Gavin Teasdale at PA States Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
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Bartlett is a heck a prospect...only a Sophomore. I hope we're pursuing him. I'd hate to see another Blue Knight head to Northwestern.
I’ll give Gavin the benefit and say he had a long bus ride to Hershey and maybe the Flu
They're 2 years apart. No benefit needed. If we are lucky enough to get Bartlett, it'll be 4-5 years before he dons Blue & White and Gavin will be well into his Nittany Lion career.
Teasdale looked off. Not the full 6 minutes of fury that he had been the past 2 years at Hershey.
That said, Jones' entire match was hand fight, block, try to stuff Teaz into a front headlock, then muscle him to the mat from there. Zero offensive attempts in 6 minutes. (Literally zero. I took notes, every line started with "GT" except for one: "2nd, JJ takes top.") Teasdale recognized that early and adjusted.
The match wasn't terribly unlike Zain's win over Sorensen last week. Sometimes the other guy gives you nothing, and you accept a win.
Two positives: He has excellent neutral defense all the way to the mat. And he twice escaped from bottom without much difficulty (unlike last year's final vs. Clabaugh.)
Going fwd, he needs to work on hand fighting and getting stronger. (So does every HS kid not named Zain.) When you discover areas of improvement and still win, that's not a bad thing. He'll be OK.
That said, Jones' entire match was hand fight, block, try to stuff Teaz into a front headlock, then muscle him to the mat from there. Zero offensive attempts in 6 minutes. (Literally zero. I took notes, every line started with "GT" except for one: "2nd, JJ takes top.") Teasdale recognized that early and adjusted.
The match wasn't terribly unlike Zain's win over Sorensen last week. Sometimes the other guy gives you nothing, and you accept a win.
Two positives: He has excellent neutral defense all the way to the mat. And he twice escaped from bottom without much difficulty (unlike last year's final vs. Clabaugh.)
Going fwd, he needs to work on hand fighting and getting stronger. (So does every HS kid not named Zain.) When you discover areas of improvement and still win, that's not a bad thing. He'll be OK.
Hard to believe we have folks criticizing a kid who just won his fourth title! Let him enjoy it and trust Gavin and the coaches to make sure he works on becoming the best college wrestler he can be...
Please. There's a difference between (a) criticizing and (b) commenting that the kid appeared to struggle a bit (relative to his own high standard) sometimes this season. This discussion is pretty clearly the latter. If you choose to consider that criticism, it's pretty damn mild in my book.
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“Long bus ride” and “AB is better” comments just rub me the wrong way. The kid just had a historic win and the criticisms way out-numbered the congratulations. I still say lay off and let him have his day.... JMHO
I thought it was pretty cool that Gavin wore Jimmy Gulibons old head gear in the finals. He actually kinda looks like Jimmy too.
OK, but pretty sure that the comments on this message board don't impact the kid's day.
Probably true... but what does it say about us as a fan base that rather than congrats, he gets criticized? Sounds like the spoiled fans we are accused of being on HR. I don’t mind being in the minority opinion on this one...
My gut tells me he might be able to go 125 for a year, but not a certainty. It'll help if he can arrive in June and get put on a nutrition and S&C plan geared toward that goal. Discipline will not be an issue.
OTOH, my gut told me Cruiseliner Nick might struggle to hold 125. (That is, my gut + an article saying he was at 4% fat as a HS 126.) So take it FWIW.
I have no idea so will give him the benefit of the doubt and say neither.
I do think he's wrestling different than he did in the past. No more takedown tournaments in Hershey, trying to wrestle a more complete match every time out. That'll cause lower scores because neutral is his best position.
Also think the book is out on him, and others have adjusted. He can be slowed if you have no intention of trying to score yourself and are content to lose 2-0 or 8-1 or 11-4. That can be said about a lot of champs.
Obviously the wrestling fan that has followed Gavin would know far more than me on the specifics of how he is wrestling now compared to other years.
What seems concerning to me, is truly great high school wrestlers normally dominate all their opponents of lesser ability. There are times when 2 great high school wrestlers meet head to head and the outcome is a conservative 3-2 match.
I watched a majority of the finals yesterday and it didn't make a difference who Sasso or Hoffman were wrestling, they were going to hammer their opponent.
I also thought what Anderson did from Beca to his opponent was impressive. The kid looks like he's having"fun" on the mat.It also appears that he isn't even sucking weight.
Maybe the pressure of winning 4 titles caused some of Gavin's conservative approach and getting in the PSU room will allow him to start to be more aggressive.
Some posters get upset with comments about wrestlers that tend to be one's opinion. I by no means want to belittle what Gavin accomplished,and hope that he can move on to the next challenge of his career and enjoy it. The pressure of being a 4 time PA champ will always go with the territory.
What seems concerning to me, is truly great high school wrestlers normally dominate all their opponents of lesser ability. There are times when 2 great high school wrestlers meet head to head and the outcome is a conservative 3-2 match.
I watched a majority of the finals yesterday and it didn't make a difference who Sasso or Hoffman were wrestling, they were going to hammer their opponent.
I also thought what Anderson did from Beca to his opponent was impressive. The kid looks like he's having"fun" on the mat.It also appears that he isn't even sucking weight.
Maybe the pressure of winning 4 titles caused some of Gavin's conservative approach and getting in the PSU room will allow him to start to be more aggressive.
Some posters get upset with comments about wrestlers that tend to be one's opinion. I by no means want to belittle what Gavin accomplished,and hope that he can move on to the next challenge of his career and enjoy it. The pressure of being a 4 time PA champ will always go with the territory.
Yep and he had to keep pulling Jimmy's hair away from in front of his eyes!So was he adjusting the head gear every 10 seconds?
Had to go there
One of the things that I wonder about Gavin: is he bored with high school wrestling? Is it the kind of thing that he doesn’t feel challenged, and you get this kind of result? I don’t know. I’m hoping that college is a welcome change for him.
Well, he's lost a couple times, so I doubt he feels totally unchallenged and/or "bored" with the competition.
Pure speculation, but I'd guess his less dominant performances are due to some combination of (a) pressure of trying to be a 4X champ, (b) weight cut, and (c) burn out. Also, as at least one other poster has indicated, his opponents may be employing blocking tactics to keeping the score down, or Teasdale may be working to improve weaker components (i.e., mat skills) of his wrestling.
A few months away from the sport to recuperate and re-energize may do him good. Hoping that he can redshirt his first year at PSU, but then again Teske may need the redshirt more than Teasdale, and if Teasdale is ever going to go at 125 for PSU, it would probably be as a true freshman. So a first-year redshirt may not be in the cards for Teasdale; we shall see.
I know one thing - with all due respect to the HR folks, he is never going to be a 149 unless something really incredible happens.
He's a small guy judging from pretty closeup views at the Giant Center and if he's having trouble making 125 in college, the staff isn't doing a very good job tweaking his regimen.
And I don't know him, obviously, but he might be a candidate for a little break from competition for recharging. He did look like both hands were really bothering him, particularly the right hand.
He's a small guy judging from pretty closeup views at the Giant Center and if he's having trouble making 125 in college, the staff isn't doing a very good job tweaking his regimen.
And I don't know him, obviously, but he might be a candidate for a little break from competition for recharging. He did look like both hands were really bothering him, particularly the right hand.
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