Who will fly under the radar?

[Earl]

It happens every years at Nationals but a few a guys no one expected much out of places. Last year for instance:

Andrae Hernandez-Indiana 8th
Don Fisch-Rider 5th
Matt Coughlin-Indiana 7th
Josh Zupancic-Stanford 7th
Ryan Hluschak-Drexel 8th
Mike Miller-Central Michigan 8th
Josh Arnone-Cornell 8th
Nick Roy-Michigan 8th
Payam Zarrinpour-Sacred Heart 7th

The question is who does this year? A proper pick wouldn't be someone who had made the round of 12 and lost, or like for instance Robbie Preston or Manny Rivera. You have to get a little more creative.

I've got some guesses anyone else??

[stovepipe]

^^^I’ll guess some east/south team-by-team 2008 suprises. I’m not saying All-Americanships, but more the guys who are flying under the preseason radar and will surprise fans this season.

American U – Matt Mariacher/133 and Kyle Borshoff/141.
Appalachian State – Watch out for a healthy Terryl Williams.
Army – Keep an eye on the kid from Kentucky, Richard Starks/197.
Binghamton – Josh Patterson/174.
Bloomsburg – Dennis Bermudez/157.
Boston U – Ryan Malo/184.
Brown – Mark Bloom blossoms?
Bucknell – Thrower Kevin LeValley/149 learns college style.
Buffalo – Dan Bishop/125 steps it up.
Campbell – Say Bob Mathews/149.
Citadel – Watch the take-charge kid from GA, Paul Sanford/125 and Mike Arias who is moving from 141 down at 133.
Clarion – Big gas tank Hadley Harrison/149 and new kid Travis Uncapher at 157.
Cleveland State – Keep an eye on them two Ohio kids – Josh Palivoda/133 and Rob Michaels/157.
Columbia – Seniors Jerome Greco/133 and Jed Wade/285 show what they can do.
Cornell – Say Justin Kerber/184.
Davidson – My Davidson darkhorses are the Ukrainian-born Radsky brothers (Vitaly and Alex).
Delaware State – Veteran Will Saylor steps up and leads team.
Drexel – Watch young big guys Justin Wieller/184 and hwt Bryant Deinhart.
Duke – New kid Willy Mello at 165 and John Barone moves up to 184 and makes ACC finals.
Duquesne – Keep an eye on the Virginia kid Kevin Chapman/125.
ESU – Dave Williams/184 overachieves.
Edinboro – Say Aaron Ely/125; Phil Moricone/174 steps way up; and Terry Tate/hwt will impress when he gets quality mat time.
That’s enough for now and I’ll continue alphabetically thru the east/south teams later today. Thanks, -Stove Pipe

[chetsmith]

I agree with Stovey regarding Borshoff from American. Beat Fisch handily last season, won against Meltzer, barely lost to Ruschell in a TB at the NCAA's, gave Rader all he could handle at the NCAA's losing 10-14. All happening as a TRUE freshman. Surprised Earl didn't rank him. Record last year is deceiving in that he was injured for most of the spring semester.

Disagree about LeValley from Bucknell. Gumby type (Loose jointed) who hasn't faced high level competition in folkstyle while in high school. Excellent Greco background (Coached by Gruenwald in Colorado). Needs quickness, strength and technique to compete at the D-1 level. Too bad he can't be red-shirted (Bucknell doesn't red-shirt).

[stovepipe]

^^^Here are some more east/south team-by-team guesses on 2008 surprises:

F&M – True freshmen Anthony Bongarzone/157 and Dan Canfield/184 start and demonstrate future potential.

Gardner-Webb – Rob Tate/133 and Dustin Porter are already nationally recognized, and many fans already expect Ariz State transfer David Green/184 to do well, so I ain’t picking any of them. I think the two G-W wrestlers who are going to step up and help first-year head coach Scott Shipman this season are Thomas Knapp at 141 and look for Matt Piasecki to move from 165 up to hwt and have a reputable season moving up four weight classes.

George Mason – It would be easy to pick true frosh from Alaska, Cayle Byers/197, but he’s already got a bluechip rep from high school; soooo, I’ll pick Brian Wright/125 who is ready for a big year.

