CollegeAction 2007 College RECRUITING 2007 TOP 30 COLLEGE RECRUITING CLASSES Editor’s Note: Numbers on right reflect the placing of recruits from Dan Fickel’s final rankings of the Best 2007 High School By Dan Fickel, Seniors. The final rankings appeared on Wrestling USA Magazine’s web site. The web site address is: National Editor http://www.wrestlingusa.com. The letter “T” refers to a transfer with immediate impact poten- tial. 1. Ohio State (1-2-3-3-9-16-19) 2. Oklahoma State (1-1-3-4-25) 3. Penn State (2-2-3-4-5-23-24-26) 4. Virginia Tech (1-2-6-6-8-9-12-21) ere’s a look at the top 20 college recruiting classes: 5. Missouri (1-4-6-9-12-13-17-18-25) 6. Minnesota (1-2-7-9-12) 1. OHIO STATE – Head Coach Tom Ryan has put 7. Oklahoma (3-3-5-6-16-T) together a sensational coaching staff and will look to 8. Virginia (2-5-6-8-9-22) guide the Scarlet and Gray to their ultimate goal: a national championship. Former Buckeye individual 9. Harvard (1-2-11-17) HNCAA champions include Tommy Rowlands, Mitch Clark, Rex 10. Lehigh (3-4-5-7-14) Holman, Mark Coleman, Jude Skove, Dave Reinbolt, George 11. Indiana (1-4-10-25-25) Bollas, and George Downes. With the signing of a large group of 12. Michigan (1-5-9-23) multi-talented incoming freshmen, the proud Ohio State program 13. Nebraska (3-4-5-T) will look to get to the pinnacle of college wrestling as the nation’s 14. Northern Iowa (2-6-7-9-11-T) number 1 recruiting class comes to Columbus, Ohio. Leading the 15. Kent State (4-7-10-22-T-T) way are number 1 ranked Colt Sponseller (165) of Ohio, number 2 16. Edinboro (3-5-8-17) ranked Nikko Triggas (125) of California, and a pair of number 3 17. Michigan State (1-4-7) ranked wrestlers in Ohio’s Bo Touris (125) and Sean Nemec (157). 18. Northwestern (1-12-14) Three additional key newcomers are number 9 ranked John 19. Cornell (5-7-8-14-15-22) Weakley (197) of Ohio, number 16 ranked Jesse Campbell (285) of 20. Maryland (1-11-19) Ohio, and number 19 ranked Pat Harrington (125) of Ohio. 21. Iowa State (3-6-14-20-T) 22. Pennsylvania (4-8-17-T) 2. OKLAHOMA STATE – Few schools in the country have a his- 23. Cal Poly (2-13-T) tory of excellence in any sport as celebrated as the one Oklahoma 24. Arizona State (5-7-20-23-27) State University has achieved in wrestling. The list of Cowboy 25. Hofstra (3-13-16-18-23) stars is seemingly endless. Names like Kendall Cross, John Smith, 26. Pittsburgh (2-17-23-27-28) Ricky Stewart, Eric Guerrero, Doug Blubaugh, Rex Perry, Earl 27. Central Michigan (2-22-26) McCready, Myron Roderick, Pat Smith, Yojiro Uetake, Tadaaki 28. Oregon State (5-10-11-12-18-T) Hatta, Dwayne Keller, Darrell Keller, Mike Sheets, Mark Branch, 29. Bucknell (6-8-19) Chris Barnes, Alan Fried, Johnny Thompson, Lee Roy Smith, 30. Ohio (7-11-20-22-26-29) Kenny Monday, Johny Hendricks and a multitude of others became legends in Stillwater during their college careers. This TOP 15 NON-DIVISION I RECRUITING CLASSES year’s recruiting class is a very close second to Ohio State University. Highly successful Head Coach John Smith’s group is 1. North Iowa Area CC (1-6-8-12-T-T-T) headed by four top-notch student/athletes with great potential. 2. Meramec CC (2-4-8-18-26-T-T) They include number 1 ranked Jamal Parks (141) of Oklahoma, 3. Iowa Central JC (3-9-15-30-T) number 1 ranked Clayton Foster (197) of Idaho, number 3 ranked 4. Newberry (5-8) Luke Silver (141) of Texas, and number 4 ranked Luke Ashmore of 5. Ashland (12-14-16-T) Texas. Another exceptional newcomer is number 25 ranked 6. Nebraska-Omaha (5-26) Walker Clarke (197) of Oklahoma. 7. Central Oklahoma (18-T) 3. PENN STATE – In the legacy of wrestling circles across 8. Missouri Valley (13-18) America, the Nittany Lion wrestling program has a long-standing 9. Wisconsin-Oshkosh (14-22-T) tradition of respect and excellence. Seventeen different wrestlers 10. Findlay (24-24-26) have won a total of 20 individual NCAA Championship titles. 