As I said in the first installment of these last week,  'Redshirt Report' is a bit of a misnomer for what these really are. Alex Meyer typifies that point.  Next year at 174 pounds NCAA's are going to be extremely interesting.  It's a perfect storm: Tons of the top 174 wrestlers graduated and there's an excellent collection of talent that will be taking the mat next year. 

Alex Meyer-Iowa-Potentially the most overqualified back up last year. Meyer was stuck behind 3 time All American Mike Evans last year. His results last year were exemplary. He beat Kyle Crutchmer, Zach Brunson, Johnny Sebastian, Blaise Butler and Chad Welch this year. He fell only to Frank Cousins and Willie Miklus (up at 184). With a docket like that, you have to figure Meyer is going to come in the top 10 (if not much higher) pre-season next year. Meyer will be a Junior next year for the Hawkeyes. He likes to wrestles from ties.  He is good with a 2 on 1 (like high school and now college team mate Cory Clark) and favors a single leg to his opponents left leg.  Watch his shoot out from last years University WTT's against Brock Gutches. 

Mathew Miller-Navy-Unfortunately Miller had a bad injury before last season and was unable to compete. his knee, In 2013 he won EIWA’s and beat Mike Ottinger, All American Bryce Hammond, Scott Liegel and Billy Curling. He was ranked 8th when this year started before learning he was out for the year. He’s a hammer with a great shot at placing. Check out his EIWA title below:


Mike Ottinger-CMU-Ottinger’s season ended about as bad as you can imagine a season ending after a very ugly DQ against Mathew Miller.   I'm sure there's not a guy hungrier to get back on the mat and erase that memory.  Mike redshirted last year and did not wrestle a match. 2 years ago he knocked off Miller earlier in the season and also beat Cody Walters, Tanner Weatherman and Mike England. He really only loses to solid guys. Ottinger is a brick wall and is tough to score on. He doesn’t pull the trigger enough on his feet but his defense can keep him in matches with anyone, even with Andrew Howe.

Davonte Mahomes-Michigan- This kid came out of the gate guns a blazin’ last year! I was super bummed that he had a season ending knee injury at Vegas. However, it sounds like he’ll get that year back so we’ll get 4 more years of Mahomes! Davonte knocked off All Americans Kurtis Julson and Cody Walters last year as well as NC State’s Pete Renda. He fell to Weatherman and Epperly. Mahomes is the complete package on his feet. Great defense and excellent attacks on his feet. With a good recovery, he’ll be dynamite next year.

Bo Nickal-Penn State-The Nittany Lion had a solid showing as a redshirt and showed glimpses of what made him such a coveted recruit. Bo wrestled in 4 tournaments. He got hurt at the Scuffle and we didn’t see him compete again. He fell to only Matt Brown and Wyoming’s Andy McCulley (watch that one here). Bo’s upper body skills, attacks, defense and overall athleticism are special.  If he can stay in the fray with those in your face hand fighters (like Brown, interestingly) he could go extremely far. This is a wide open weight that lost a number of the big names from a year ago. Bo had a great showing in defeat at JR WTT's against Gabe Dean.  Bo could find himself right in the mix, though it’s unlikely he will begin the season ranked. (just a heads up, PSU fans)

Johnny Sebastian-Northwestern-Another guy with all the tools. He took some losses last year, but in the matches I was able to catch of his, I was impressed with his transition. If he can stay healthy and continue to progress I think he’ll do a great job for Northwestern. Johnny does a great job with scoring off of elbow control.  He'll develop other set ups but that appears to be his best method for getting to legs.  He fell to Mark Martin, Nick Mitchell, Zac Brunson and Alex Meyer. He knocked off Shane Hughes, Chad Welch and Kevin Radford this year. It was solid, not mind-blowing. I think he’ll do a great job next year. 

Other Redshirt Reports:
125
133
141
149
157
165