Remy Cotton, #76 on the Class of 2023 Big Board, announced his final three schools via Twitter on Aug. 15.

Like current Davison teammates Josh Barr (Penn State) and Caden Horwath (Michigan), Cotton is headed to the Big Ten. The only question is whether his final destination will be Purdue, Indiana or Michigan State. 

Cotton, ranked #7 in the nation at 195 pounds, saw his stock rise recently with a freestyle All-American finish in Fargo. Cotton was eighth after going just 1-2 a year ago. 

He posted a 5-3 record, including a 6-2 win over two-time Oklahoma state champion and Oklahoma State recruit Jersey Robb, who is ranked #13 at 195. Robb went 30-0 during his last high school season.

Cotton also knocked off two-time Wisconsin state runner-up Ian Smith, 10-0. 

While Barr won a second straight championship and Horwath took second, Davison coach Zac Hall called Cotton's podium finish his top Fargo highlight.

"Seeing Remy make All-American honors was my favorite moment of Fargo (sorry, Josh)," he said. "If you only knew how far he has come in the past few years. He has a drive and passion for this sport that is evident watching him in the practice room. When you consistently do all the right things and work hard, at some point you get rewarded. I believe this is just the beginning for Remy."

Barr was just as ecstatic about Cotton's showing.

"How about Remy Cotton?," he posted on Twitter. "2021 Fargo he went 1-2. To 2022 Fargo 8th place and takes out guys ranked, and giving the best guys all they want. And he’s just getting started, mark my words."

Cotton was seventh in the state as a freshman and second as a sophomore while wrestling for Traverse City Central.

His family moved to Davison in time for Cotton to replace state medalist Landon Kish at 189 pounds in the Cardinals lineup last season. He began the Division 1 state championship dual against Detroit Catholic Central with a major decision win, helping the Cardinals defend their title. 

Cotton finished 27-3 (17 bonus-point wins) his first year with Davison, avenging a loss to Midland Dow's Aidan Wardell for the Division 1, 189-pound state championship.

His only other losses were to two-time state champion Manny Rojas (Detroit Catholic Central), an Iowa State recruit who was #17 in the final 2021-22 pound-for-pound rankings, and Ohio state champion and Ohio State signee Luke Geog.

Cotton boasts a 97-14 high school record, including 55-4 the past two seasons. 

"I am expecting Remy to take that jump to the next level next season," Hall says. "We saw glimpses of it at the end of the high school season, and that was exemplified at Fargo. He should be dominant.”

ALL-TIME GREAT COACH RETIRES

In the summer of 1970, Bruce Bittenbender was a hungry, passionate and eager young wrestling coach fresh off serving as an assistant on South Haven's 1970 Class B state championship team.

Then a 23-year-old, he began looking for an opportunity to run his own program and realized that dream when nearby Stevensville Lakeshore named Bittenbender head wrestling coach and offered him a teaching position.

He spent the next 52 years building a remarkable legacy on his way to becoming Michigan's all-time winningest coach.  

In late March, the 75-year-old retired with a 981-270-2 record, 141 more victories than any other coach in state history. Bittenbender is second on the all-time national wins list behind Rex Peckinpaugh, who racked up a 1,001-300-3 mark at New Castle (Indiana) High School from 1982-2019. 

Bittenbender's squads won 33 conference titles, 28 district championships, 13 regional crowns and finished as the state runner-up in 1986 and 1994, the year the Lancers came closest to winning a team state championship. They led Fowlerville, 25-22, heading into the final weight class of the Class B title match before dropping a 28-25 decision. 

Stevensville went unbeaten in dual meets in 1976, 1978, 1984 and 1986 before Michigan adopted a dual-meet format to determine team state champions in 1988. The Lancers also captured 109 invitational titles.

Individually, Bittenbender's wrestlers reached the state-meet podium with top-eight finishes 116 times, including 26 state championships. He went out with a bang as Aaron Luccio, Zam Thompson and Micah Hanau all won individual state titles this season.  

Bittenbender formally announced his retirement April 1 during a live-streamed press conference at the school attended by many of his former wrestlers and other supporters.

As he addressed the crowd, Bittenbender emphasized how much he will miss working with wrestlers of all ability levels and helping them improve. 

