****Official National Duals Thread****

[ca4cy]

Weatherman is a strong kid and like everyone else I had high expectations for him. Wrestling is an intense sport on your mind and right now I agree with someone's post that he needs some fish to help build his confidence. One thing I do like about him is that he hates to lose and I believe he has a good idea on how hard he will need to work to become an AA. I just wished he would have wrestled more open tournaments last year when he was redshirted to prepare for this year. His brother is a stud wrestler for Ballard this year and I sure hope we can land him next year. Nice to see we grabbed Soresons brother as well. Just think...we went from 25th before the season to be a top 12 team...that's quite an accomplishment and we're only half way into the season.

Unless I've got him mixed up with somebody else, we already have his brother verbally committed to ISU. I agree that while we're not up to our historical standards, we are actually exceeding our preseason expectations at this point. I like what KJ is doing and am willing to give him the time necessary to sort out the issues that Cael left and replace the talent that went east.

 

[CYVADER]

Unless I've got him mixed up with somebody else, we already have his brother verbally committed to ISU. I agree that while we're not up to our historical standards, we are actually exceeding our preseason expectations at this point. I like what KJ is doing and am willing to give him the time necessary to sort out the issues that Cael left and replace the talent that went east.

honest question as i don't know the answer, and am willing to wait awhile as well, but how long is that? i like what kj is doing so far as well and think he is the guy for us going forward.

i think we almost have to be back to top 5 next year as a realistic goal. if not, outsiders will look badly upon it, our fringe fans will wonder what's going on and lose the small amount of interest they had. if he gets us a top 5 next year, that is something to build on, and we go from there. 10th or worse and it could get dicey.

 

[ca4cy]

honest question as i don't know the answer, and am willing to wait awhile as well, but how long is that? i like what kj is doing so far as well and think he is the guy for us going forward.

i think we almost have to be back to top 5 next year as a realistic goal. if not, outsiders will look badly upon it, our fringe fans will wonder what's going on and lose the small amount of interest they had. if he gets us a top 5 next year, that is something to build on, and we go from there. 10th or worse and it could get dicey.

My answer is similar to yours. I think we should be top 5-7 next year, top 3 in DsM in 2013 and competing for National titles for the next couple of years after that. I will be disappointed if we are outside of the top 10 after this season.

I like what KJ is doing with the guys he has and think he is better than Cael at developing talent. Varner and Z were better wrestlers under him than they were under Cael. Reader is better (you can't hold the fact that he was wrestling with a concussion in Omaha last year against KJ.) Sorenson and Simonson were unheralded recruits that have shown themselves to be legitimate AA contenders and the staff certainly deserves at least some of the credit for that along with the work ethic of those two kids.

My concern is recruiting. KJ can't match Cael's name. No one can, and while the assistants we have seem good in the room, I do wish we had somebody with a little more splash in recruiting circles on our staff. Wrestling is like basketball in that 2 or 3 impact recruits can turn a team around pretty quickly. If he can recruit consistent top 10 classes and get a whopper every once in awhile I think he can take us to the top. We had a top 10 class last year (with a lot of money to throw around) and are off to a good start this season with Pena and Weatherman committed. If we can get another big stud and some "depth" recruits in this class, I'll feel a lot better going forward.

 

[DantheFan]

My concern is recruiting. KJ can't match Cael's name. No one can, and while the assistants we have seem good in the room, I do wish we had somebody with a little more splash in recruiting circles on our staff. Wrestling is like basketball in that 2 or 3 impact recruits can turn a team around pretty quickly. If he can recruit consistent top 10 classes and get a whopper every once in awhile I think he can take us to the top. We had a top 10 class last year (with a lot of money to throw around) and are off to a good start this season with Pena and Weatherman committed. If we can get another big stud and some "depth" recruits in this class, I'll feel a lot better going forward.

I agree. I believe KJ is doing great recruiting so far. The current red shirts look great and as you said the incoming class is shaping up too, I believe in addition to Pena and Weatherman we have signed Bo Schlosser a stud from Bettendorf, and Sorenson's brother. I like the fact that he seems to be getting a higher volume of Iowa kids in his classes. I recall him saying that was something important to him and it's showing.

 

[ca4cy]

I'm excited about Aaron Sorenson. He was no gimmee as UNI was really after him. I think he can progress like his brother and be more than just a "depth" guy.

Schlosser sounded good when we got him but I've cooled a little. My understanding is that he's out til districts due to academics. As much as I hate to say it, if you can't stay eligible in high school, I don't like your odds in college. Hopefully he gets himself squared around and is an impact wrestler for us.

I'm not usually real big on JUCOs but if we could land that Perkins kid at NIACC, I think he could be a good one at 49-57 and add some needed depth and competition there. His brother was an ISU commit a few years back but this one is supposed to be better.

 

[DantheFan]

Bummer about Schlosser, I certainly hope he can get his grades under control too. You're probably very right about kids who can't get the grades in high school not being able to get them in college.

I hadn't heard about Perkins, sounds like a good one. Do you have a link where I could see a profile of him or anything. I enjoy checking on recruits and potentials.

 

[crooksie_26]

Perkins is very, very, very good....He was a top 5 guy at his weight and ranked about #30 overall in his class last year, he would be a very good get. But I guess getting him would kind of be saying that we are giving up on Weatherman....Trent I believe will have a fantastic career at ISU, he's just struggling early but look for him to breakout. Truth be told I was hoping we'd get Colon from Iowa Central as he would have brought immediate help at 133 next year....

 

[ca4cy]

Bummer about Schlosser, I certainly hope he can get his grades under control too. You're probably very right about kids who can't get the grades in high school not being able to get them in college.

I hadn't heard about Perkins, sounds like a good one. Do you have a link where I could see a profile of him or anything. I enjoy checking on recruits and potentials.

Here's an article from '09 where Perkins mentions liking ISU, and KJ in particular. Also, I was wrong, he's at Ellsworth not NIACC.

TOM goes to the mat with 2009 Jr. Greco Champ RaVaughn Perkins | OpenMat News

I don't really want to recruit "over" Weatherman this early either, but this kid is a stud with a strong freestyle and greco background. He's in our backyard and hopefully still interested in ISU. I say if we can get him, we get him, and let the chips fall where they may.

 

[DantheFan]

Very nice! Perkins does sound pretty awesome. I agree it would be great to get him on our squad and see what happens. At the very least there's nothing wrong with having some nice depth and some great competition in the wrestling room. Who knows maybe it would make sense for one of them to move up or down a weight eventually.

 

[buf87]

Very nice! Perkins does sound pretty awesome. I agree it would be great to get him on our squad and see what happens. At the very least there's nothing wrong with having some nice depth and some great competition in the wrestling room. Who knows maybe it would make sense for one of them to move up or down a weight eventually.

Ranked #1 at 149 in latest TOM JUCO rankings