We are coming into the final weight of are NCAA previews, so let’s hop into 285 lbs.

Conference Championship Predictions

Big Ten – Gable Steveson (Minnesota)

ACC – Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech)

Big 12 – Zach Elam (Missouri)

PAC-12 – Cohlton Schultz (Arizona St)

EIWA – Jordan Wood (Lehigh)

MAC – Matt Stencel (Central Michigan)

SoCon – Michael McAleavey (The Citadel)

All-American Predictions

1. Gable Steveson (Minnesota)
2. Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)
3. Mason Parris (Michigan)
4. Anthony Cassioppi (Iowa)
5. Jordan Wood (Lehigh)
6. Zach Elam (Missouri)
7. Matt Stencel (Central Michigan)
8. Cohlton Schultz (Arizona St)

Round of 12

• Yaraslau Slavilouski (Harvard)
• Lucas Davison (Northwestern)
• Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)
• Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force)

Gable Steveson

Steveson is the undisputed, best heavyweight wrestler at the moment, and some could argue of all-time even over Kyle Snyder’s dominant run a couple years ago. I think the true battle of this weight is between 3 Big Ten wrestlers and that is Kerkvliet, Parris, and Cassioppi. I think this will be a 4-way Big Ten NCAA Semi-Finals at heavyweight as well so that kind of points to how special Gable Steveson has been. I think last season I had a little doubt of Steveson because I thought Parris had the opportunity to beat him at least once last season, but Steveson proved that wrong. I think Steveson will see Kerkvliet in the Finals as a full year of wrestling for Kerkvliet will pay off for him, but Steveson pulls off this NCAA Final in a somewhat close match by what the scoreboard says, but if you watch it, it will not be that close.

Round of 12

Matchups

• Zach Elam vs Yaraslau Slavilouski
• Matt Stencel vs Lucas Davison
• Cohlton Schultz vs Trent Hillger
• Jordan Wood vs Wyatt Hendrickson

So, in the first blood round matchup, we will see Elam vs Slavilouski. Elam will drop from the Quarterfinals and Slavilouski from the Second Round. This will be a closer matchup than some might think, but I will go with Elam in a tight one. Next up is Stencel vs Davison. Stencel will drop from the Quarterfinals and Davison is going to suffer an early round loss. I have Stencel in this matchup, pulling away late.

Now for the other set of blood round matchups as I have Schultz vs Hillger. Schultz will suffer a Quarterfinal loss and Hillger with suffer a Second Round loss. I have Schultz in this one, fairly easily actually. The final blood round matchup will go to Wood vs Hendrickson. Wood will suffer a Quarterfinal defeat and Hendrickson will lose, most likely in the Second Round. I have Wood pulling off the win in this one, but it will be tough as Hendrickson is very talented.

All-Americans

So, we will see Elam vs Stencel and Schultz vs Wood for the chance to wrestle in the Consi-Semi’s. I have Elam over Stencel and Wood over Schultz in a close one. That sets up Consi-Semi matchups with two Big Ten hammers, Cassioppi and Parris and they will move on. For seventh we will see Stencel vs Schultz in an interesting matchup. I have Stencel over Schultz in a close one. For fifth we would see Wood vs Elam and I like Wood to cap off the season with a fifth place finish. For third, we have a massive matchup between Parris vs Cassioppi and this will be a fun one. I think Parris will pull this match out late and take third over Cassioppi.

Wrap-Up

At 285 lbs., this is Gable Steveson’s world and everybody else is living in it. I think this is the best crop of heavyweights we have seen in a long time at this weight and Steveson is still multiple steps above them. This is a Big Ten heavy weight and I think this is the deepest the Big Ten is at a single weight. I pick Kerkvliet over Parris and Cassioppi in NCAA’s because I think Kerkvliet is going to jump in talent level this season. With a full regular season and the chance to feel out and possibly beat Parris and Cassioppi during the season, I think it will provide him with a better gameplan than he had last year at the NCAA Championships. The other conferences are not as deep and will probably have to rely on their conference champions to medal, which shows how deep the Big Ten is.

8 weights are down, 2 more to go and today we knock into 197 lbs.

