5 Reasons To Watch Rutgers vs Ohio State
5 Reasons To Watch Rutgers vs Ohio State
Rutgers heads to Ohio State for an exciting dual on Friday night. Here are some of the top reasons to watch when the Scarlet Knights take on the Buckeyes
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Rutgers heads to Ohio State for an exciting Big Ten dual on Friday night. The fouth-ranked Buckeyes will be the favorites in this contest, but this young Rutgers squad keeps getting better and is fun to watch.
Watch Rutgers vs Ohio State LIVE on FloWrestling
Friday, Jan 10 | 7:00 PM ET
1) Rising Stars Decatur & Alvarez
True freshmen Jordan Decatur and Sammy Alvarez will meet for the first time on Friday night in the Covelli Center. Alvarez came out of redshirt at the beginning of the season and has been steadily improving. He had his best performance to date last week when he took out #5 Micky Phillippi and #8 Cam Sykora on the same day at the Southern Scuffle.
Jordan Decatur had his redshirt pulled before last weekend's F&M Open and then made his dual meet debut against #14 Josh Kramer of Arizona State on Monday night. Decatur won that bout setting up this exciting weekend showdown with Alvarez. Read a more comprehensive analysis of that match here.
2) Can Heinselman Overcome #14 Aguilar?
Malik Heinselman entered the Buckeye lineup last year after his redshirt was pulled for a January dual against Elijah Oliver. Since then, he has been in and out of the rankings and looking to establish himself as a staple at 125.
Heinselman is 9-8 on the year and coming off a couple of losses to tough opponents. He also has solid wins this year, but a win over Rutgers freshman Nic Aguilar, currently 14th in the rankings, would go a long way.
Likewise, Aguilar, who just finished eighth at the Southern Scuffle, would love a win over Heinselman who, despite being unranked, is still very solid. In addition, this match could play an important factor into seeding at the Big Ten Championships and potentially NCAA qualification. This should be a good one.
3) Romero & Grello in Ranked Match at 174
Ohio State's #9 Kaleb Romero is coming off a solid win over Arizona State's Anthony Valencia and has been wrestling tough this season. His opponent, #19 Joe Grello, was the second seed at the Southern Scuffle but finished off the podium.
Grello looks to get back on track against Romero. A win for Grello over Romero would be an upset numerically, but a season ago, Grello finished in the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships while Romero is in his first year as the full-time starter.
Romero will certainly be the favorite in this matchup, but Grello is a capable opponent, having notched wins over tough opponents like Kimball Bastian, Travis Stefanik, and Jacob Covaciu.
4) How Well are Rutgers' Young Guys Developing?
Rutgers, who had its first two NCAA champions in program history last year, has been rolling out a young lineup this season. The early events in the season were a bit tumultuous for the Scarlet Knights, but Sammy Alvarez's Southern Scuffle performance could indicate that Coach Goodale's development is paying off.
The Rutgers lineup has been interesting throughout the season, and many of their freshmen will have big challenges on Friday night.
At 125, Nic Aguilar will have NCAA qualifier Malik Heinselman; at 133, Sammy Alvarez will have freshman blue-chipper Jordan Decatur; at 141, Jojo Aragona will have his hands full with #1 Luke Pletcher; at 149, Gerard Angelo will have #6 Sammy Sasso; at 165, Jackson Turley will have #13 Ethan Smith; and at 184, Billy Janzer will have freshman Rocky Jordan.
It will be fascinating to see how this young Rutgers lineup continues to develop. Sammy Alvarez talked about the development that's happening on this team and the importance of consistency in his first season at Rutgers.
5) 9 Ranked Headliners
In addition to these other storylines, nearly half of the wrestlers in this dual are ranked. This should make for excellent action from top to bottom. Check out the complete list of ranked wrestlers headed into this dual:
125: #14 Nic Aguilar, Rutgers
133: #11 Sammy Alvarez, Rutgers
141: #1 Luke Pletcher, Ohio State
149: #6 Sammy Sasso, Ohio State
165: #13 Ethan Smith, Ohio State
174: #9 Kaleb Romero, Ohio State
174: #19 Joe Grello, Rutgers
197: #1 Kollin Moore, Ohio State
197: #17 Jordan Pagano, Rutgers