Recruit Report: Spencer Lee

Ranking: #2 overall, #1 at 126 pounds
Where he fits in: 125 pounds

What you need to know –

Lee comes into the Hawkeyes the highest ranked high school wrestler since Mark Perry (who now coaches the Hawkeye Wrestling Club by the way). For most of his career, Lee was the #1 wrestler in his class and while InterMat believed that until the very end, Flowrestling dropped Lee to the second slot for Oklahoma native Daton Fix after Lee suffered a loss in the finals this past March (and a few other reasons that really aren’t worth diving into – suffice to say Lee is a very high end talent no matter where he is ranked).

Despite Iowa now getting the #2 ranked wrestler in the class of 2017 (instead of #1) there is little doubt that the pairing is a home run, with the Hawkeyes getting one of the most dominant high school wrestlers we’ve seen in our country, and Lee gets to train under Tom and Terry Brands, who have far and away produced the most successful lightweight wrestlers since they have led the Hawkeye program.

Right now Lee is dealing with an ACL injury that he suffered in January, but fought through the ailment in hopes of completing his career a four-time Pennsylvania state champion. Lee has already made it known he plans to head to Iowa City in early June, shortly after graduation. While he is expected to still be rehabbing from his surgery, Hawkeye fans will be drooling over the potential that the three-time age level World Champion brings to the table.

An obvious fit for the 125 pound spot in the lineup, starting in 2017 may have been on the table before the injury, and now a redshirt seems more likely than not. Depth in the room is thin at this weight, with only one upperclassman expected to be in the running for the spot and freshmen Jack Wagner and Justin Stickley the only other two likely to make 125.

Quotable moment:  “In my mind this is the right place for me and I made that commitment. I always say if you’re going to go do something it might as well be 100% in to it. So, I went all in and I am excited to buy in to (Iowa’s) way of wrestling and teaching, and try to buy into the program. I think people who buy into Tom and Terry (Brands), (Ryan) Morningstar, and (Ben) Berhow’s program tend to be successful as their potential can be. I really believe that and I am going to try and buy in make sure I get there as fast as I can because I can’t wait to be in Iowa City.”

Other commits in the 2017 class
#7 Jacob Warner (#1)
#44 Max Murin (#6)
#79 Aaron Costello (#11)
Myles Wilson (#16)
Zach Axmear

Listen in to Potentially Dangerous as Hager and Ross give their thoughts on the latest happenings in Iowa City: