This college wrestling season hasn’t exactly started the way Arizona State would have liked.

Top 2021 recruit Richie Figueroa (125) has yet to compete; Jesse Vasquez (141) suffered an arm injury at the Journeymen Classic; All-America Jacori Teemer (157) returned after sitting out last season because of a torn pectoral muscle and promptly went into concussion protocol at the Journeymen, and All-America heavyweight Cohlton Schultz continues to prepare for folkstyle action after a fall of international Greco-Roman competition.

Conversely, Kaleb Larkin qualified for the Olympic Trials by winning the Bill Farrell Open, but the son of former ASU NCAA champ Eric Larkin is going to redshirt. And while Julian Chlebove made his debut at 133 against Missouri with a victory in a 39-6 ASU loss, projected starters Cael Valencia (174) and Jacob Meissner (197) did not compete, either, against the Tigers.

Cause for concern? It’s all about the overall outlook.

“Obviously we’re a little dinged up; it’s the good news-bad news,” Sun Devils coach Zeke Jones said. “The bad news is we're dinged up and we’re seven starters out. But, the good news is nothing is serious and everybody should be full speed here in a few weeks. There are no season-ending injuries, nobody that won't be ready for the dual-meet season in January … we should be full go.”

In-season rankings keep fans involved and can measure a team’s performance. The Sun Devils have tumbled in the dual-meet polls but are #5 in the Flowrestling team tournament rankings.

“We know who we are and what we are and what we're capable of,” Jones said. “We're good, we're patient, we're understanding, and our fans that know us are, too. Those that don't know or don’t pay attention or just kind of read the headlines, they don't know. But we don't worry about those guys.”

The lineup the Sun Devils used in Columbia, Missouri, on Nov. 19 should be markedly different by Jan. 6 when ASU hosts future Big 12 counterpart Iowa State. But not for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, and perhaps a few more regulars for the Midlands.

Figueroa and Chlebove figure to open the lineup and Vasquez, according to Jones, will be out for a few weeks. 

“It’ll take a few weeks to get him up and running and he’ll be ready to roll come dual-meet season in January,” he said.

All-Americans Kyle Parco (149) and Teemer (157) close the opening half of the lineup, and Teemer will be one of the few starters to compete at the Cliff Keen in December. 

“He’s excited, champing at the bit, gung-ho and ready to roll,” Jones said about Teemer.

Valencia competed at 184 in the Journeymen Classic but he is dropping to 174, Jones said, and will compete in Vegas as well. 

“We get a lot better with him at 74,” Jones said.

Chance McClane at 165 and Tony Negron at 184 will hold those spots and Jacob Meissner, who also was hurt at the Journeymen, is at 197. Damion Schunke has been competing at 285 while Schultz gets set for folkstyle but will be in the mix at 197.

Regardless of the status of ASU’s frontline competitors, losing is never easy. 

“You always hate losing whether you have your starting lineup and or not,” Jones said. “It’s always a bummer, you want to win everything all the time. I don't think anybody's in this business without the expectation that they want to win everything all the time. 

“But it's just the nature of our sport. Every team's got an injury right now. For us, we’ve got maybe a couple more. We try to be patient and not get too weird and stay focused on what we can control,” Jones added. “We've always been good at having guys healthy at the NCAA Tournament and ready to go … it all is for a purpose.”

Holidays And Training

Jones said the Sun Devils complete an 11-week training cycle to start the season and try to hit their first peak at the Cliff Keen. While that’s unlikely to happen for a good handful of team members because of injuries, the focus after that is academics.

“Right after the Vegas tournament we have a week of final exams. We focus on being students,” Jones said. “Our team GPA is a 3.3 right now and it's a 3.3 because we focus on it, too.

“We take a breath and then we do a good, hard two-week training cycle just before they go home for a few days for Christmas. And then they head into the Midlands rested up and ready to go with a few days over Christmas. Right after that it's Iowa State and the dual-meet schedule. There's no rest for the weary as they say, right?”

All About Larkin

Just a freshman, Larkin will compete in freestyle before folkstyle. He won the recent Bill Farrell International at 65 kilograms and qualified for the Olympic Trials at Penn State in April by beating former collegiate stars Matt Kolodzik and Pat Lugo as well as Ohio State phenom Jesse Mendez.

“We’re really excited about Kaleb; I think we all knew it was possible,” Jones said. “We all knew he was that good. When he goes with Parco and when he goes with Teemer and Frank (Molinaro, assistant coach) and all our best guys, you can see it, he's in the mix. We knew he had the ability and, obviously, he was able to perform at that high level and for kind of the world to see it. 

“We want to see him on the Olympic team; we believe he can do it. He's focused on a freestyle schedule and making sure that we get him ready to compete. The Senior Nationals are in December and there are some international tournaments coming up in December, January and February, and the trials are in April. We're focused on that exclusively to get him ready to make an Olympic team,” Jones said.