The Grapple on the Gridiron on November 14th, 2015 was the boost Iowa Wrestling needed in the “Recruiting Arms Race.”
Recruiting is a big part of my passion for the sport of wrestling and Iowa Wrestling. Recruiting is a 24/7, 365 kind of deal. To say that the landscape of recruiting in college wrestling has changed over the years is the understatement of the year. I thought a look back at how recruiting has changed would be in order for the younger readers and even for the most dedicated wrestling fans to remember how recruiting was in the past, and where it is now.
My first wrestling recruiting stories would be from when I was twelve years old. Jim Lord from Lisbon was a three-time State champion and runner-up and was one tough dude. It was big news in 1978 Lisbon to hear about his recruiting trips. Jim eventually chose Iowa State that was coached by legendary Harold Nichols. The only Lisbon wrestler before that went to college for a career that I can recall was Doug Englert, a two-time State champion who graduated in 1974 and wrestled at Cornell College.
The first real buzz of recruiting around here was for Greg Randall of Mt. Vernon, just a mile away from Lisbon. Randall was a four-time State champion and two-time Junior National Freestyle champion who graduated in 1982. It was a huge deal to see Dan Gable and Barry Davis walk into a Lisbon-Mt. Vernon dual meet. Gable was of course, Gable. Barry Davis was from Cedar Rapids Prairie High School and was starting his run of being a three-time NCAA champ at Iowa. It had to help that Royce Alger of Lisbon was a year younger than Randall and that got him some good exposure to Gable. Speaking of Royce, his recruiting was the first close look that I got. UNI was recruiting Royce real hard. I will also never forget seeing Harold Nichols in the hallway of Durant High School at Districts in 1983. When I got back to my seat I had to tell the Lisbon fans who I had just seen in the hallway. That was a huge deal! Gable made a late play for Alger and with luck signed him in April of Royce’s senior year. That is another story.
The huge change for recruiting now is how the process has been ramped up to get a verbal commitment much, much earlier in the process. Gable used to like to wait until the State tournament to see who he was going to recruit in Iowa. He of course knew of all the top wrestlers, but he wanted to see how they wrestled at State as a senior. Recruiting really began in April after the NCAA National Tournament with the signing day in mid-April. Those days are long gone. Recruits are committing much sooner. Recruiting classes are usually more than half done if not more before the beginning of the recruits senior year. This is even more true for D-I college football. I do not like the process being backed up at all. There is too much development to be done during a senior year for a high school kid. Especially if a recruit had an injury in their junior year or if they are just coming into their own as a senior, which was very common in the past. I believe this process has also added to the overall depth of college wrestling. There are so many talented wrestlers that programs outside of the top ten sign every year that were overlooked by the elite teams.
I was also close the the recruiting process of Ryan Morningstar who graduated from Lisbon in 2005. The recruiting process had changed over the previous eleven years in that commitments were coming from the recruits much earlier than at that time. Whether you want to blame it on Social Media, the internet, or just the world we live in. Fans are so much more informed now by all of the information that is available to them. I believe that the media has made recruiting much bigger now as well.
As a wrestling fan, it is interesting to see how the big powers in college wrestling keep raising the bar on each other. Just like the Arms Race of the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union would compete with each other over who had the best arsenal in the event of a World War. Each side would keep raising the bar that the other side had to match, and then take it a step farther. Just as with the Cold War, the stockpile of talent at Penn State, Iowa, Ohio State, and Oklahoma State is unbelievable. I am sure that the fan base of those four programs look at their roster thinking that they have the best talent in the country. And they should think that. Those four wrestling programs are loaded!
Iowa Wrestling was behind the curve on the early commitments of top recruits, at least compared to their top competitors. My Hawks were not getting the elite recruits. That changed with the verbal commitments of 2014. The Hawks got a verbal commitment from Kaleb Young, a sophomore out of Punxsutawney, PA and the Young Guns Wrestling Club. The Hawks got the verbal before the rest of the country really knew how good Young would become in his senior year. Young was the start of what became a very good recruiting class of 2016. Iowa followed up by signing Michael Kemerer of the Class of 2015, also from the Pittsburg area and the Young Guns Wrestling Club. That signing raised the bar again for the Hawks.
Iowa getting a verbal from Jason Renteria of Chicago and Justin Mejia from California in November of 2014, before the beginning of their sophomore season raised the bar again. And then of course, lightning stuck on April 20th this year when Iowa got a verbal commitment from Spencer Lee and Gavin Teasdale from the Pittsburg area and Young Guns Wrestling Club. Lee is the biggest recruit in Iowa Wrestling history and on track to be the greatest high school wrestler in the history of our country. Teasdale, just a sophomore, is also a very impressive looking recruit.
With each step in the new evolution of their recruiting, Iowa Wrestling is competing with their rivals. Penn State struck back earlier this week with the verbal commitment of Adam Busiello of New York, the top ranked wrestler at 106 lbs. that just completed his freshman year of high school. Look for Iowa, Penn State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and the all of the wrestling programs around the country continue to push each other on the recruiting trail like never before as the bar continues to get raised by all of them.
The one move that Iowa Wrestling made that has been above all of the rest though, was the Grapple on the Gridiron. That will be tough for any of the competitors to top. Over 42,000 fans showed up to be apart of history in Kinnick Stadium. Mother Nature gave her blessing on a perfect day that will never be forgotten. In the press conference after Iowa’s win over Oklahoma State, Tom Brands talked about the significance of that day. He talked about how that meet would be news not only across the country, but around the world. Wrestling fans as well as sports fans all over the world know about the Grapple on the Gridiron.
Recruits that Iowa Wrestling are targeting know about it as well because so many of the them were there in attendance. In interviews, including mine, recruits have mentioned the influence of the Grapple on the Gridiron. You can bet that Iowa’s competitors are working on something to give them the edge by raising that bar even higher. That is the true essence of competition.
The huge push for recruiting begins on July 1st. That is when college coaches can make contact with recruits in the Class of 2017 for an in-house visit. Iowa already has a verbal commitment from Spencer Lee, Jason Renteria, Justin Mejia, and Luke Troy. Everyone knows that Iowa is hot after Jacob Warner of Illinois and Brady Berge of Minnesota. The Hawks are also on the recruiting trail of several other wrestlers that we will all know about in due time.
The end game is the National Letter of Intent Signing Day on Wednesday, November 16th. With Spencer Lee, Iowa already has a great recruiting class. The only question to me is this. Will the Iowa Wrestling recruiting Class of 2017 be the best recruiting class since the legendary Class of 1987 that included Tom and Terry Brands? Or will the Class of 2017 be the best recruiting class in the history of Iowa Wrestling. We will find out on November 16th. You can bet your behind that I will be here to keep you posted.
The “Recruiting Arms Race” is in full force. Let the recruiting games begin!
