I know little to nothing about it but it seems the #1 wrestling prospect in the country just committed to Michigan.
Article here.
FYI: GoBlue77202 broke the news but didn't have the needed points to start thread.
He's the best in-state
Thanks!
Thanks for posting this for me. For anyone who's interested here are the 2012 wrestling recruit rankings. UM has the #1, #20, and #25 wrestlers in the country already committed.
The #25 ranked
commit is Jordan Thomas. He is a 2-time state champion from Greenville. Also lost in the finals as a freshman to none other than Taylor Massa.
Side note: It's going to be great for Massa and Thomas to train together as they've had many many battles over the years dating all the way back to being tiny little kids.
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I have watched almost all of
I have watched almost all of their matches and Thomas is a stud in his own right. If anything i think Thomas should be ranked a little higher than 25. Also I agree, it's awesome that they train together. The quality of guys that they work out with is unmatched.
The best part is
that we stole him from under Sparty's nose. He has trained in East Lansing a lot as St. John's is a stone's throw from there. I'm not surprised by it though. I'm an assistant coach at a high profile wrestling school in Michigan and our head coach (who has a relationship with the MSU staff) has told me before that the MSU coaches thought they might get their hearts broken on this one.
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this is great news
i've seen this kid in person, and he's the real deal
Are you the real
John Navarre?
GMAT score =800 = Defensive POTY
glad to help.
glad to help.
I know Massa and his family
I know Massa and his family pretty well. This kid is a tireless worker and I am in agreement that this kid is unbelievable. Don't be shocked when he is not only winning national titles, but also pushing for Olympic medals...
Huge pick-up. For all the
Huge pick-up. For all the positive rankings on him as a recruit, I still think they fall short of just how big of a prospect he is. Not only are they getting the best in-state kid, but, also from a school packed with more D-1 talent.
I was getting together some stuff for a season preview and was going to touch on recruiting and how important of a pickup he would be. This is big step for the program to stick its nose into the national scene.
There are a few other top 100 recruits
from Michigan this year. One of them is a teammate of Massa in Jordan Wohlfert. He's a monster in his own right. Plus that doesn't even consider the future top 100 level recruits in the underclass at St. John's.
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This is absolutely gonna help
This is absolutely gonna help with guys like Wohlfert, Whitford, Schmitt, Hall etc...
St. Johns
I am so proud that my hometown is being discussed on an mgothread. It is amazing how much our wrestling program here has taken off. IIRC a kid just moved to SJ from Illinois specifically to be on our wrestling team. Also Massa and co are heading down to Ohio this year to wrestle a team thats ranked #1 in the nation in high school.
Whitford
Yupp that was Ben Whitford. He's originally from St. johns moved to Illinois and then just moved back to St, Johns.
I hope...
I hope you're still planning on the season preview! I don't follow wrestling closely enough to even know where to begin to look - but from living in Fletcher Hall and then on State St., I would always see these guys post-workout on the bus at 7am, 3pm, 8pm etc. - I was always impressed at their dedication. Cliff Keen was a fun atmosphere, as well.
Considering pretty much the Big Ten + Iowa State and OKState are college wrestling, it would be great to hear this season's outlook.
Intensity is a lot of guys that run fast.
I just watched a couple of
I just watched a couple of those matches, and he made the kid look terrible in the state finals. I was surprised at how overmatched Massa made the other kid look! Good pick up!
"Homey don't play dat"
The scary thing
is that kid he beat was a beast in his own right. That kid was 2x finalist who had a high school win over Jackson Morse, a 3-time champ and 4-time finalist from Lowell who is currently at Illinois.
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Here is
the bracket from Massa's 3rd state championship last spring. Note how dominant each one of his 4 victories was:
http://www.mhsaa.com/portals/0/documents/WR/2011%20IWR%20Finals/D2/11d2b...
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well..
is it bad I wished he was 260lbs and a football player as well?
On the fifth night—possibly the sixth—a breeze arose.
It was cool and dewy.
As a St. Johns Alumni and
As a St. Johns Alumni and former wrestler congrats Taylor. The team that they have should once again compete for an undefeated record and several individual state champs.
Very cool, sounds like we got
Very cool, sounds like we got the Jadeveon Clowney of wrestling.
I've decided to lay off the food for a while, and go on the booze.
Hello Taylor
Congratulations! Your wrestling talent has landed you an opportunity for a great education. Good for you! It's going to be fun watching you achieve your goals in Maize and Blue! We're glad to have you.
Go Blue!
Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you. -Satchel Paige
This is awesome
Anything that increases our chances of a B1G title (or even a NC) in any sport is great news.
The Michigan difference
Top hockey recruit-check
Top wrestling recruit-check
Top basketball recruit-stay tuned for further developments
Top football recruiting class-check
We got our Swag back
I think this deserves a front
I think this deserves a front page Hello: post. I grew up in Iowa before graduating from Michigan and I am a wrestling fan and have watched a decent amount of high school wrestling. This kid is the real deal. The way he just manhandled Bonner in the finals was just malicious. It really looked like he was just playing with him out there.
He has got to be the biggest pickup for Michigan wrestling in at least the past few decades. This guy will be a superstar, just tremendous.
the asst. coaching hires have paid off in spades
Bormat and Pritzlaff are not only excellent coaches in their own right, but they bring in guys like Kyle Ruschell and Jake Herbert as sparring partners. That's a huge draw to any recruit, and having so many quality sparring partners makes everyone on the team better.
This team is absolutely stacked once this class arrives. Boyle, Bruno, Grajales, Salazar, middle Zeerip, Massa, Thomas, Huntley, and Apland. That's a team full of studs from top to bottom
www.get2formaizenblue.blogspot.com
For all of your obscure college wrestling blog needs
I wonder how much the fact we
I wonder how much the fact we just welcomed Donny Pritzlaff to staff played in Taylors decision? I'm thinking a lot. Folks, Penn State with Sanderson is a machine, Iowa will alwasy be Iowa and J Rod has Minny in tip top shape every year but we are looking like a team to be taken very seriously in the near future. Get to a match if you have never been, they are a lot of fun.
"I'm the baddest man on the planet" - Joe Warren
prospect since Brent Metcalf back in 2005. Massa has never lost a high school match. He was beating nationally ranked seniors when he was in middle school. He has been an absolute destruction machine and I will personally guarantee that he wins an NCAA individual championship while at Michigan. He's that good. He's all-American as a true freshman good.
EDIT: Here's some his Michigan Grappler profile page:
http://www.michigangrappler.com/files/High_School/Profiles/2012/massa.html
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