The early signing period for wrestling came to a close on Wednesday. By our count, over 300 wrestlers committed to DI programs.
Like every recruiting cycle, wrangling a good class depends on a lot of factors: weight class need, money available, geography, etc., etc.
Below we'll take a look at the Top 5 big winners in the Class of 2015 sweepstakes. But before we do that, let's note some other programs that impressed us with their recruiting ability thus far.
Outside our Top 5, Purdue, South Dakota State, Princeton and Harvard all had very strong early signing periods as well. Each hauled in three Top 100 recruits.
Boilermakers’ new head coach Tony Ersland had a late start to the process, but still did pretty well. Ersland was named Head Coach for Purdue in late May, but still managed to collect star recruits.
“First of all it’s about rolling up your sleeves and going to work,” said Ersland. “Coach (Zach) Tanelli and (Tyrel) Todd did a great job and we all got on the same page with what we were trying do very quickly. From there we evaluated what we had and what we wanted then put in the miles.”
That's getting the job done, Coach Ersland!
Top 5 Early Signing Period Classes
1. Arizona State Sun Devils
#1-Zahid Valencia, CA (184)
#2-Anthony Valencia, CA (174)
#3-Lance Benick, MN (197)
#5-Josh Shields, PA (157/165)
#8-Josh Maruca, PA (157/165)
Others Signees: Ted Rico, AZ (133); Josh Kramer, AZ (133); Paul Klein, LA (133); Conner Small, WA (165)
Comments: Zeke Jones looks to turn the ASU program around and went all over the country to make it happen. The middleweights were bolstered by PA teammates Shields and Maruca from Franklin Regional. And with the Valencias and Benick, the top half of the Pitchfork line-up should ber in good hands for the foreseeable future.
2. Oklahoma State Cowboys
#1-Kaid Brock, OK (125/133)
#3-Nick Piccininni, NY (125/133)
#3-Jo Jo Smith (157)
#7-Boo Lewallen, OK (141)
#12-Lincoln Olson, MI (133/141)
#15-Tristan Moran, OK (149)
#19-Andrew Marsden, OK (197)
Comments: John Smith is a recruiting wizard. He always figures out a way to convince some of the best kids from around the country to “Cowboy Up!” He has a host of great talent across the board. Brock, Piccininni and Olson will be a great trio to hold things down at the start of their line up with Lewallen, Moran and son Jo Jo Smith in the middle. Andrew Marden will join his brother Austin and look to take care of the upper tier of the line up.
3. Minnesota Golden Gophers
#1-Bobby Steveson, MN (197)
#2-Fredy Stroker, IA (149/157)
#3-Larry Early, IL (157/165)
#11-Rylee Streifel, MN (HWT)
Others Signees: James Berg, MN (149); Dan Cartagena, TX (157); Carlson Brolsma, MN (157)
Comments: J. Robinson landed three Top 20 overall seniors in Steveson, Stroker and Early. Streifel is also a great signing with NCAA Champ Tony Nelson now graduated.
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
#2-Ke-Shawn Hayes, MO (141/149)
#2-Myles Martin, NJ (184)
#4-Jose Rodriguez, OH (133)
#5-Kollin Moore, OH (184)
Comments: Coach Tom Ryan's recruiting M.O. has been to bring in small, studly classes. He does that again for 2015 with four Top 5 talents. Ke-Shawn Hayes will attempt to replace the legendary Logan Stieber at 141 and Martin should be in line to take over for Kenny Courts to round out a line-up that figures to contend for NCAA team titles.
5. West Virginia Mountaineers
#3-Devin Brown, PA (125)
#3-Austin Myers, KY (HWT)
#3-Keegan Moore, OK (141)
#7-Patrick Duggan, PA (149/157)
#9-Connor Flynn, MO (149/157)
#18-Bailey Faust, OH (197)
Others Signees: Jon Ragsdale, GA (125); JD Gregory, VA (125); Caleb Mariakis, GA (141); Zach Moore, OK (149); Dustin Gray, MO (174)
Comments: Sammie Henson’s new regime has brought in one of the biggest groups of talent from all over the country. Devin Brown will be a great addition to the start of the Mountaineers line up along with Moore. Duggan and Flynn can surely firm up the middle with Myers and Faust securing things at the top.