“There were a lot of kids that weren’t state champions here; there were a lot of kids that weren’t district champions or regional champions or even conference champions,” Bittenbender said. “But they were here every day, they were working every day, they were part of this program and you’ve got to give those kids credit.”

Bittenbender, who retired as a Stevensville teacher in 2010, earned countless accolades during his career, including being named National Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Associations in 2002 and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association in 2010.

The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania native was also Michigan Coach of the Year in 2002 and was named Regional Coach of the Year 11 times. 

Bittenbender is a member of the Michigan Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the National Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame, and Milligan (Tenn.) University Athletics Hall of Fame. 

Bittenbender was known for a no-nonsense, blue collar, yet supportive, coaching philosophy which he attributed to the influence of his father. Truman Bittenbender was a World War II veteran, who worked in steel mills for more than 40 years.  

Even as he surpassed his 70th birthday, Bruce Bittenbender continued leading by example, participating in conditioning with his wrestlers and at times perfecting moves with them on the mat. Every season, he was determined to field a lineup of wrestlers who were not going to tire in the final period of matches.

Bittenbender wrestled for Liberty High School in Bethlehem followed by four years at Milligan where he was a conference runner-up. A teaching vacancy at South Haven drew him to Michigan. 

Among other things, Bittenbender has spent his retirement thus far fishing on Lake Michigan and spending more time with Susan, his wife for 53 years. 

He remains in touch with many of his former wrestlers and recently reunited with several from his first team at Stevensville Lakeshore's Covid-delayed Class of 1971 reunion.

Bittenbender's successor is Ryan Quinn, who spent last season as his assistant.

The 30-year-old boasts an extensive coaching resume despite his age, including head coaching stints at Ancilla College, a two-year institution in Plymouth, Indiana, Niles (Michigan) High School and Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, his alma mater. Quinn guided Niles to the 2017 state semifinals. 

He was a two-time state qualifier at Oak Hills before spending four seasons wrestling for Central Michigan.

Coaching in his Quinn's blood. His father, Jeff, held various college football coaching positions from 1983-2021, including a five-season stint as University of Buffalo head coach. He was a Notre Dame assistant from 2015-21. 

DOUBLE ALL-AMERICAN

Delton Kellogg's Caden Ferris, who capped his high school career with a second Division 4 state championship in March, enjoyed quite a summer while preparing for his first season at Central Michigan.

In June, he went 7-1 at Junior National Freestyle Duals, including a win over Utah state champion Damon Armenta. 

That proved just a warmup, however, for Fargo the next month.

After posting a combined 5-5 record in Greco-Roman and freestyle a year ago, Ferris was Michigan's only All-American in both styles. 

In Greco, he breezed to a 10-1 decision over two-time New York state champion Sam Sorenson in the third-place match at 220 pounds. Ferris also knocked off Iowa state champion Jared Thiry and lost just 2-1 to two-time Florida state champion Sawyer Bartelt, who won 16U titles in both styles at Fargo last year and is ranked #5 in the nation at 220.

Ferris was 8-1 in Greco overall, including three pins and four technical falls. 

He went 8-2 in freestyle on the way to finishing seventh.

Among those Ferris beat were two-time South Dakota state champion and South Dakota State recruit Luke Ramussen and Georgia state champion Gavin Proffitt, who finished 41-1 last season. He also decisioned Minnesota All-Stater and Wisconsin commit Gannon Rosenfeld. 

Ferris was beyond dominant during his final high school season, finishing 49-0, including 35 pins and 13 forfeit wins. Only his state championship match, a major decision, went the distance. Rollie Ferris, his father, is Delton Kellogg's only other two-time state champion.

Ferris, also eighth in the state as a freshman, finished with a 156-24 prep record, including 120-5 the past three seasons.

Last fall, Ferris was second in the Grappler Fall Classic and eighth at Super 32. No other Michigan wrestler placed in the top eight in both events last year.

At Super 32, Ferris pulled off a huge win over California's Nicholas Sahakian, now ranked #13 in the country at 220. He also bested two-time Oregon state champion Riley Godek and Nevada state champion Nathan Glass.

GFC RETURNS TO MICHIGAN

After two seasons in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the Grappler Fall Classic returns to Michigan Oct. 1-2 at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo.

Last year's event drew 417 high school wrestlers alone, including 252 state medalists and 94 state champions. 

Registration is now open. Check out grapplerfallclassic.com for details.