2016 NDSU Recruits

[Tony Almeida]

Gladiator Dad,
I think he may have been talking about a different pair than the Lehmans. This past year, 174 pounder Weston Dobler signed with Oregon State and 149 pounder Jordan Shearer signed with Nebraska. They were both West Fargo grads and multiple AAers in Junior nationals at Fargo. In fairness, Blake Thompson beat Weston Dobler in one of the Vegas tournaments this year (which surprised me quite a bit) and I'm not sure how he has down outside of that match. Oregon State has been able to consistently pull top ND HS kids there and that sucks. We've consistently seen the top West Fargo kids wind up at other places too (Schiller, both Lehmans/kind of, Shearer, Dobler). I don't follow ND HS wrestling all that much anymore, but the depth isn't even close to enough to support a D1 team. Still, it'd be nice to get the top ND kids every year, being as we are the premier in state school.

Thanks Big Bird, those names escaped me but those are the boys I was referring to...Shearer won SIX titles in ND if I'm not mistaken...

Gladiator Dad,
This is what I was told by some of the wrestlers themselves from ND and family members of Ryan Blees...I asked them why we lose in-state kids to other schools and the general consenus was what I stated above. They spoke the same tune about not being heavily recruited and the style of wrestling. I should also clear up what I meant about style, sorry I'm bad at wording, paraphrasing and what have you so I try my best at remembering what they said...so what I was "told" is that Kish doesn't like to teach or coach...assuming styles or moves...if that makes sense.

And about Ryan Bless, Kish might have been looking at Blees but the fact still remains, that John Smith beat Kish to the punch...and how do you say no to John Smith. The Blees family were shocked that they hadn't heard from Kish yet at that point...because they said had Kish been there first and stuck with it, who knows where Ryan would be now....and with Steiner as coach, it would have been almost a certainty where Ryan would be wrestling along with those W. Fargo boys because they are all in the same wrestling circle and talk and they all love Troy Steiner...

To take some heat off Kish, I think wrestling in the Big 10, 12, and Pac 12 played a role as well, but now that should work in our favor as well in the future...hopefully.

Thanks for your indulgence....I'm not ranting, I'm just passing on some info and answering questions.

[Tony Almeida]

This makes a lot of sense, great post.

I just cannot believe that all of those very good ND guys are all somewhere else. Blees would be the starter at 157 or 165 right now as a RFR but is stuck now behind Smith's kid and Marastellar at OK State. I'm not saying NDSU can get them all but not one of them....

Steiner would have been awesome for this program. ND and a NCAA champ with a huge knowledge of wrestling.

Look at SDSU now. New coach bringing a ton of energy into the program and now passing NDSU on the mat. NDSU always seems to be "young" every year. One senior starter this year. Always a ton of turnover.

There are only 75 D1 wrestling schools and there is no reason NDSU cannot consistently be a top 25 team and cracking the top 10 regularly. Minnesota has a ton of very good wrestlers and the Gophers/Badgers/Hawkeyes cannot get them all.

That #2 recruiting class has underachieved so far IMO.

Totally agree with you.

I was rooting for Steiner's hire along with the rest of the state, as it appears...

And SDSU, sadly for the Bison, is going to be a top 3-4 team in the Big 12 in the coming years...they are building a solid program in Brookings.

That #2 recruiting class had some significant de-commits not?

[RadioBison]

That #2 recruiting class had some significant de-commits not?

I could be wrong, but I think Bengtson, Ream, and P. Lehmann were always the headliners (top 100) in that class.

https://theguillotine.com/2012/11/nd...ruiting-class/

[Soup Can]

I touched on this a little back in post #15, and I hate to sound negative on this board (for obvious reasons) so forgive me but what I was told, Kish was late, very late with some of the top recruits in ND especially with the #1 kid in the country at the time in Ryan Blees...all the top wrestlers in ND know each other well and talk amongst one another and the overall view of Kish is that he didn't, at the time, think much of ND wrestlers and went elsewhere for recruits (Reminds me of gophers football with Brewster) until it was too late...Kish only started contacting Ryan Blees after John Smith of OK St visited and offered Blees...yes that John Smith...mind boggling to me...

Also, Kish's coaching style scared many recruits away...apparently he doesn't let the wrestlers focus on their own styles and work with them from there, instead he stubbornly wants his wrestlers to adjust to his style...
Those West Fargo boys (sorry the names escape me at the moment, I'm referring to the boys we lost in recruiting) were working out at NDSU while they were in high school...How do you lose those guys when you literally had them in your own house for a significant amount of time??

Had Troy Steiner (hope I have the right Steiner) been hired from Oregon St, the roster would look a little different...

Remember, this is what was told to me...i'm not forming an opinion or speculating here.

Sorry if this sounds too negative but I thought this answered the question above appropriately and justifiably.
Start the bashing if you will...

Shearer was one of the WF guys in the NDSU room. NDSU did not throw a bunch of money at him because he would have been the 3rd or 4th best at his weight. Bengston did beat him earlier this year. NDSU did want and need Dobler, Shearer was not happy he got a better offer than he did.

[Big Bird]

Taylor Nein finished an undefeated season with a ND state title today. I watched Jonah Lange remain unbeaten today too, and win a section title. Lange is wrestling at 195, but I think he's a 184 in college...which is odd, because one of the best wrestlers in Minnesota is in his class and at 195.

[Big Bird]

Also, sounds like Cole Witzig finished as a state runner up for the second year in a row. Was down 5-0 right out of the gate, came back to tie it up, and gave up an escape with about 10 seconds left to fall by 1.

[larson311]

Witzig lost to Norfleet(whom he lost to in the championship) earlier this year 9-3, so looks like he's making some strides.

[Big Bird]

Flo has a really nice setup to follow all of the state tournaments from one place at http://www.flowrestling.org/article/...tournament-hub

Holden Youngs injury defaulted out of his section tournament after winning his first round match.

[larson311]

Wisconsin start tomorrow, 3 kids to follow are 120 Paul Bianchi, 126 Patrick Spray, & 138 Nathan Smith.

[Big Bird]

Jonah Lange is on to the semi finals in MN.

Patrick Spray lost in the semis in WI.

Nathan Smith is in the finals in WI.

Paul Bianchi is 53-0 and into the finals in WI.

I'm more and more excited to see how Lange and Bianchi look in Green and Gold.