 2018 Season Expectations

I wouldn't be too surprised if Brown was able to win the spot. I just don't see him being much more successful than our other options as true freshman to pull his redshirt. He did wrestle 120 as a senior and he is not the most physically put together wrestler. I think a year training should help him a lot. I do like kids that use wrestling as opposed to strength in high school.

I feel somewhat similar on Vough too. I know Bono doesn't mind blowing red-shirts too much so maybe both freshman start. Personally, I don't have huge expectations for either if they start this year. They could help us be a slightly better dual team.

If SDSU gets 4 AA this year, Bono should win national coach of the year. 4 AA's would probably put us around top 10 in the country.

I'd be more concerned about strength in the upper classes but I think with Brown he brings tremendous speed and balance to go with great wrestling intellect. Vough is the exception, much like the Hutmacher kid in Chamberlain, he brings power and smarts. Wisdom beyond his years. I think that is a benchmark for the program, our wrestlers are incredibly smart wrestlers, add in their conditioning which is unmatched. So excited for the season. #GETJACKED!!!

[fan4wrestling]

Re: 2018 Season Expectations

Dual Team - The team to this point has exceeded my expectations as a dual team. Brown has done an awesome job as a true freshman. The improvements from 141, 184, 285 have given us a pretty balanced team. It will be pretty impressive if we finish off the year with only two losses with some quality opponents. If we don't have a let down all of the remaining duals are winnable.

Tournament Team - This part is where the team has been a little disappointing. To be a good tournament team you need a few great individuals. Gross has continued to build off of last year. I was hoping to see good strides by the three senior returning qualifiers. Rotert coming into the year with a injury probably hasn't helped. Zilverberg has wrestled well, maybe a little better than last year, but needs to take a big jump to get on the podium. I think he has the tools to be an all-american but sometimes seem to lack a needed intensity. Kocer was starting to look like a good shot at an all-american but his last two losses will hurt seeding. He needs to figure out how to get a takedown against the better competition.

The positive is it looks like we have a decent chance to get six qualifiers and to return three qualifiers next year. Earlier in the year, I thought we may only have one.

Hopefully, the team will stay healthy and be able to get some upsets at the end of the year. Alex Kocer showed last year if you get a few upsets you can make it onto the podium. Most likely our seniors will need at least one upset maybe two to make it on the podium. All of them have the potential to make the podium but will need to wrestle better than they have during the season.

It would be nice for our seniors to go out in style in Cleveland and for the team to get its first Division I national champ. Our younger guys making nationals and getting a few upsets would be awesome too.

Current Rankings:

Team: 15,12,14

Brown: 20,19,23
Gross: 1,1,1
Zilverberg: 16,12,11
Kocer: 14,11,13
Rotert: 11,9,9

Fans - It has been great to see the support the team is getting. The coaches and university have done great job marketing the program and the fans have responded. Seeing the change in the atmosphere over the past few years has been truly amazing.