observations on first match

[psutim]

nico was nico.no rust
jordan looks more at home at this weight.
jimmy g. -still not sure what to think of jimmy.didn't do really anything the first two periods.he'll need to kick it up a notch to contend for national title.
zain looked very tough.he'll be tough to beat this year.
jason n.very good on his feet.sure doesn't lack for confidence.
rasheed hard to tell anything.hope the lock haven kid is okay.
bo slick takedowns.tough on top.disappointed didn't get to see a throw.
matt m. best performance of the night in my opinion.dominated a good kid.let's hope he can keep this up all year.
morgan would have been nice to see more offense early.
jan-definetly tired which i guess can be expected due to only 2 weeks in the room and a guy almost 60 lbs. heavier leaning on you.he showed a lot of heart.let's see how he does against waltz.if he can stay off his back that's a victory.

 

[Grass]

A lot of ankle picks tonight. That was nice to see.

 

[Ian]

It sounds like the boys get more competition in their room than tonight. They were probably excited to get out beat up on some others. Outstanding start to what should be an exciting year. Kudos to JJ. Just going out there in the situation he is in is an inspiration for the team. He can't lose, no matter what he does. He is building up and will be better at the end. It makes you wonder how those heavies from years ago could roll right out of ftb and into wrestling and do well. Reid, Joyner, Pankey, Sefter, etc....

 

[dsauer22]

Gulibon may have started slowly, but Neff was an AA at 149 last year. Pretty good match from JG I thought.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Gulibon may have started slowly, but Neff was an AA at 149 last year. Pretty good match from JG I thought.

I concur. Neff is an excellent wrestler. Between him moving down from 149 and Jimmy moving up from 133, there were some interesting size dynamics.

In matches that Jimmy loses, you generally see these characteristics:

- trouble getting out from bottom
- giving up a sloppy TD, or giving up a TD even when in good def
- not making many efforts on offense, or committing to the efforts that are made

I don't think any of those characteristics were in evidence tonight.

1. Jimmy was out in 17 sec, so forget about the 1st one listed above
2. Jimmy didn't give up a TD, so forget about the 2nd one listed above
3. Jimmy had a lot of shots. I thought he could have pressed a couple of them a bit more, though there wasn't an obvious ones that he missed by lack of effort. The 1 TD he did get was the result of really staying with a shot when he had the one clear advantage he had the entire match

Compared to his teammates (excluding Johnson), Jimmy didn't have a lot of TDs or fireworks in his match. At the same time, he was going against the best guy in Haven's lineup -- a guy that probably thought he had a legitimate shot to defeat Jimmy. I thought Jimmy wrestled a very smart match. If he wrestles like this all season he'll probably lose a couple of close ones, but he'll also win the majority of his matches.

 

[johnstownsteel]

Spelled that out nicely Tom. Neff is an AA...definitely no slouch. I thought the match went pretty much as I expected. Anyone know how tall Rasheed is? He looks like he's built just like David Taylor.

 

[Chickenman Testa]

ALOT of athleticism and length from 57-74.

 

[hlstone]

A lot of head slapping from LH tonight.
Jimmy G adjusts his headgear way too much. He has done so since his freshman year.
This team has bought into the low single/pinning the knee for the takedown.
I really enjoyed watching the meet.

 

[BruceK-PSU83]

I concur. Neff is an excellent wrestler. Between him moving down from 149 and Jimmy moving up from 133, there were some interesting size dynamics.

In matches that Jimmy loses, you generally see these characteristics:

- trouble getting out from bottom
- giving up a sloppy TD, or giving up a TD even when in good def
- not making many efforts on offense, or committing to the efforts that are made

I don't think any of those characteristics were in evidence tonight.

1. Jimmy was out in 17 sec, so forget about the 1st one listed above
2. Jimmy didn't give up a TD, so forget about the 2nd one listed above
3. Jimmy had a lot of shots. I thought he could have pressed a couple of them a bit more, though there wasn't an obvious ones that he missed by lack of effort. The 1 TD he did get was the result of really staying with a shot when he had the one clear advantage he had the entire match

Compared to his teammates (excluding Johnson), Jimmy didn't have a lot of TDs or fireworks in his match. At the same time, he was going against the best guy in Haven's lineup -- a guy that probably thought he had a legitimate shot to defeat Jimmy. I thought Jimmy wrestled a very smart match. If he wrestles like this all season he'll probably lose a couple of close ones, but he'll also win the majority of his matches.

Spot on, Tom. Gulibon did what he had to against a very good opponent, and avoided the mistakes/problems that cost him when he lost close matches in the past. A very solid win.

I do agree with the other comment about Gulibon and his head gear, though. Gulibon futzes with his head gear way too much, almost to the point of being bizarre.

