Braxton Amos is a Badger!!!

[bigG]

BIG TIME!!! WOOOHOOOOOOOO!

[dad 2 5]

One has to wonder how much scholarship money is left after this blue chip pick up?  I hope we can land more.

I know often guys are on academic scholarships and it sounds like several of the guys are in that category.

[imnofish]

One has to wonder how much scholarship money is left after this blue chip pick up?  I hope we can land more.

I know often guys are on academic scholarships and it sounds like several of the guys are in that category.

[mkm13]

After watching the Amos/Christensen match and how big Christensen is, I wonder if he actually moves up to heavyweight after Hillger graduates?  The 3 of them could theoretically all wrestle 197/hwt and never have to sit if Christensen wrestles 197 this year and redshirts when Hillger is a senior and Braxton was a RS freshman. That would give Christensen an extra year to bulk up to heavyweight

[thesweep]

After watching the Amos/Christensen match and how big Christensen is, I wonder if he actually moves up to heavyweight after Hillger graduates?  The 3 of them could theoretically all wrestle 197/hwt and never have to sit if Christensen wrestles 197 this year and redshirts when Hillger is a senior and Braxton was a RS freshman. That would give Christensen an extra year to bulk up to heavyweight

This is a good point.  If Christensen wrestles right away and then takes a redshirt the following year and then Amos wrestles his true freshman year, it essentially eliminates any overlap of weights. Whoever is bigger could go heavyweight once Hilger leaves.  Or maybe we will see a gray shirt? Who knows what happens, but it is a good problem to have and I think will sort itself out.

[wrastle63]

After watching the Amos/Christensen match and how big Christensen is, I wonder if he actually moves up to heavyweight after Hillger graduates?  The 3 of them could theoretically all wrestle 197/hwt and never have to sit if Christensen wrestles 197 this year and redshirts when Hillger is a senior and Braxton was a RS freshman. That would give Christensen an extra year to bulk up to heavyweight

This is a good point.  If Christensen wrestles right away and then takes a redshirt the following year and then Amos wrestles his true freshman year, it essentially eliminates any overlap of weights. Whoever is bigger could go heavyweight once Hilger leaves.  Or maybe we will see a gray shirt? Who knows what happens, but it is a good problem to have and I think will sort itself out.

Highly doubt these guys will greyshirt. They are all high level wrestlers(Christensen, Hillger, and Amos) I think we see Christensen right away this year at 197 or he will redshirt and cut down to 184 for next season. In which case we could possibly have 184-Christensen 197-Amos and HWT-Hillger. I don't see Amos redshirting.

[Illinois Wrestling]

I've been watching these weights for a long time. I know Christensen for long time since Gomez Wrestling days and have followed Braxton for awhile and he was in Fargo this year. Pete chose summer classes and training instead. I was in Fargo and the word there was Braxton walking around around 230. He's built to be a heavyweight. He's a tank, but so is Pete. Petes a big kid that wrestles like a little guy. But he's not ever going to see 84. I don't care how good the nutrionist is. Somebody is going sit with the overlap with Hilger and maybe that's not a bad thing. Pete and Braxton can wrestle off for the spot. The most obvious answer is Braxton going heavyweight, I don't care what flo says, he's no 97lber. Him cutting that much weight and Pete going to 84 is a recipe for disaster. They both may be done growing, I don't know but to bulk pete up to heavyweight when you got a kid halfway there would be stupid. They need to find 84lber.  Brady can go 84 next year and probably do well but they still need an 84. Both need to red shirt freshman year in my opinion, there's chinks in both armors.
I don't see Braxton being any better then Pete or vice versa. Petes wrestled some big matches too, inappropriate term5 he had Ferrari on his back in the finals at iron man, ultimately losing the match, but it showed me he's not afraid to take some chances and that he can and will go after these kids. Petes young. Another 30 seconds and Pete would of won that match.
Brady and Watkins at 97 this year wrestling for starting spot. Sebastian at 84 this year and gone next year. Brady goes 84 next year and Watkins will be gone. Pete at 97 after his red shirt year this year and Braxton redshirt next year then sort  this out the following year as far as the over lap. The only thing I don't know is how long Brady has left. Oh and 74 Tyler Dowd and Krattinger. Strong!
You guys can fill in lower weights as I'm not fully up on new recruits and such for those weights.

[thesweep]

I agree with Luke about this is the year to unleash everything you got because the conditions are right to place well:

*Seth Gross is here.
*Moran is a true AA threat.
*Hilger and Wick are AAs.
*Cole is solid, maybe fringe AA.
*Sebastion and Watkins transfers helps improve depth.
*Many teams are weakened because of Olympic redshirting.