Conference Champion Predictions

Big Ten – Max Dean (Penn State)

ACC – Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)

Big 12 – AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma St)

PAC-12 – Kordell Norfleet (Arizona St)

EIWA – Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)

MAC – Ben Smith (Cleveland St)

SoCon – Tyler Mousaw (VMI)

All-American Predictions

1. Braxton Amos (Wisconsin)
2. AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma St)
3. Max Dean (Penn State)
4. Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)
5. Jacob Warner (Iowa)
6. Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)
7. Rocky Elam (Missouri)
8. Kordell Norfleet (Arizona St)

Round of 12

• Cameron Caffey (Michigan St)
• Stephan Buchanan (Wyoming)
• Patrick Brucki (Michigan)
• Jake Woodley (Oklahoma)

Braxton Amos

Is me picking Braxton Amos at this weight as surprise to you? It really should not be as Braxton Amos was one of the most highly sought after recruits coming out of the Great state of West Virginia and won World medals in two different styles at the Junior World Championships. Yeah, Amos is a good wrestler. The popular pick here is AJ Ferrari to repeat and as much as I would love to see him repeat, it is not easy at all. I am not really sure what the preseason expectations are for Amos and any where I have looked while doing my research, shows that right now many are not talking about him yet. I think this is going to be Braxton Amos’s weight into the future and it starts this season. I see him facing Ferrari again as Ferrari is a very good wrestler and beating him in a tough match.

Round of 12

Matchups

• Nino Bonaccorsi vs Cameron Caffey
• Kordell Norfleet vs Stephan Buchanan
• Jacob Warner vs Patrick Brucki
• Rocky Elam vs Jake Woodley

The first matchup of the blood rounds is Bonaccorsi vs Caffey. Bonaccorsi will probably drop from the Quarterfinals and Caffey from a second round loss. I will take Bonaccorsi in this matchup. Next up is Norfleet vs Buchanan. Buchanan will be the one that drops from the Quarterfinals in this matchup and Norfleet will get upset early but will battle back. I will take Norfleet in this one after riding a couple consolation wins.

The next matchup is Warner vs Brucki, that could be a Big Ten tournament rematch. Warner will drop from the Quarterfinals and Brucki from an early round loss. I will take Warner in this one, but in a very close match. The final blood round match would be Elam vs Woodley in a possible Big 12 tournament rematch. Elam will drop from the Quarterfinals and Woodley from a Second-Round loss. I will take Elam in this one that will probably come down to the wire.

All-Americans

So, we will see Bonaccorsi vs Norfleet and Warner vs Elam for the chance to wrestle in the Consi-Semi’s. I will take Bonaccorsi over Norfleet and Warner over Elam in a tight one. For the Consi-Semi’s we could see Bonaccorsi vs Darmstadt and Warner vs Dean. I have Bonaccorsi being on a hot streak at this point of Saturday morning, and I will take him over Darmstadt. I will take Max Dean over Warner in this other Consi-Semi matchup as I think he will bounce back from a Semi-Final loss. Now, for seventh place we would see Norfleet vs Elam and I have Elam in a tight match. For fifth we would have Darmstadt vs Warner and I will take Warner in a very tight match. For third I have Dean vs Bonaccorsi, and I think the hot streak of Bonaccorsi will end as I think Dean will take third for Penn State.

Wrap-Up

This weight is deceptively deep as the big names are not there but there is a ton of talent at 197 lbs. I really like Braxton Amos coming into this season and I think he is being a little slept on because of AJ Ferrari being such a media sensation after winning last season’s NCAA title. Ferrari is a great wrestler no doubt and I think he has a really good shot at repeating this year, but I have to go with Amos. Max Dean transferring to Penn State was the massive, conference shaping moves of the offseason. Dean is an immediate plug in and be successful right away guy for the Nittany Lions. I think Dean has a good shot at being a NCAA finalist and I think seeding will play a factor into his success. If Dean is matched up against Ferrari, I would give him a better chance of winning than trying to beat Amos a second or third time in the same season.

Ok, we are now up to 184 lbs. This is a weight that has a clear top, and a clear bottom.

