Off-season 2026; Roster Needs/Portal
- Thread starter NEIACyclone
- Start date
The wrestling message board is more cryptic than a Matt Campbell injury report.
Is there any bad blood between him and the coaches since he is leaving or they just all know it's for the best?
First…I’m no insider, but the way I think about the Ech situation:
- Ech has been at 141 for two years. That seems to be a significant cut for him, and he himself has mentioned wanting to go 149
- Evan Frost has been at 133, where he was an AA two years ago. As he gets older, this has clearly been a massive cut for him. 141 would likely be a much more manageable weight.
- Jacob Frost wrestled well last year at 149. He fell short of AA, but he was right there.
So…do you bring back Ech, who would be a title contender at 141, but unsure of his upside at 149, or go with two potential AA’s at more natural weights in the Frost brothers. I would bet on Ech being an AA level wrestler at 149, but maybe a stretch beyond that.
I have no answer for 125.
I like Anthony a lot. He’s always been very nice and polite when he interacts with fans. He’s also sending a lot of his money home to help his family out back in Cuba. We have a logjam from 141-157. Someone was going to get squeezed out. So Anthony can make more money, wrestle his final year at 149, and Iowa State now can use his money to plug a hole somewhere else while letting Evan, Jacob, and PJ wrestle.
I do not know, but I would guess Ech was getting more NIL money than either Frost or Panrio and we can't pay 4 guys for 3 weights with all the other needs we have
Ech we'll be fine at 149, maybe not a title contender but he'll be an AA again.
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Ok, I can agree with that logic. It would have been a tough choice, and no clear direction.
You’re trading pretty much a sure fire AA and the most likely finalist on the roster, to fill 2 weights with possible AAs. Plus freeing up money to fill another weight.
Very noticeably thanked everyone around him in his IG post BUT the coaches
I agree Ech is likely an AA at 149, but is he a sure fire title contender there? Maybe, but I don’t know.
E Frost and J Frost are AA caliber at 141 and 149. It’s a 2:1 in my head.
That was at 141. Last year he started at 149, got hurt, and had plans to come back at 141, but the infection took over.
They must, Well let’s help a guy out and dangle a carrot so we can all back away from the ledge right?!
I feel like “best
I can agree with this and I just want to clarify my concern was more about the holistic roster situation than ech specifically, it sounds like there was some plausible reasoning based on the other posts about ech. I had three more paragraphs typed out about the roster as a whole but I won’t subject you all to that.
Loved Ech. Was always super polite and willing to converse and show gratitude to anyone.
Also think this move makes sense for both. We have good options at 141/149 without him and we could use that money to plug a few gaping holes that we have. Also great for Anthony to find a big pay day and wrestle 149 for a year.
Also think this move makes sense for both. We have good options at 141/149 without him and we could use that money to plug a few gaping holes that we have. Also great for Anthony to find a big pay day and wrestle 149 for a year.
Boy I hope Iowa doesn’t end up with him…