11. Neosho County CC (11-12-T) Some of the many great ones include Jeremy Hunter, Glenn 12. Lindenwood (T-T-T-T-T) Pritzlaff, Kerry McCoy, Sanshiro Abe, John Hughes, Jeff Prescott, 13. Augustana (SD) (19-29) Jim Martin, Scott Lynch, Carl DeStefanis, John Fritz, and Andy 14. Mercyhurst (10-T) Matter. Head Coach Troy Sunderland is entering his tenth year as 15. Pittsburgh-Johnstown (27-29) the head coach at his alma mater. He brings in a sensational page 10 September 15, 2007 - Wrestling U.S.A. Magazine David Prado Kirk Landon Dean Gaier Jake Bohn Beau Hansen Arizona State Army Army Army Augsburg Matt Morris Gavin Nelson John Scalise Greg Martin Ethan Raymond Augustana (SD) Augustana (SD) Bridgewater State Bridgewater State Bridgewater State recruiting class that will provide some immediate and future fire- Missouri, number 18 ranked Brandon Wright (165) of Tennessee, and power. Leading the way are number 2 ranked Frank Molinaro (141) number 25 ranked Brandon Wiest (157) of Missouri. of New Jersey, number 2 ranked Tim Darling (165) of Pennsylvania, number 3 ranked Jared Platt (197) of New Jersey, and number 4 6. MINNESOTA – Under the guidance of Head Coach J Robinson ranked Cameron Wade (285) of Ohio. Four other new recruits are and former national champion and Head Assistant Coach Marty number 5 ranked Desmond Moore (125) of Pennsylvania, number 23 Morgan, the defending NCAA Team Champions Golden Gophers ranked Colby Pisani (141) of Pennsylvania, number 24 ranked Micah have become a recruiting powerhouse and one of the elite teams in Bollinger (157) of Pennsylvania, and number 26 Chad Mitchell (125) the nation. NCAA champions developed and mentored by Robinson of Georgia. and Morgan include Tim Hartung, Brock Lesnar, Luke Becker, Jared Lawrence, Damion Hahn, Dustin Schlatter, and Cole Konrad. 4. VIRGINIA TECH – Head Coach Kevin Dresser and Associate Highlighting this year’s exceptional recruiting class are five highly- Head Coach Tony Robie combined their efforts and received com- decorated incoming freshmen. They are number 1 ranked Zach mitments from 12 exciting student/athletes. The class, which fea- Sanders (125) of Minnesota, number 2 ranked Sonny Yohn (197) of tures number 1 ranked Cody Gardner of nearby Christiansburg, Colorado, number 7 ranked Cody Marcicki (133) of Michigan, num- Virginia, will ensure the Hokies success at the Division I level as one ber 9 ranked Austin Enoch (141) of Oregon, and number 12 ranked of the fastest-rising wrestling programs in the country. Other highly- Joe Murphy (125) of Minnesota. credentialed newcomers include number 2 ranked Chris Diaz (141) of Delaware, number 6 ranked Matt Cusick (149) of Illinois, number 7. OKLAHOMA – The tradition-rich University of Oklahoma 6 ranked D.J. Bruce (197) of Illinois, number 8 ranked Anthony wrestling program remains highly regarded across the nation. The Trongone (174) of New Jersey, number 9 ranked Nick Murray of list of superstar performers of the past is seemingly infinite. Among New Jersey, number 12 ranked David Marone (197) of Colorado, and others are previous NCAA champions Teyon Ware, Robbie Waller, number 21 ranked Matt Ryan (165) of Pennsylvania. John Kading, Michael Lightner, Melvin Douglas, Dan Chaid, Mark Schultz, Dave Schultz, Andre Metzger, Rod Kilgore, Shawn Garel, 5. MISSOURI – Head Coach Brian Smith has orchestrated a turn- Gary Breece, Mike Grant, Wayne Wells, Greg Ruth, Wayne around and has built the Tiger wrestling program into one of the Baughman, Stan Abel, Wayne Martin, and Danny Hodge. Head strongest and most dominant in the country. Under his tutelage, Coach Jack Spates continues to bring some of the country’s top talent Smith guided since graduated Ben Askren, the school’s first-ever to Norman, Oklahoma. Two number 3 ranked wrestlers head this national champion, to two consecutive NCAA Championships. With year’s recruiting class. They are John Starzyk (133) of Illinois and the signing of nine highly-touted incoming freshmen, the future Seth Vernon (149) of Oklahoma. Three additional key incoming looks extremely bright for the Old Gold & Black. The group is led by freshmen are number 5 ranked Joey Fio (125) of Idaho, number 6 number 1 ranked Dom Bradley (285) of Missouri, number 4 ranked ranked Ryan Smith (165) of Oregon, and number 16 ranked Kyle Troy Dolan (125) of Pennsylvania, number 6 ranked Max Shanaman Bergstedt (197) of California. An interesting transfer from the (141) of New Jersey, and number 9 ranked Mike Schmitz (174) of University of Indiana is NCAA qualifier Max Dean (165). Minnesota. Other top-notch newcomers include number 12 ranked Dorian Henderson (174) of Georgia, number 13 ranked K.C. 8. VIRGINIA — Steve Garland, a former All-American at the Pescaglia (133) of Missouri, number 17 ranked Trevor Collins (197) of University of Virginia, enters his second season as the head coach at page 12 September 15, 2007 - Wrestling U.S.A. Magazine Mike Fenner Mike Mille John Hooper Peter Weiss Shawn Fausey Bridgewater State Buena Vista Cal Poly Cornell Drexel Andrew Arnold Chad Sindoni Jan Ulinski Denny Herndon Brandon Bucher East Stroudsburg Edinboro Findlay George Mason George Mason his alma mater. Other previous Cavalier stand-outs include Scott 11.