2018-19 Redshirt Report: 184 Pounds
2018-19 Redshirt Report: 184 Pounds
Final X wrestler Nick Reenan and Junior world teamer Louie DePrez highlight the 184-pound redshirt report.
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Are you wearing your best red colored shirt right now? If not, that's OK, but we'll still be pressing on with Redshirt Report season!
For the fourth year in a row, FloWrestling will be doing a weight-by-weight breakdown of the best guys who did not wrestle last season. The word "redshirt" is being used as a catch-all term for pretty much every good non-starter from a year ago. This includes actual redshirts, injuries, and a few who just couldn't crack the starting lineup.
Previous Redshirt Reports
Some weights will have more names and more name cache than others, because not every weight is created equal. A strong group of seven appears at 184lbs, headlined by Nick Reenan of NC State, coming off an appearance in Final X this summer at State College. Also featured are a pair of former FloNationals champs in Dylan Wisman and Dakota Geer, who already had starting experience before redshirting, as well as four notables from the high school graduating class of 2017.
Nick Reenan, NC State
It was clear when Reenan made the National Prep finals as a 152-pound sophomore in 2014 that he had the frame to get much bigger. Fast forward two years, and he tried to wrestle his whole senior year at 195, despite being about 20lbs underweight. So it made a ton of sense when he spent his true freshman season at NC State wrestling 174, a weight everyone felt was best for him. Except for Nick himself, apparently.
He continued to put on weight during his redshirt year, going 21-4, though the final two losses were injury defaults/medical forfeits. But he went on an insane arc from March to June, going from getting teched by Joe Rau at the Bill Farrell, to getting third after losing to Rich Perry at the U.S. Open in April, to winning the World Team Trials challenge tournament in May, avenging both losses along the way. Oh, and he got the first takedown against David Taylor at Final X State College.
Louie DePrez, Binghamton
The best shot Binghamton has had at an All-American since Nick Gwiazdowski in 2012, DePrez is a bona fide stud, finishing #8 on the 2017 Big Board. High school teammates with Yianni Diakomihalis, DePrez won Super 32 in 2016 over Nino Bonaccorsi, an opponent he has wrestled several times over his career and who will appear below. His 28-4 record last year featured a 10-0 win over Dakota Geer in the Edinboro Open finals, and three of his losses came to All-Americans Myles Martin and Max Dean. Despite limited freestyle experience, he'll be our 86kg representative at Junior Worlds in Trnava, Slovakia, in a few weeks.
Nino Bonaccorsi, Pitt
A legacy at Pittsburgh, Nino's older brother Nick was a 197 for the Panthers a few years ago. Bonaccorsi will provide an immediate upgrade at 184, representing a very likely qualifier and he should appear in the rankings sooner than later. Keith Gavin and his staff need that injection of talent too, as three of their four qualifiers from last season have graduated. One thing college wrestling fans will love is his pace; almost no one in this weight range takes as many shots as Bonaccorsi. He went 21-5 on his redshirt year and made the Open finals opposite DePrez.
Dakota Geer, Oklahoma State
After competing unattached last season, the two-time FloNats champ transferred to Oklahoma State, being joined by former Edinboro teammate Andrew Shomers. The Cowboys starter last year in Keegan Moore is now at Northern Iowa, so Geer will likely now need to contend with Jacobe Smith for the starting spot. He went 30-10 while qualifying for NCAAs as a true freshman, and then 15-4 last year on redshirt. Of those 19 matches, he saw a number of guys on this list, going 1-2 against Bonaccorsi and beating both Jelani Embree and Cameron Caffey.
Jelani Embree, Michigan
Embree competed just about everywhere in high school, wrestling in Who's #1, winning FloNats and making the finals twice, as well as getting third at Fargo and fourth at Super 32. He's set up to be the Wolverines 184 for the next four years, taking over for 2018 All-American Dom Abounader. A two-time Michigan state champ at Warren Lincoln, he went 15-2 during his redshirt year with losses to Reenan and Geer; he finished third at both the Open and World Team Trials.
Dylan Wisman, Missouri
Now entering his fourth year in Columbia, Wisman will have to beat out several young hammers to be the Tigers starter. As Missouri's starter last year, Canten Marriott was ranked as high as 15th and qualified for NCAAs, while Jacob Raschka went 15-5 on his redshirt year. Wisman was #40 on the 2015 Big Board and Raschka was #69 on the 2017 Big Board, so Brian Smith and his coaching staff have no shortage of proven depth at this weight. The Virginia native started at 174 during the 2016-17 season, but battled injuries and wrestled just six matches after bumping up to 184 last year.
Cameron Caffey, Michigan State
Perhaps a surprise appearance on this list after not making the final 2017 Big Board. Coming from the same high school as former Illinois 133lb AA Zane Richards, Caffey went from a state qualifier as a 126lb freshman to undefeated state champ at 182 as a senior. He carried that into last season, going 22-6 as a redshirt and putting himself in position to start over Spartan senior Shwan Shadaia this year. He made the Junior Greco finals at both the Open and Trials, going on to win a Pan Am gold medal a few weeks ago.