2015 Wrestling recruits

[BisoninNWMN]

I know we're not going to get the Mark Hall's and Isaiah White's of the world, but I would at least like to try to get some of the top tier kids. The top MN kids are going to stay in MN, or go to a traditional power. The top ND kids have been leaving too. There is only so high you can coach up a team of the 2nd tier MN and Wisconsin guys. Some guys I'd like to see us at least go after:

High end national kids we likely won't get but I would love:
Sam Colbray Jr 195 Oregon, beat #1 Lance Benick from Totino Grace and always looks great wrestling in Fargo. I would bet most big programs will be after him.
Rudy Yates Jr 126 Illinois. Big improvement this year and is likely on the radar of all of the top programs now after some huge wins.
Griffin Parriot Jr 145 New Prague MN. MN fans want him, but MN is pretty stacked around his weight and may not have much to offer. I also think Brady Berge being a year behind him could impact how hard Iowa and MN go after him.
Beau Breske Jr 170 Wisconsin. If I'm a Wisconsin kid, and wrestling is my sole deciding factor, I take NDSU over Wisconsin. Wisconsin has failed to develop high end talent time and again recently and NDSU has a track record of getting kids from Wisconsin and turning them into more than anyone dreamed. On the down side, they have Madison, those facilities, and that campus to offer.

Potentially gettable high end kids:
James Pleski Sr 145 Forrest Lake MN. Ranked #14 by Intermat at his weight. Only downside is we have Ream and Bengston in tow. I think Ream could go 157 eventually though.
Dayton Racer Sr 160 Bettendorf Iowa/Apple Valley/Border West. Huge talent and still hasn't signed. Hopefully no Tyler Lehman to this kid, but that has to be a concern. Physically, not many better than him.
Tucker Sjomeling So 113 Delano MN. Only a sophomore, but I really like him

Realistic MN gets:
Blane Tschida 132, Kimball
Garrett Malstrom 220/HWT Frazee (probably not scholarship money, but he moves really well and knows what he's doing)
Nathaniel Holacek 170, TRF. When healthy, he has all of the tools you look for.
Adam Hedin, 132 Jr Rosemount. He's been great this year.
Taylor Venz, 145 Jr, Farmington
Erik Loepp Oakes. No idea what his college plans entail.

I want to see anyone who goes to Shakopee come her. They have a ton of young kids doing great things on the mat and if we could funnel them here, we'd be well off:
Owen Webster Jr 160, Kenny O'Neil Fr 145, Tyson Leon Sr 138 (non scholarship), Brent Jones So 120, Alex Crowe So 113, Sam Webster Fr 106.

Interesting take.

Why not push hard for Mark Hall? Yes, he is the #1 ranked wrestler in the country at his weight class but why not try. He probably could go anywhere he wants to with his talent. But look at these ND kids. Blees went to OK State and the two W Fargo kids are going to Nebraska and Oregon State. It would be nice to keep a few of the local guys here.

With only 9.9 scholarships to give, wrestling is a different animal in college athletics. Smaller schools can compete with the traditional powers. OK State has won the NC 34 times and Iowa 23 times....domination!!! ND State will never win a team NC in wrestling but they can certainly have an individual win a NC or multiple place winners in a given year.

IMO, Coach Kish is moving in the right direction to take this team to a top 10 team. Not every kid can go to the Iowas, OK States, Minnesotas or Penn States. There are a ton of talented wrestlers out there and NDSU should be able to bring in a couple of blue chippers every year.....should be able to!!! NDSU needs to beat these teams once in a while to get the recruits to start coming here. IMO, there is no reason why NDSU cannot be a very good wrestling power. Cornell and Lehigh have very good wrestling teams for "smaller schools" and NDSU can be a school that competes with the "big boys" and beats them.


** A thought on Blees at OK State. He went there with a very good RFR and another true freshman that was highly ranked coming in also. Will he get buried on the depth chart? Sometimes these kids go to the "premier" programs but get stuck in the depth chart. Stay home at NDSU and be "the" guy at your weight class for 4 years.

[Christopher Moen]

Getting guys like Mark Hall and Beau Breske would be nearly impossible get for NDSU right now. If they prove they can compete with OSU, Oklahoma, ISU and West Virginia after the merger, then maybe 8-10 years down the road, these type of wrestlers will be realistic recruits. To guarantee NDSU's future ability to get these type of recruits, they're going to have to invest big time into an Olympic Regional Training site as RTC's are now a huge recruiting tool for high-end athletes.