Conference Championship Predictions

Big Ten – Aaron Brooks (Penn State)

ACC – Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech)

Big 12 – Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)

PAC-12 – Bernie Traux (Cal Poly)

EIWA – Louie Deprez (Binghamton)

MAC – Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois)

SoCon – Caleb Hopkins (Campbell)

All-American Predictions

1. Aaron Brooks (Penn State)

2. Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)

3. Trent Hidlay (NC State)

4. Myles Amine (Michigan)

5. Bernie Traux (Cal Poly)

6. Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech)

7. Taylor Venz (Nebraska)

8. Dakota Geer ((Oklahoma St)

Round of 12

• John Poznanski (Rutgers)
• Louie Deprez (Binghamton)
• Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois)
• Kaleb Romero (Ohio State)

Aaron Brooks

Aaron Brooks has been the clear number 1 at this weight for the last two seasons and I do not know why this year would be any different. I think every year we try to find a new number 1 or try to pretend that last year’s results mean nothing, and some publications try to say, “this guy is better than Brooks because…” Stop it. Brooks is a career 29-1 wrestler which includes the COVID short years of 2020 and 2021. His only loss came in his redshirt freshman season to Taylor Venz, which he has recently, multiple times, avenged that loss. I think Keckeisen will take a step up from last season and make it to the NCAA Finals to take on Brooks. I think this match is going to be awfully close at the end, but Brooks will pull this one out late.

Round of 12

Matchups

• Hunter Bolen vs John Poznanski
• Taylor Venz vs Louie Deprez
• Dakota Geer vs Britt Wilson
• Bernie Traux vs Kaleb Romero

First match we could see is Bolen vs Poznanski. I see Poznanski losing early due to a bad see and Bolen most likely will fall in the Quarterfinals. I will go with Bolen in this one because I think a little more experience will benefit Bolen here. Next up could be Venz vs Deprez and I do not see this as much as a challenge for Venz. Venz will probably drop from a tight Quarterfinal loss and Deprez could be a second-round exit.

Next up could be Geer vs Wilson in a closer match than some might expect. Wilson will probably be the one dropping from the Quarterfinals and Geer could be the early round exit. I see Geer winning this one in an awfully close match that could come down to riding time. Finally, we could see Traux vs Romero. Last season’s surprise Traux will drop from the Quarterfinals in a tough match and Romero could drop from the second round. Give me Traux in this one, I do not think last year was a fluke.

All-Americans

So, for consolation matches we would see Bolen vs Venz and Geer vs Traux to wrestle for the Consi-Semi’s. I will take Bolen over Venz in a really close match, and I will take Traux over Geer in the second matchup. Now we could see Hidlay vs Bolen and Traux vs Amine in the Consi-Semi’s. Hidlay and Bolen will be an ACC Final rematch and I see this one going to Hidlay. On the other matchup I see Amine bouncing back and taking out a dangerous Traux. For the medal matches now we see for seventh Venz vs Geer and I see Venz bouncing back Saturday morning and taking this one. For fifth we will see Bolen vs Traux, and I like Traux in this one, but it will be a close one. Finally for third we would see Hidlay vs Amine, and I like Hidlay to take this one over Amine. I think Amine is a better Freestyle wrestler than Folkstyle and I think Hidlay is best in Folkstyle.

Wrap-Up

To get back to my first sentence of this article. This is about the only weight that you can say for sure that these are the top six wrestlers, (Brooks, Keckeisen, Hidlay, Amine, Bolen, and Venz) and say they will place but sort out the order when we get there. Traux could be included in that list, and I think he should be, but I just want to see him come out and prove that last year was not a fluke to prove he is a contender in this weight. To whom is number 1. I get when people look at Myles Amine and argue that he is an Olympic Bronze medalist and that makes him a step better than the field because the rest were not. But to me, when talking about a Folkstyle season, I take trends from Folkstyle into account and not Freestyle. Brooks would have won the NCAA title in 2020 if the tournament were not canceled and we know he won last year. Amine has not been able to get it done yet so I will not pick anyone over Brooks until they prove they can beat them and so far, no one really has except Hidlay, but I think Brooks took his foot off the gas pedal a bit at the end of that NCAA final.

Six weights down and four more to go for my previews. Let us highlight 174lbs today as this is another exciting weight.