Harvard – Already has a number of well known stars, but I think three lesser knowns are going to step up and help Harvard have a better dual-meet team than anticipated; they are true frosh Dan Kelly/125, soph Frankie Colletta. And soph Texan Fred Rowsey.

Hofstra – Most fans expect Justin Danz to step in and win right out of the shoot and he will. My gut feeling is that Anthony Tortora somehow is going to be a surprise help at 157 sometime this season.

Kent State – I suspect that there are a number of Kent State wrestlers who will overachieve this season: Nic Bedelyon/125, Dan Mitcheff/133, Drew Lashaway/141, Jake Kyle darkhorse at 149, John Pycraft/157 or 165, Obie Simpson/165, Chris Estep/174, Eric Chine/184.

Liberty – Say Chad Porter/165, who is a diamond in the rough.

Lock Haven – With Obe Blanc taking freestyle year off, Nick Hyatt steps in at 125 and has a surprisingly good year for the Bald Eagles.

Maryland – Brendan Byrne cuts to 125 and wins ACC’s.

Millersville – PA fans expect the Marauders’ top recruit Mike Greck to excel right out of the chute – Greck is NOT flying under the radar; my under-the-radar pick is Jared Hostetter/157.

GibbityGibbity, that’s it for now, I’ll finish up later, –Stove Pipe

[stovepipe]

^^^I want to make some comments about my AU-Fan and friend, "Chet Smith." I haven't told this on this Forum yet, so here goes. Chet, by the way, used to be a weight man and wrestled some hwt for AU back in the days when John McHugh coached there. Chet still has big guns and looks like he could bench press a small village.

Anyway, "Chet Smith" is not his real name, but he did have a bit of a need to wrestle at AU under that name his senior or fifth year, whatever. I asked Chet if he had talked with Coach John McHugh since McHugh's retirement. Chet said "Yes, but when I introduced myself using my real name he didn't recognize it."

YES, Chet you tiene razon that last season Kyle Borshoff was slowed by a high ankle sprain that he suffered in January 2007 in the Delaware State dual meet, which hampered his March efforts, and I think that's why fans nationally haven't quite picked up yet on how good Kyle is. I just hope Kyle Borshoff stays healthy. Most of the AU wrestlers are mat-rats, the AU wrestling regime is very tough, and the coaching is fantastic.

Chet, I have faith that the excellent Bucknell coaching is going to improve Kevin LeValley's folkstyle technique 200% this year, and he will start and succeed quicker than expected. I'm often wrong, -Stove Pipe

[stovepipe]

^^^Here are some more east/south team-by-team guesses on 2008 surprises:

NAVY – The two main Navy guys who I think are flying under the radar are hwt Scott Steele and 184-pounder Matt Parsons. I am guessing that Steele is going to edge Prendergast this fall for the starting spot at hwt, and I think that Matt Parsons is going to out condition and out tough a lot of his EIWA, and other, opponents this season. Youns recall Navy’s Antonio Miranda beating Lehigh David Craig last season 8-5 in the EIWA semi finals at 184? That’s called NAVY CONDITIONING.

NORTH CAROLINA – Transfer Danny Lopes goes 141, wrestles his way into the starting lineup, and wins a lot of matches. Also, keep an eye on Justin Dobies, who placed third in the 2006 ACC Tournament at 184, who is now a heavy weight.

NC STATE – Bobby Isola steps in at hwt and has a decent season.

ODU – James Nicholson is a very good 125 pounder, currently lacks a national rep, but will gain one this fall; Tel Todd steps in at 157 to fill a Monarch gap and does well; bluechip Chris Brown looked like he was having a hard time staying down at 157 last season – this season he goes 165 and has a big year; David “Dozza” Mendoza/197 keeps improving and has a big year; and big Nebraska kid, Andy Totusek, steps in at hwt and does surprisingly well.

UPENN – The Quakers have a ton of talent. Maybe the Colorado kid, Stephen “Gabe” Burak, who is not expected to start at 141 (or wherever) will surprise fans. Is fourth-year Penn guy Andrew Gold (from Mt. Airy, MD) ready for a starting, break-out year?

