Yeah, Smith looks pretty good. I’m thinking Buckeye fans are hoping the Campbell experiment is over. Talk about a frustrating wrestler.
Most of us want Ethan Smith to be the guy at 174. The thought, pre-season, is that we knew what we had with Campbell, who is a fringe R12 guy, where as we were all hoping Ethan gave us an upgrade and a AA threat. When TeShan won the wrestle off (won the first two matches, both very close), most of us were a bit disappointed that Smith didnt (as of yet) provide that upgrade. We all support Campbell 100%, but just know his limits.
They then met in the finals at one of the opens, and Smith beat him pretty soundly. (Was basically even till late 2nd when Smith opened it up with a scrambly situation with backs and Campbell couldnt mount a comeback). IIRC, coach Ryan said (at that point) Campbell was still the #1, but its still an ongoing battle.
Ethan seems to have improved over the year and beat the ranked Wisky guy and we all saw what he almost did last night. He wrestles very hard and very aggressive. After last night, I cant see how Coach Ryan could leave him out of the lineup. But, I'm not the one seeing them head to head in the room each day.
As per the dual... It went chalk. 99.9% of tOSU fans knew we needed one upset to win the dual. So, it really wasnt anything unexpected or heartbreaking. Took me about 2 seconds to get over the loss... about the same time it took me to get over not winning nationals after Bo pinned Myles. Both last night and nationals went exactly as expected. Which makes going from 'denial' to 'acceptance' very easy.
I heard Singletary weighed in at 227 last night. Most of us have been a bit disappointed that he has not bulked up since arriving on campus. He may never be strong enough to go with the larger heavies. He is a guy that really needs a 220 pound weight class. If there is any way he can cut down to 197 after Kirkvliet arrives on campus, he could be pretty effective there. And, it looks like Gavin Hoffman may stay at 184 long term, so Chase "could" be a 197 for his rs-junior and rs-senior years.
In the big picture, we also realize our squad has some holes this year.
Our 125 is way undersized.
Our 157 is really a 141 wrestling up 2 weights, which neutralizes the best part of his game, his claw rides and tilts, that he cant do to guys 2 weight classes above his size.
Our 165 is performing well below the expectations coming out of HS
Our 285 is undersized.
Next year, some of these holes may take care of themselves
125 Malik 'should' be 5-10 pounds bigger.
141 May be KeShawn down at his natural weight
157 Mattox, who will be a full size 157
165 Kharchla
285 Kirkvliet
We wont lose much at 149, as Sasso plugs in well for Micah. Both top-4 potential.
184 Hoffman will be a drop off from Myles, but will be AA threat.