Conference Championship Predictions

Big Ten – Michael Kemerer (Iowa)

ACC – Hayden Hidlay (NC State)

Big 12 – Peyton Mocco (Missouri)

PAC-12 – Trey Munoz (Oregon St)

EIWA – Ben Pasiuk (Army)

MAC – Jacob Oliver (Edinboro)

SoCon – Austin Murphy (Campbell)

All-American Predictions

1. Carter Starocci (Penn State)

2. Hayden Hidlay (NC State)

3. Michael Kemerer (Iowa)

4. Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)

5. Ben Pasiuk (Army)

6. Michael Labriola (Nebraska)

7. Andrew McNally (Wisconsin)

8. Peyton Mocco (Missouri)

Round of 12

• Ethan Smith (Ohio State)
• Matt Finesilver (Duke)
• Jackson Turley (Rutgers)
• Donnell Washington (Indiana)

Carter Starocci

Look, I know Starocci is not the popular pick at this weight, but this is not a popularity contest. When looking at this weight, I did not see anyone that I thought could 100%, flat out beat Starocci, multiple times in the season. Kemerer has a track record of not finishing at the end of the year. We do not know what Mekhi Lewis we get this year because of how banged up he was last year, and Hidlay, even though he is really good, and I think the weight suits him better, I am not taking the bait. Starocci proved to me last year that he can beat anyone in multiple different ways. If he needs a takedown to beat a guy, he can go get it. If he needs to defend and not get taken down, he can do that. If he needs to ride out an entire period to secure a 1-point win, he can do that.

Starocci, I would say, is not the most exciting wrestler in the field. And to win at this level, you do not need to be exciting. I think he runs into the 2 ACC hammers in back-to-back matches and takes care of both of them in tight matches that come down to the wire.

Round of 12

Matchups

• Andrew McNally vs Ethan Smith
• Michael Labriola vs Matt Finesilver
• Ben Pasiuk vs Jackson Turley
• Peyton Mocco vs Donnell Washington

The first matchup is between McNally vs Smith in a Big Ten showdown. Smith drops from the second round and McNally falls short in the Quarters. I give the edge to McNally in this one just based off of how many matches they will wrestle at this point, and I think McNally will be a lot fresher. Next up is Labriola vs Finesilver. Finesilver, I think, is a first round exit but will battle back, as all of the Finesilver’s seem to do at NCAA’s. Labriola falls just short in the Quarters setting up this matchup. Give me Labriola in this match as I think he wins this one fairly easily.

Now to Pasiuk vs Turley, which I think could be interesting. Pasiuk will drop from the second round and Turley will drop from a close Quarterfinal. I think the logical take here is Turley, but I like Pasiuk to pull off the semi-upset in the blood round. Now to Mocco vs Washington. Mocco, I believe makes it to the Quarters, but drops a close one. Washington will be a second-round exit and will fight back to this spot. This one is a coin flip, and to be honest with you, that is how I picked this one. The flip chose Mocco, but I can easily see Washington winning this match. I think this is about as even as a matchup as you can get.

All-Americans

There was no real method on picking 5 through 8 here. We will see McNally vs Labriola and Pasiuk vs Mocco. I will go with Labriola and Pasiuk to advance to the Consi-Semi’s and to save you sometime, Lewis and Kemerer are going to be wrestling for third. For seventh place we will see McNally vs Mocco, in I think, a fun matchup. I give the edge to McNally in this matchup. For fifth we get to see Labriola vs Pasiuk and give me another upset with Pasiuk winning this one. Now to third place as we will see a, would be, finals matchup as Lewis and Kemerer square off. This is one of those coin flip matches again, and I am going with Kemerer in a really competitive match.

Wrap-Up

Look, this is a really top-heavy weight with four guys at the top that have the opportunity to win a national title. A lot like 165 lbs., I think it is easy to point out who will be at the top of this weight, but unlike 165 lbs., they are not all in separate conference. I do not want to forget about wrestlers like Michael Labriola, because Labriola has the chance to step in and take over this weight as well. It is just tough to do that when the NCAA champion and the NCAA finalist are at the same weight as you. I think the popular pick in this weight would be Kemerer, and I go off of trends. Iowa seems to either let off the gas pedal or runs out of gas at NCAA’s. Do not ask me why I think that is, that is just the trend. Mekhi Lewis and Hayden Hidlay are attractive picks, and who knows, they might actually win the weight. But I am sticking with Starocci at 174.

Thanks for reading this 174 lb. preview, look out for 184 lbs. very soon.

Ok, we have a new week, and we are resuming the previews for this year’s NCAA season. We did 125-157 last week and now we job into the upper weights starting with 165 lbs.