At first I thought we would be redshirting freshmen but the above reasons make me think that Barnett will start and perhaps Christensen will start at 197 if he is our better option than Watkins. As MKM stated this has an additional benefit for future line-ups in the heavier weights as MKM stated.

[walden_hiker]

Sharenbrock is listed on the roster at 157 now.

After watching the Amos/Christensen match and how big Christensen is, I wonder if he actually moves up to heavyweight after Hillger graduates?  The 3 of them could theoretically all wrestle 197/hwt and never have to sit if Christensen wrestles 197 this year and redshirts when Hillger is a senior and Braxton was a RS freshman. That would give Christensen an extra year to bulk up to heavyweight

This is a good point.  If Christensen wrestles right away and then takes a redshirt the following year and then Amos wrestles his true freshman year, it essentially eliminates any overlap of weights. Whoever is bigger could go heavyweight once Hilger leaves.  Or maybe we will see a gray shirt? Who knows what happens, but it is a good problem to have and I think will sort itself out.

Highly doubt these guys will greyshirt. They are all high level wrestlers(Christensen, Hillger, and Amos) I think we see Christensen right away this year at 197 or he will redshirt and cut down to 184 for next season. In which case we could possibly have 184-Christensen 197-Amos and HWT-Hillger. I don't see Amos redshirting.

I think MKM's point, or at least my take away from it, was that Christensen is big too. It echos what Illinois Wrestling said: 184 seems like a stretch for Christensen. If that's the case, it would make the most sense for Christensen to go this year, and save his redshirt for one of the years where Hillger, Amos, and him overlap.

Leaving how we slot out our big guys to the side for a second, and instead just zooming out, I think not redshirting Christensen makes sense for another reason. I've had 20-21 as THE YEAR, circled for awhile now. Evan's a Senior, Thor's a Junior and our outstanding 2019 class is redshirted and ready. LFG.

But, things have changed:
--We've got a national champ for one year.
--We've got Moran, who really is an AA contender, for one year.
--We've got Sebastian, who made the Round of 16 in most recent NCAA trip, for one year.
--The competition has gotten softer, thanks to Olympic redshirts.
--And, frankly, Bono doesn't strike as the sort of guy that's willing to "wait it out." I'm guessing he's champing at the bit to make his mark.

I'm now projecting we unleash several of the freshman this year and let 'er rip.

I've got my best guess at our 10 starters highlighted and emboldened, but I've still got them listed at the weight they are on the site. Without Christensen, our dual lineup is going to have a gaping hole. I don't think that's acceptable given the talent we have elsewhere. Ditto at 125.



Also, one consistent way this new regime communicates with us is through the roster. They keep it up-to-date. It's because of that, it can't be considered a mistake that Drew Scharenbrock is no longer listed. Bummer.

[walden_hiker]

New weights for some guys posted up on the roster:

Michael Cullen: 125
Tyler Dow: 174
Garrett Model: 157
Salemme: Heavy

[thesweep]

The new weights listed are very interesting and begs some questions:

1) Will we see Cullen start at 125 with a Barnett redshirt?  Will the redshirt will be pulled at some point?
2)  Who wins the job at 157?
3) Who wins the job at 174?
4) Who will start at 197?
5)  Do wrestle-offs determine who gets the spot? Opens performance? Coaches' choice?

[Harris]

Thanks Luke.  Love your data.

[BuckyMatt]

The new weights listed is very interesting and begs some questions:

1) Will we see Cullen start at 125 with a Barnett redshirt?  Will the redshirt will be pulled at some point?
2)  Who wins the job at 157?
3) Who wins the job at 174?
4) Who will start at 197?
5)  Do wrestle-offs determine who gets the spot? Opens performance? Coaches' choice?

It seems really likely Cullen and Wetter/Watkins start the year at 125/197.

I'd love to see the wrestle-offs at 157 & 174, but unlike during the Davis days, they weren't open to the public last year. I don't see any reason that changes this year. That's why I'm hoping someone will reach out to me.

At one of the fundraisers I've heard Bono say they don't have wrestle offs because they continually evaluate. He said it's those who do everything right, every day that are ready for battle, not just the person who can win one match early in the season!
The fact that we have so many strong options at so many weights shows it's an exciting time for the program and depth is improving tremendously!

[asdf]

I would like to hear how Krattiger/Dow look against each other. 

For those saying all these new, bigger guys coming in can "never" make a lower weight--look at the body change Krattiger has went thru over the course of his redshirt year to get himself to 174.

[thesweep]

Let's hope for a season with little injuries.

It appears Kratt wasn't cutting much his senior year as I checked out his weight certification on trackwrestling for 2017-2018 season and he certified at 160.  Now, that might be at 5% and he certainly looked good at 182 so I'm not knocking him. Cutting too much weight is as detrimental as being too big.  Given his height, I think 174 is a good weight for him in college.