With the WWC/Big-12 merger a likely scenario (and possibly the PAC-12 getting involved too in the future), NDSU's wrestling team will have something that their other sports don't have - being at the highest competition level in college. If they want to be successful, they're going to have to make the appropriate decisions. If Brian Smith can take Missouri to the top, and I hope he does, then that paves the way for coaches like Kish to do the same.

In regards to Hall and Breske, I wouldn't be surprised if either one ends up at ASU or PSU. I would be shocked though if either one ends up at Iowa.

[Tony Almeida]

That is a tough loss. So are the Lehmann brothers. Thought they could have been very good here.

Couple of Bison wrestlers have a chance to be AAs this year.

I forgot about the Lehman brothers...is that 5-7 decommits now in the past year?

I made a small bet with a friend of mine and a fellow tailgater, who happens to be Ryan Blees's uncle, that NDSU would crack the top 5 in the next 5 five years (I was having some fun since his nephew committed to OK St, and this was before all the decommits) but now I'm starting to wonder if that wager was such a good idea...but deep in my heart, I was somewhat confident that a 5 ranking might have been possible, of course that was before all the bad news and right after all the good news like the Lehman brothers and the #2 recruiting ranking...

[BisoninNWMN]

Getting guys like Mark Hall and Beau Breske would be nearly impossible get for NDSU right now. If they prove they can compete with OSU, Oklahoma, ISU and West Virginia after the merger, then maybe 8-10 years down the road, these type of wrestlers will be realistic recruits. To guarantee NDSU's future ability to get these type of recruits, they're going to have to invest big time into an Olympic Regional Training site as RTC's are now a huge recruiting tool for high-end athletes.

With the WWC/Big-12 merger a likely scenario (and possibly the PAC-12 getting involved too in the future), NDSU's wrestling team will have something that their other sports don't have - being at the highest competition level in college. If they want to be successful, they're going to have to make the appropriate decisions. If Brian Smith can take Missouri to the top, and I hope he does, then that paves the way for coaches like Kish to do the same.

In regards to Hall and Breske, I wouldn't be surprised if either one ends up at ASU or PSU. I would be shocked though if either one ends up at Iowa.

You are probably right with the "right now" statement with these recruits. Hall will go to a top program like OK State, U of M, Iowa or Penn State. I believe Kish can take this program to a top 10 team. I agree that this merger with the Big 12 is huge for wrestling. It will make the Bison a better wrestling program. It will be tough to compete against OK State but the other programs in that league are beatable.

[BisoninNWMN]

I forgot about the Lehman brothers...is that 5-7 decommits now in the past year?

I made a small bet with a friend of mine and a fellow tailgater, who happens to be Ryan Blees's uncle, that NDSU would crack the top 5 in the next 5 five years (I was having some fun since his nephew committed to OK St, and this was before all the decommits) but now I'm starting to wonder if that wager was such a good idea...but deep in my heart, I was somewhat confident that a 5 ranking might have been possible, of course that was before all the bad news and right after all the good news like the Lehman brothers and the #2 recruiting ranking...

Bengtson will be an AA, it is just a matter of when for him.

Knutson has a chance also to be an AA this year. Rodriquez might have a chance. Plus, Zillmer has a good chance also to be an AA.

IMO, there is no reason why NDSU cannot be a program that can have multiple AAs every year and a NC every so often.


Ya, top 5 might be a stretch for now but top 10 is coming for this program.

[Bisonwinagn]

Bengtson will be an AA, it is just a matter of when for him.

Knutson has a chance also to be an AA this year. Rodriquez might have a chance. Plus, Zillmer has a good chance also to be an AA.

IMO, there is no reason why NDSU cannot be a program that can have multiple AAs every year and a NC every so often.


Ya, top 5 might be a stretch for now but top 10 is coming for this program.

A NC is significantly more difficult than having a couple AA. That's waay off as you need to have 4 or 5 national champions to get a team championship.

[BisoninNWMN]

A NC is significantly more difficult than having a couple AA. That's waay off as you need to have 4 or 5 national champions to get a team championship.

I meant an individual champion.....which is a definite possibility IMO.