Conference Champion Predictions

Big Ten – Alex Marinelli (Iowa)

ACC – Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh)

Big 12 – Keegan O’Toole (Missouri)

PAC-12 – Shane Griffith (Stanford)

EIWA – Zach Hartman (Bucknell)

MAC – Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois)

SoCon – William Formato (App State)

All-American Predictions

1. Keegan O’Toole (Missouri)

2. Evan Wick (Cal Poly)

3. Shane Griffith (Stanford)

4. Demetrius Romero (Utah Valley)

5. Alex Marinelli (Iowa)

6. Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma St)

7. Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh)

8. Gerrit Nijenhuis (Purdue)

Round of 12

• Cameron Amine (Michigan)
• Zach Hartman (Bucknell)
• Anthony Valencia (Arizona St)
• Thomas Bullard (NC State)

Keegan O’Toole

Keegan O’Toole, I am really high on this guy coming into this year. Put the Junior World Championship aside, this young Missouri wrestler, I think is good enough to win the title this year and the weight is conducive of knocking out big names early. O’Toole had his freshman season last year and comes in with that same Freshman status due to COVID and he went 19-1, with that loss coming to NCAA finalist Jake Wentzel. I think he runs into Cal Poly transfer, Evan Wick in the finals and beats him late. O’Toole is a cradle machine which we have seen, can be very dominant especially in Folkstyle.

Round of 12

So, this is going to be a very interesting blood round, because there are really good wrestlers in this bracket that should place if the weight was not so loaded.

Matchups

• Gerrit Nijenhuis vs Cameron Amine
• Demetrius Romero vs Zach Hartman
• Jake Wentzel vs Anthony Valencia
• Travis Wittlake vs Thomas Bullard

The first blood round matchup pits Big Ten opponents together, between Nijenhuis vs Amine. Nijenhuis would drop from a Quarterfinal loss and Amine would be an early 2^nd Round loser. Nijenhuis gets the edge in this one because I think he is a step above Amine at this point. Next up would-be Romero vs Hartman. Romero was an All-American last season at 174 lbs. and looks to be dropping back down to 165. I see Romero losing early on in this tournament, probably the 2^nd round and Hartman would drop from the Quarterfinals. I like Romero to get back on track and get into the medal matches.

Now we are to Wentzel vs Valencia, in an epic blood round matchup that pits retuning All-Americans together that come into the season eyeing the national championship. Wentzel drops down in the 2^nd round and Valencia is going to drop from a Quarterfinal loss. In a match like this, it is all about momentum and I think with Wentzel having a couple consolation matches under his belt will play to his advantage over Valencia who would be coming off of a disappointing loss. Finally, we run into Wittlake vs Bullard. This will be a sneaky good match because I think, based off of last year, these two are equally as good. Wittlake will drop from the Quarterfinals and Bullard will drop from a 2^nd Round loss. I give the edge to Wittlake here, but this could go either way.

All-Americans

If you are like me, the Semi-Finals are always distracting to the Consolation wrestling going on at the same time. This year in Detroit, I will make sure I will be watching the 165 lb. consolation matches because they are good. After the blood round we will see Nijenhuis vs Romero and Wentzel vs Wittlake. I have Romero defeating Nijenhuis in a close one and Wittlake edging out Wentzel late. So that sets up Consi-Semi matchups between Romero vs Marinelli and Wittlake vs Griffith. The thing about Marinelli for me is that when he gets to NCAA’s, he seems to be burnt out or something because he loses matches, he should not. This year he losses to Wick in the Semi’s, not a bad loss but I think it will be hard to bounce back Saturday morning and Romero pulls off the upset. Griffith vs Wittlake is interesting. Griffith runs into my predicted national champ and loses in a close one. I think he bounces back on Saturday to wrestle for 3^rd.

Ok medal matches are set. For 7^th place we see a great matchup between Wentzel vs Nijenhuis. I give the edge to Wentzel in this one. For 5^th we will see Marinelli vs Wittlake which would be a rematch from a dual meet earlier in the season. I think Marinelli bounces back from 2 straight losses and takes 5^th. For 3^rd this is a great matchup between Romero vs Griffith. I am going with Griffith in this one just because I think he has a touch more talent over Romero.

Wrap-Up

This weight is absolutely loaded, and it is not because of the Big Ten. The PAC-12, with Wick, Griffith, and Valencia, will be a fun conference tournament to watch. Then you add in Marinelli, Wentzel, Hartman, O’Toole, Wittlake, Romero, and Nijenhuis and you have a great bracket. There will be some guys at this weight that any other year would be all-americans, but this is not that every other year. 174 lb. preview will be up very soon so look out for that one, and thanks for reading this one today.