 

[BruceK-PSU83]

nico was nico.no rust
jordan looks more at home at this weight.
jimmy g. -still not sure what to think of jimmy.didn't do really anything the first two periods.he'll need to kick it up a notch to contend for national title.
zain looked very tough.he'll be tough to beat this year.
jason n.very good on his feet.sure doesn't lack for confidence.
rasheed hard to tell anything.hope the lock haven kid is okay.
bo slick takedowns.tough on top.disappointed didn't get to see a throw.
matt m. best performance of the night in my opinion.dominated a good kid.let's hope he can keep this up all year.
morgan would have been nice to see more offense early.
jan-definetly tired which i guess can be expected due to only 2 weeks in the room and a guy almost 60 lbs. heavier leaning on you.he showed a lot of heart.let's see how he does against waltz.if he can stay off his back that's a victory.

I agree with the comments about Rasheed, McCutcheon and Johnson, but not so much with most of the others.

• Gulibon had a really win nice against a very good wrestler
• McIntosh was just fine. Not every guy is going to have 3 or 4 TDs in the first period
• Don't know how you can tell that Conaway looked "more at home" from one bout. Plus, he had many similar bouts at 125 last year.
• All the other guys did what they needed to, but had their opponents so far outclassed that we couldn't really learn anything. Just goes with the territory in this type of dual.

 

[manmythlegend1]

does anyone know if these matches will be posted anywhere?? I would love to see some of the great action that is being described

 

[aalion]

does anyone know if these matches will be posted anywhere?? I would love to see some of the great action that is being described

free video of entire match on gopsusports.com. there is a scoreboard at the bottom of the page - scroll back to last nights results, and click "watch".

 

[jack66]

Spot on, Tom. Gulibon did what he had to against a very good opponent, and avoided the mistakes/problems that cost him when he lost close matches in the past. A very solid win.

I do agree with the other comment about Gulibon and his head gear, though. Gulibon futzes with his head gear way too much, almost to the point of being bizarre.

I wonder if the coaches have tried to break Jimmy of this habit. One hand on his headgear isn't a very solid defensive position.

 

[johnstownsteel]

I wonder if the coaches have tried to break Jimmy of this habit. One hand on his headgear isn't a very solid defensive position.

I remember Jimmy doing the same thing in Highschool and thinking what a bad habit to pick up. I use to think it was happening because he'd keep his hair somewhat long. He would always be swiping his hair out of his eyes and then adjust the headgear. If I recall correctly, during the season last year he got a haircut, didn't see him messing with the hair but he did continue with the headgear. Didn't he give up a takedown during one of his matches last year while fooling with his headgear??

 

[uppermaclion]

A few other things, Rasheed looked huge(at least to me). I never seen him before and he looked tall and lanky. I'm really curious to see him in action(yesterday didn't count imho).

JG needs to do something with his head gear. All throughout his career he has been constantly adjusting it. The LH guy kept shooting every time he did that, which I'm assuming was his plan and this was scouted. I'm not sure if it is legitimate problem or something like a nervous tick, but he's going to get taken down doing that constantly.

Everyone else put on a show and Sunday's match should be a great test this early in the season.

I hope Johnson can at least be competitive against the top HW, cause he is going to struggle. He deserves all the credit in the world doing what he is doing.

 

[johnstownsteel]

Does anyone know how Cortez does against Conoway in the room?

 

[lauren68]

The thing that stood out the most for me was McCutcheon. That was his best effort as a Penn Stater. You could see the similarities between him and Nichal with the takedowns. It was obvious they work a lot together. They have a straight on attack after they are in on one or both legs and they finish. Just great positioning by both. McCutcheon only was out of position just once and it didn't cost him. Great improvement. I'm really excited for him. If he keeps this up I see AA. The team as a whole is deadly. A lot of fireworks. I heard someone say when Nickal was up, if he is worth the hype. He is. Zane is someone you don't want to be wrestling. He's an animal. I can't see Tsirtus or Sorensen hanging with him unless they run or stall the entire match.

 

[Chickenman Testa]

does anyone know if these matches will be posted anywhere?? I would love to see some of the great action that is being described

Be patient with the vid - almost the whole Nico match is from overhead and near worthless but then they switched to mat level view

 

[jack66]

The thing that stood out the most for me was McCutcheon. That was his best effort as a Penn Stater. You could see the similarities between him and Nichal with the takedowns. It was obvious they work a lot together. They have a straight on attack after they are in on one or both legs and they finish. Just great positioning by both. McCutcheon only was out of position just once and it didn't cost him. Great improvement. I'm really excited for him. If he keeps this up I see AA. The team as a whole is deadly. A lot of fireworks. I heard someone say when Nickal was up, if he is worth the hype. He is. Zane is someone you don't want to be wrestling. He's an animal. I can't see Tsirtus or Sorensen hanging with him unless they run or stall the entire match.

That is something Tsirtsis is very good at.

 

[BruceK-PSU83]

That is something Tsirtsis is very good at.

To be fair, Tsirtis is vey sound defensively and tough on top. He wins a lot of close matches against good opponents by riding time and/or just riding his opponent out. It's usually rather unexciting, but it's been very effective for him.

 

[Cold Smoke]

Great thread. Feel like I watched the match. Thanks all.