Throughout the season we saw some seriously gutsy decisions from guys on the mat that proved to us that they don't have a care in the world outside of being incredibly intense.

This pure disregard for everything reminded us of one animal and one animal only; the honey badger. The honey badger is the most fearless creature in the animal kingdom and those of us familiar with this dry grassland roaming rascal, through the YouTube video titled Honey Badger Don't Give A S***, will clearly see the correlations we have made to the wrestlers named to Team Honey Badger for their aforementioned gutsiness and pure disregard for anything in their paths. If you haven't seen the video we highly recommend giving it a watch.

But without further adieu, we present Team Honey Badger.

 

Unseeded?! No problem for Moisey. All he did was beat All-Americans Nahshon Garrett, Eddie Klimara, and Thomas Gilman, who he pinned in 52 seconds, on his way to the national finals. Garrett and Klimara had both beaten him during the year, but that didn't matter in St. Louis. Its not just the fact that Moisey won that made him a fan favorite, it was how he won. Throughout the tournament he was constantly going big and gave us the top moment of the tournament when he locked up a standing cradle to pin Gilman in the semifinals. Even in the national finals Moisey almost caught Nathan Tomasello on his back when he hit the Buckeye with a cement special. But in the end "you can never count me out," mentioned Moisey.

 

After losing his first match it appeared a banged up Schopp was not going to be able to wrestle back and claim All-American honors. But all Schopp did was win seven straight matches, with four pins, to take third and take home the Gorriaran Award of the tournament. Schopp will often choose top when it's his choice and is not afraid to roll across his own back, putting himself in danger, to pick up the fall. 

Carter has a wide open attacking style in which he could be found standing straight up just walking into his opponent. He is also notorious for making up moves on the fly. Recently, he did an interview with our Christian Pyles in which he claimed that he had unicorn blood which was how he was able to heal so quickly. It worked pretty well for him as he finished his career as a three-time All-American. 

 

Racciato is not afraid to try any move at anytime and is known as one of the best scramblers in the country. In fact, he was involved in one of the best scrambles Flo has ever seen earlier this year. Even from a young age Racciato has showed some honey badger promise as he hit a spladle in the PA state finals his junior year.

 

The best way to describe I-Mar is as CP says “NOT TAME!” I-Mar is under the tutelage of notorious honey badger Mark Perry and has become his star pupil. He burst onto the scene after he beat James Green and finished the match by rubbing his forearm into the neck of Green as time expired. He has continued to show that he has no respect for his elders by recently destroying Honorable Mention honey badger, Dylan Ness, in the Big Ten finals. Following that performance, he ran through the bracket in St Louis becoming the first undefeated freshman national champion since Cael Sanderson. 

Honorable Mention: Dylan Ness (Minnesota)
Ness might be the most popular wrestler amongst college wrestling fans. This is thanks to Ness being willing to try anything, even at times making up moves on the fly to score and even lots of times pick up the fall. Ness has even been known to go to his back, and give up back points just to hit his patented Gator Bacon. 

Much like Gilman the Cornell sophomore thrives off enemy crowds, and loves letting them know about it after beating their beloved athlete in front of them. Palacio wrestles a wide open attacking style which has earned him four Monday match of the week honors, and is on record saying that he just wants to give people “sick matches bro!” Palacio is also one of the best interviews in the country as he isn’t afraid to just say how he feels. And oh yeah, he's an L-40 Soldier by the way. 

 
Since his freshman year Mike Evans mustache has set the tone for his wrestling style and personality on the mat. Evans is known for being a very physical wrestler who doesn't care what opposing wrestlers, coaches, and fans think. He is also a quote machine when put in front of a microphone. An hour before his Big Ten semifinals match with Matt Brown, Evans was walking aroung the arena in jeans and boots. He clearly embraces his honey badger roots.

With not very many honey badger-like guys at the weight, Courts makes the team for different reasons than most. Courts wrestles a very laid back nonchalant style. Some people have no chill, but he is all chill. He used this "chill power" to propel himself to an All-American finish after not being seeded to help power Ohio State to its first wrestling national title. 

Gadson electrifyed the finals crowd of 18,000 by going big and pinning stud freshman Kyle Snyder to claim the title. So many times we see guys clam up in the finals and just try to not make a mistake, but not Gadson. He put it all on the line and it paid off. Gadson also gave us some of the best quotes of the weekend. After his semi-final win, opened his press conference by saying, "I'm just here so I don't get team points dedcuted" and then followed that by saying all he wants is some ice cream after his finals win. 

Bobby Telford has a full-time job at the University of Iowa and that's beating anyone they put in front of him at 285-pounds. Telford wrestles a very psychical style and has actually had two matches stopped in the first 10 seconds after both he and his opponent were throwing hard clubs. Give this man a mic and he will supply you with material for weeks. 

                                                                Coaching Staff

                                         Head Coach                           Head Assistant Coach
                           

                                      Assistant Coach                              Volunteer Assistant
                           

           Comment below and let us know who your Team Honey Badger selections are!