PENN STATE – My guess is that John Laboranti (surname sounds like an Italian sports-car mfg company?) will win the hwt wrestle-off and have a surprisingly good season in the very hard Big Ten.

Singing off for awhile, -Stove Pipe

[stovepipe]

^^^Here are some more east/south team-by-team guesses on 2008 surprises:

PITT – I look for Jimmy Conroy to step up at 133, hope that Joey Ecklof/149 has a healthy/big season, and expect Zach Sheaffer/hwt to have a big year.

PRINCETON – Big surprise will be Sam Ritter/285, a senior who has been playing football and rugby at Princeton, but plans to return to wrestling. Ritter wrestled pre-college at Episcopal prep school in Jacksonville, FL, and for the three-seasons (2002, 2003, and 2004) had 112 total wins with 87 falls. Too bad this kid didn’t decide to wrestle in college as a frosh. It’s late for him to adjust to college wrestling, but it could be an interesting story.

RIDER – New kid from Archbishop Curley school in Baltimore, Mitch Fenton, does what it takes to cert/hold 125, starts, and has fairly good season.

RUTGERS – Say Lamar Brown at 197.

SACRED HEART – Does anyone have any insight into the coaching situation at Sacred Heart? When is the school going to announce a new coach? What’s up? I think the next CAA coaches’ meeting is October 10, so maybe we fans will get some word soon.

UNCG – Senior Andrew Krieger/149 gets medical clearance to compete, starts, and has his best year. Also, I think Daren Burns is going to adjust very well to hwt and have a huge year. Not mentioned much, but back in May 2005 Mr. Burns grabbed the bronze medal at the PanAm Freestyle Tournament. Hard to think of Burns flying below the radar, but I think he’ll do better then expected up at hwt.

UTC – I think Cody Cleveland is going to do surprisingly well at 141 this season. We shall see.

VIRGINIA – Had an excellent recruiting year. It’s hard to pick a bluechip as flying under the radar, but I’ll go with Chris Henrich/174, because I don’t think fans understand how truly excellent Henrich is. Again, time will tell, but Henrich was beating college guys last season in open events.

VMI Bookends. I think senior Jeremy Adams starts at 125 and has a good season, and that true frosh Josh Wine steps in at hwt and wins bouts right out of the chute.

VIRGINIA TECH – Another southern team that had an excellent recruiting year. With all the true-frosh glitter, I think the one new Hokie who might be getting a bit overlooked is Matt Ryan/174. I saw Ryan wrestle this spring in the Dapper Dan and he is tough as whip leather.

WAGNER – Recently left the CAA and will compete in the East Regional NCAA qualifier. Look for senior Mike Tutunjian/149 to lead team.

WEST VIRGINIA – Dustin Rogers is a very athletic, talented heavy weight, but needs to get a waiver from the NCAA to compete this season (extra year). If Rogers does not get favorable action, I look for Lou Thomas to step up, start, and have a good year. Also, I’d like to see Kyle Turnbull healthy and competing.

On we go, -Stove Pipe

[yankeekev]

1st...Stove Pipe, I love your posts....seen em on several forums and you are very knowledgeable...

2nd...With OSU ranked fifth, their whole team looks to be under the radar. I would be shocked if we finished out of the top 3. Our team is young and as has been mentioned several times it is hard to rank em till you see em compete at d1 level but John has some high quality young guns to work with and knows how to get em up for the big tourney in March. I saw 125-Ashmore at last years Orange/Black match and this kid has a non stop offense and just needed a year to beef up a little....I look for big things out of him this year. Go Pokes!

[stovepipe]

^^^YankeeKev, John Smith is an amazing coach and recruiter. By the way, Gregg Henry, who compiles NCAA Div I rankings for WrestlingReport.com, has Oklahoma State (10/3/07 Rankings) at number 3 in the team listing and has: Ashmore 20th at 125; Scott 1st at 133; Morgan 3rd at 141; McSpadden and Erisman co-ranked 20th at 157; Dieffenbach 21st at 165; Mason 3rd at 174; Jensen 18th at 184; Shelton 23rd at 197; and Jared Rosholt 12th at 285. Thanks very much for your post, -Stove Pipe