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PSU-Only Recruiting Info

Does the Injury to Howard make Cael address 125 through the portal? Unfortunately Lilledahl is many years out
Here is my long winded take regarding the portal and our situation at 125.

Cael monitors the portal daily, and I am sure if a top 20ish 125 pops up someday we will be interested in a conversation, but of course Cael can't solicit any candidates that are not already in the portal (tampering). What it is going to take is for the right kid to seek greener pastures on his own.

One would think that PSU having yet again a visible and 'likely' multi year gap 125, might attract some interest, but short of Drew we suffered through multiple seasons with not much interest from anyone that could deliver points at nationals - in several weight classes for that matter.

Personally l am not enamored with the thought of second semester transfers as they have too little time to absorb what Cael's system is all about, let alone as in Drew's unique case get a strong fall season's worth of matches and conditioning under his belt. Thus we are probably talking about next year if ever. There are very very few Max Dean like situations out there.

No disrespect intended to any of several options provided by anyone currently on the squad or in our pipeline, but there is a big difference between say a strong 10-5 dual record guy and delivering impactful points at nationals.

Let's face it, a national qualifier is a very very good wrestler by any measure of ability. A blood round guy yet something more. An AA guy is truly elite. And a top 4-finalist is the most elite of the elite, blending incredible talent with skill honed by the right program. At best we 'might' (probably not) have blood round talent in hand a couple of seasons from now. Davis (class of 23) is still an unknown at this level and likely needs two years in the program before we know what we have.

So the road between a hard core 'blue chip' like Lilledahl who is 3-4 years out in terms of delivering for the program and someone who is AA calliber or above is exceedingly narrow.

Sure we can dream about a Ramos or Surtin dropping in our laps but I really don't think either has any chance of portaling up. So that leads me to Noto. A #11 guy in wrestlestat just sitting next door in Lehigh, who is still a sophomore. Why wouldn't a kid like that dream of being in blue and white, winning team titles, and just maybe becoming a finalist under Cael's program? Again a long shot, but if you want to think of portal and 125, that could also be AA or above with multiple years of eligibility left; he's my guy.

Other possibilities are true freshmen on redshirt who aren't wrestling this year, and admittedly I don't have any idea who's out there and where they are currently situated.

Net-net the portal is a great thing if you have a need, but in reality it's like finding a needle in the haystack for the kind of elite kid we would seek.

I am not holding my breath, but will go to sleep at night whispering Sweet Noto's into my own ears.
 
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Here is my long winded take regarding the portal and our situation at 125.

Cael monitors the portal daily, and I am sure if a top 20ish 125 pops up someday we will be interested in a conversation, but of course Cael can't solicit any candidates that are not already in the portal (tampering). What it is going to take is for the right kid to seek greener pastures on his own.

One would think that PSU having yet again a visible and 'likely' multi year gap 125, might attract some interest, but short of Drew we suffered through multiple seasons with not much interest from anyone that could deliver points at nationals - in several weight classes for that matter.

Personally l am not enamored with the thought of second semester transfers as they have too little time to absorb what Cael's system is all about, let alone as in Drew's unique case get a strong fall season's worth of matches and conditioning under his belt. Thus we are probably talking about next year if ever. There are very very few Max Dean like situations out there.

No disrespect intended to any of several options provided by anyone currently on the squad or in our pipeline, but there is a big difference between say a strong 10-5 dual record guy and delivering impactful points at nationals.

Let's face it, a national qualifier is a very very good wrestler by any measure of ability. A blood round guy yet something more. An AA guy is truly elite. And a top 4-finalist is the most elite of the elite, blending incredible talent with skill honed by the right program. At best we 'might' (probably not) have blood round talent in hand a couple of seasons from now. Davis (class of 23) is still an unknown at this level and likely needs two years in the program before we know what we have.

So the road between a hard core 'blue chip' like Lilledahl who is 3-4 years out in terms of delivering for the program and someone who is AA calliber or above is exceedingly narrow.

Sure we can dream about a Ramos or Surtin dropping in our laps but I really don't think either has any chance of portaling up. So that leads me to Noto. A #11 guy in wrestlestat just sitting next door in Lehigh, who is still a sophomore. Why wouldn't a kid like that dream of being in blue and white, winning team titles, and just maybe becoming a finalist under Cael's program? Again a long shot, but if you want to think of portal and 125, that could also be AA or above with multiple years of eligibility left; he's my guy.

