Stepping off the mat after winning the Big Ten Championship at 149 pounds last March, Sammy Sasso wasn’t thinking about himself and how badly he wanted to win an individual national title. 

He had a bigger mission in mind.

“I want to start a new legacy here at Ohio State and start winning team titles,” Sasso told the Big Ten Network. “I’m always trying to get young savages from high school to come be a part of what we’ve got here because it’s something special at Ohio State.”

Eight months later, Ohio State’s crop of “young savages” is not only the best in the country this season, but has a strong claim to being the best recruiting class in the history of the sport. Tom Ryan’s staff earned the pledges of the top three recruits on the FloWrestling Big Board in the Class of 2022, in addition to #19, #45 and another former Top 40 prospect for good measure.

With #1 Jesse Mendez, #2 Nick Feldman and #3 Nic Bouzakis in the fold, there is no question that the class is top of the list this season, but beyond that, no team has swept the top three in the history of FloWrestling’s recruit rankings.

COVID-19 presented some interesting wrinkles in college wrestling recruiting. For one, with extended eligibility, programs had different challenges and opportunities to work with and around. Given the annual problem of allocating 9.9 scholarships for 10 roster spots, figuring out the optimal way to fund the best and brightest was an even bigger focus coming out of the pandemic.

“We looked at the finances and discussed a plan to make sure going forward we landed a couple of huge classes,” Ryan said at the program’s preseason media day. “We definitely have momentum now.” 

In addition to signing the top class this cycle, Ryan and recruiting consigliere Anthony Ralph already have a jump start on the Class of 2023, with #3 Rocco Welsh and #17 Vinny Kilkeary already committed.

Ryan acknowledged that the program’s recruiting suffered early in the pandemic because a big part of the team’s pitch is its best-in-the-nation facilities and the feel for life in one of the biggest cities in the Big Ten. Ohio State inaugurated Covelli Arena and the Jennings Family Wrestling Facility the season that ended with the pandemic scuttling the 2020 NCAA Championships.

“COVID hurt us [because] we couldn’t have official visits,” Ryan said. “We’ve had this place for two years but only been able to bring recruits in for a few months.”

Once things opened back up, Ohio State hosted a huge recruiting weekend in early June, welcoming in Feldman, Mendez, Bouzakis, Rylan Rogers, Seth Shumate, Luke Geog and Gavin Brown. Of those seven, only Rogers opted to pledge elsewhere.

Ohio State’s facilities are a huge wow factor, particularly when compared to the program’s former home at the Steelwood Training Center, a cramped, poorly-ventilated box with low ceilings and no windows. On the other hand, the Jennings facility is big enough for five mats plus dedicated space for weight and cardio equipment, two stories high and with two walls that are almost entirely glass.

Set on a gorgeous campus in a bustling modern American city, it’s not hard to sell recruits on the idea that coming to Columbus will provide one of the best lifestyles anywhere in the country. Ohio State certainly leaned into that, along with the related NIL opportunities that come with living in a thriving metropolis, as part of its pitch to the biggest 

Bringing the ‘Young Savages’ to Columbus

Ohio State’s secret weapon, though, is the relationships leaders like Sasso built with the “young savages” out there in high school wrestling. Particularly the young hammers from back home in the Keystone State.

“I’ve known Bouzakis for a long time now,” Sasso said. “He just wrestles hard. Getting him was big.”

The relationship between Sasso and Feldman was closer still, and the two Pennsylvania high school stars spent a good deal of time together during quarantine.

“He doesn’t live too far from me, he’s only about an hour [away],” Sasso said. “We got together and worked out. This kid is huge, right? When I got my hands on him, I knew I wanted for him to buy in and be here.”

Helping build inroads with two of the top three recruits in the Class of 2022 was only the start, as Sasso has back-home connections with Welsh, the first commit in Ohio State’s 2023 class as well.

It’s not all about the studs from across the eastern border, however. Ohio State football coaches have long relied on a strategy that Hall of Fame head coach Jim Tressel described as “building a wall around the state” to keep Ohio’s best home. The program did that in recent years by keeping stars like Paddy Gallagher and Carson Kharchla home, and home-state talent is a big part of Ohio State’s 2022 haul as well.

Seth Shumate has been part of Ohio State’s class since August of 2019, and he and Feldman look like a potent one-two punch at 197 and heavyweight. Shumate made a big splash in Fargo that summer, winning the 195-pound brackets in both freestyle and Greco-Roman; at the time of his commitment, he tweeted that he was “born to be a Buckeye” and although he’s no longer ranked #3 overall in the class as he was at that time, he’s still one of the top big men in the class and a major piece of Ohio State’s roster of the future.

Gavin Brown, ranked as the 33rd-best overall prospect at the end of his sophomore year, joined Ohio State’s Class of 2022 a little more than a year after Shumate did. St. Edward’s standout and current #45 overall prospect Luke Geog joined the class less than a week prior to signing day.

The icing on the cake came from Indiana, however, as top-ranked Mendez announced his commitment Nov. 3 on FloWrestling Radio Live. 

“They're building something special and they're building a dynasty," Mendez said when explaining his pledge. "It was a close decision, but it was Ohio State for the most part. I sat down with my family three nights ago and hashed it out. This might be the best recruiting class ever and I wanted to be a part of it.”

Ryan is effusive in his praise of recruiting director Anthony Ralph. Since Ralph’s promotion from volunteer coach to his current role the Buckeyes landed one of the top classes in the country in 2019, have inked the top class this cycle and appear poised to make a run at doing so again next year. The program’s official Twitter feed often refers to the #RalphEffect.

Having multiple national champions on the coaching staff doesn’t hurt, of course. Associate head coach J Jaggers was a two-time NCAA champ for Ryan as a student-athlete, and four-timer Logan Stieber joined the program as an assistant this summer after serving for several years as a coach at the Ohio Regional Training Center.

With two of the best 141-pounders in the history of the sport so closely attached to the program, perhaps it’s no wonder the top 133/141 prospects in the class were eager to be a part of what’s happening in Columbus.

As famed Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes often said, “You win with people.” With the people Ohio State has recruited this cycle, a solid amount of winning seems like a safe bet.