You’ve seen their Senior Big Board, now it is time to take a look at FloWrestling’s Team recruiting class rankings, which takes into account all of the committed prospects going to a particular college, and ranks them based on a number of factors which include: talent or “big guns”, depth, and the potential path the recruits in this class will have to make their team’s starting lineup.
Willie Saylor is the man behind these rankings on FloWrestling, and I would highly encourage you to head to the full rankings list to not only read the breakdown for the school you are looking for, but for all schools. If you find yourself not agreeing with Flo’s take on the rankings on this particular rankings piece, Willie goes in depth to explain his process on why each team is where.
For our purposes we will give you a taste of the rankings, and the comments made by Flo as well as my own.
#3 Iowa Hawkeyes
Little surprise that it is Tom Brands and his Iowa Hawkeyes that lead all Iowa teams, and I also don’t think too many people will gripe about them being at this spot. If you will recall from the Big Board, Iowa nabbed four top 100 recruits in this class Alex Marinelli (OH), Kaleb Young (PA), Carter Happel (IA), and Jack Wanger (IA).
Willie explains that Marinelli is the elite talent of the group, which is a feeling shared by most. Marinelli has displayed a level of dominance that has earned him his top three spot in the class rankings (or by D1CW’s standards he is second only to Mark Hall). Young is the second guy in the group and Willie also has encouraging things to say about his potential, that I think most fan that follow the high school recruiting game have seen for themselves over the past year.
On why they aren’t higher it’s a pretty clear cut reasoning: North Carolina State was able to land four really good guys in the top 50, and Penn State has the #1 and #2 guys in the country coming in.
Fans will remember that a year ago that Iowa was rated ninth by Flo in these rankings, and with the collection of Spencer Lee (PA), Justin Mejia (CA), Jason Renteria (IL), and Luke Troy (CA) all top 100 recruits on board for 2017 they are off to a fast start for next season.
#7 Iowa State Cyclones
Maybe I am just a little bit more bullish on this class heading to Ames, but I was a little surprised to see the Cyclones end up at the #7 spot. In the end, looking at the individual recruits headed to each school, the only argument I could see being made is that Iowa State deserved to be one spot higher.
The team ahead of Iowa State is Purdue and in the ranking Willie states that the separation between the two schools is pretty minor, but with the emphasis he places on the aforementioned “big guns” the star power of Minnesota prep Griffin Parriott put Purude over Iowa State.
That’s pretty fair, but looking at this class there is a lot that Iowa State fans needs to be excited about. Sammy Colbray (OR) is a pretty big talent that will fill into the upper-weights which is where Iowa State could use some help relativity soon. Additionally Kanen Storr (MI) and Gannon Gremmel (IA) look to be guys that will be challenging for starting spots in this lineup in the near future.
Over the past five seasons Iowa State has landed the #11 and #10 ranked recruiting class, and the other three years went unranked. The addition of this class could be the start of Iowa State getting back into the top ten on an annual basis.
#16 Northern Iowa Panthers
A year removed from their banned #4 ranked recruiting class, Doug Schwab’s Panthers have fallen down the list, but in terms of additions to the programs the headliners in this class look as solid as they come.
The only two ranked recruits are Rudy Yates (IL) and Carter Isley (IA), both of who are top 60 in the Big Board. There is a lot to love about Yates’s potential, who looks to be the heir to Dylan Peters’s throne at 125-pounds, or if it fits the team better he could probably handle 133. With Peters, current 133-pound starter Josh Alber, and Max Thomsen expected to enter the lineup at 149 this season Schwab is quickly turning the UNI lightweights into a force to be reckoned with.
Isley is a tremendous fit for the program as well. He was a standout on the football field, and as we have seen over the past few years, Schwab targets several wrestlers who bring a certain level of athleticism and perhaps untapped potential since they have never legitimately wrestled full-time.
It may not be top four, but this class is nothing fans in Cedar Falls need to hang their head about. There is a lot to like here.