Other possibilities are true freshmen on redshirt who aren't wrestling this year, and admittedly I don't have any idea who's out there and where they are currently situated.

Net-net the portal is a great thing if you have a need, but in reality it's like finding a needle in the haystack for the kind of elite kid we would seek.

I am not holding my breath, but will go to sleep at night whispering Sweet Noto's into my own ears.
While, as a fan, I love the idea of having an AA at every weight, it seems a tad distasteful to root for the mighty dynastic behemoth PSU to pluck the sole shining star off a small underdog program like LHU.

That said, rooting for a transfer from a competing big time program like Iowa, Ok St or Ohio St, for example, seems cool to me.
 
While, as a fan, I love the idea of having an AA at every weight, it seems a tad distasteful to root for the mighty dynastic behemoth PSU to pluck the sole shining star off a small underdog program like LHU.
Agree, that’s a great point NittanyChris. And if seems distasteful to us, imagine how the LHU wrestling fans would view it.
 
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While, as a fan, I love the idea of having an AA at every weight, it seems a tad distasteful to root for the mighty dynastic behemoth PSU to pluck the sole shining star off a small underdog program like LHU.

That said, rooting for a transfer from a competing big time program like Iowa, Ok St or Ohio St, for example, seems cool to me.
Would Dean Peterson from Rutgers float your boat? An angry Rutgers fan is a good thing, correct?
 
To me breaking the all-time team scoring record at Nationals is the ultimate goal.
I thought with a healthy RH, we might have a shot this year.

Besides perpetual problems at 125, we dont seem likely to have an immediate replacement for RBY next year either.
Eager to see how Davis looks, while presumably redshirting this year.
 
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To me breaking the all-time team scoring record at Nationals is the ultimate goal.
I thought with a healthy RH, we might have a shot this year.

Besides perpetual problems at 125, we dont seem likely to have an immediate replacement for RBY next year either.
Eager to see how Davis looks, while presumably redshirting this year.
Davis is a senior in HS this year
 
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Davis is a senior in HS this year
So your saying he's definitely not gonna go this year?
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You know ... even w/o RH, we might still have a shot at the all-time record this year.
Free the Levi !

Tap the portal.
Pack up the babies, grab the old ladies, and everyone goes.
 
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Blast from the past. Stumbled on this gem from 2014:

If anyone finds complete videos of Nolf's match, or Rasheed's match, please post as much on the board, and I'll update this post to include the complete bouts.

Note that the projected weights are a combo of what the recruit is quoted as saying, where they are projected by national sites, or my estimates.

Enjoy

Tom





Jason Nolf, Kittanning High School, PA - expected to wrestle 149/157/165
Highlight video of 2014 145 lbs. PA Class AA State Final against Billy Barnes

Kyle Baker, Easton High School, PA - expected to wrestle 157 or 165
Suffered a concussion in PA District quarterfinals (Dist. 11) that prevented him from competing beyond that point
I'll see if I can find a video of him from PA Districts, or from some point in his senior year

Gary Dinmore, Hunterdon Central High School, NJ -- expected to wrestle 149/157/165
2014 152 lbs. NJ State Final against Jack Clark

Video of his semifinal at NJ States against Joseph Tavaso

Shakur Rasheed, Longwood High School, NY - expected to wrestle 157/165
Highlight video of 160 lbs. New York Div. 1 Championship against Angelo Kress

Jordan Pagano, Bergen Catholic, NJ - expected to wrestle 157/165
Video of his 2014 160 lbs. NJ 3rd place match

Bo Nickal, Allen High School, TX - expected to wrestle 165/174/184
2014 170 lbs. Texas 5A State Final against Gabe Cabrera

Anthony Cassar, Montgomery HS, NJ - expected to wrestle 197 or possibly 285
2014 195 NJ State Final against Ralph Normandia
(the video is embedded in the article)

Nick Nevills, Clovis High School, CA - expected to wrestle at 285
2014 285 CA State Final against Nour Abdullatif
 
Can Mason be a 125 in college? He is so short 125 would be his best weight and best for PSU as well but he is built like a fire hydrant.
 
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