Missouri coach Brian Smith has fielded some really good teams in his 24 seasons at the helm of the Tigers’ wrestling program. 

Smith’s program has won 11 conference championships — every title in program history — crowned nine individual NCAA champions and produced two Olympians. That’s not to mention the 60 All-Americans.

Even with all the success over the last 11 seasons, during which Mizzou has won 11 straight conference championships between the MAC (9) and Big 12 (2), Smith says the 2022-23 squad may be his best.

“It’s like having a classroom full of kids that just love what you’re teaching,” Smith said. “It’s such an intelligent, living-it-right group. They’re fun to coach. This is my 25th year at Mizzou, but probably the most exciting to be a part of.”

The Tigers will look to improve on a ninth-place finish at last season’s NCAA Championships. The tournament included Keegan O’Toole becoming Mizzou’s first individual national champion since J’den Cox in 2017, Rocky Elam recording his second-straight All-American season and three more wrestlers just missing out on All-American honors with losses in the blood round.

Smith talked about what it will take for his Tigers to get over the hump and find a podium finish as a team for the first time since the 2006-07 season when two-time national champion Ben Askren led the Tigers to a third-place finish.

“We need guys in the finals,” Smith said. “We need bonus points. That’s what it’s going to take. We have a team where every guy is ranked, so why can’t we have 10 All-Americans? This team has that ability.”

Nine starters are back, eight of whom are ranked and two more just outside the top 24. As a team, the Tigers check in at #6 on FloWrestling’s Tournament Rankings.

With so much national buzz around the team, expectations for this season are high.

“Ben Askren talked to [the team] the other day and he said this year’s team is definitely more talented [than the 2006-07 team],” Smith said. “[Askren] looks at the team like this, I think a lot of people look at our team like this and within our room we look at it that this team has the talent to do great things. Now we need to put the work in to make it happen.”

Beginning at the top, let’s break down the 2022-23 Missouri Tigers.

125 pounds — sophomore Noah Surtin (#15)

2021-22 Record – 22-9

Noah Surtin enters his second full season as the Tigers’ 125-pounder after bowing out in the blood round at last year’s national tournament. Surtin’s 2021-22 campaign included arguably the most electric moment of the regular season, pinning Oklahoma State’s Alex Yokubaitis in the third period to cement Mizzou’s upset victory over the Pokes. Last year, he was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week in December 2021 following an outstanding run at the Collegiate Wrestling Duals. He also went 8-2 in the regular season vs. Big 12 competition, with his only losses coming against last years’ conference runner-up, Brody Teske (UNI), and All-American Taylor LaMont (UVU). 

Smith says Surtin progressed both on the mat and in the weight room throughout the offseason and will be poised to compete in a conference that includes six nationally ranked wrestlers. 

“He’s the perfect guy to get the team going,” Smith said. “He’s like a firecracker. He goes out there and you know he’s going to bring it and try to put people on their backs.”

133 pounds — senior Connor Brown (HM)

2021-22 Record – 6-9

A sixth-year redshirt senior, Connor Brown will look to improve upon his 2022 Big 12 tournament performance where he finished seventh with two upset wins over #3 seed Gabriel Tagg (SDSU) and another over #4 Kellyn March (NDSU). 

Brown was Mizzou’s swiss army knife as he wrestled at both 133 and 141 pounds, all while serving as the backup at 125 pounds. He will weigh in at the 133-pound class to begin the season for the first time since the 2019-20 season, when he went 10-1 in open tournaments.

This offseason, according to Smith, was Brown’s first in Columbia without injury. After having a full spring and summer to train, Smith says his 133-pounder put in the most time both in the weight room and on the mat. 

“He’s definitely going to be one of those crowd favorites, because he can do some crazy things, he can get into some crazy scrambles and is really tough on top,” Smith said. “He’s just improved in a lot of areas that he needed to get better in.

141 pounds — senior Allan Hart (#6)

2021-22 Record – 16-7

Affectionately dubbed “The Red Warrior,” Allan Hart enters his sixth season in black and gold looking for his elusive All-American finish. At the national tournament last season, Hart lost two matches in overtime, including a heartbreaker to Big 12 rival Clay Carlson of South Dakota State.

Hart is currently ranked #6 in the nation. Standing ahead of him amongst conference opponents are Carlson (#5) and Northern Colorado’s Andrew Alirez (#4), who took home the 141-pound conference title last season.

Hart went 6-3 in the conference during the regular season last year, which included a 2-1 loss at Utah Valley, where he wrestled through an injury that would hold him out of the final three regular season duals. Hart’s other two losing matchups came by a combined four points, one of which came in an overtime thriller against Alirez.

“It’s just the little things,” Smith said of what will get Hart over the hump into All-American status. “He’s one of the better guys on top in the country, but he has to score more takedowns. There’s no doubt he’s going to be on the podium, it’s just a matter of where.”

149 pounds — junior Brock Mauller (#8)

2021-22 Record – 4-2 (157 pounds)

Returning from a redshirt season, Columbia native Brock Mauller will look to add a national title to a career wrap sheet that already includes three All-American honors and three MAC championships.

Mizzou’s winningest active wrestler with 88 career victories, Mauller would be the 29th athlete in program history to eclipse the century mark in wins.

Mauller begins the year as the highest-ranked 149-pounder in the conference, one spot ahead of Iowa State’s Paniro Johnson. 

The key for Mauller this year, according to Smith, will be scoring more points. During his 21-win 2020-21 season, Mauller scored bonus points in just six matches. As the team looks to get onto the podium, Mauller will be crucial to the Tigers’ success.

“For a team to win a team title, it takes a lot of bonus points,” Smith said. “We understand that and he does too, that he has to challenge himself [to score more points].

“He’s got to learn to open up and get after it more. When he does, he’s unstoppable.”

157 pounds — senior Jarrett Jacques (#15)

2021-22 Record – 18-14

Jarrett Jacques has finished as a national qualifier in each of his first four seasons in black and gold. Now a fifth-year senior, he will be eyeing his first NCAA podium finish after being named an honorable-mention All-American in 2020 when the national tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.

At the conference tournament, the Columbia native battled through the backside of the bracket for a fifth-place finish. Three of his five matches in Tulsa went into overtime, including his 3-1 overtime win over UNI’s Derek Holschlag to cement his podium spot.

In his final 10 matches of the season, Jacques finished on the short end of six matches decided by two or less points. Four of the six matches went into overtime tied at 1-1.

This was a point of emphasis for Jacques, Smith and the coaching staff throughout the offseason. When asked what his 157-pounder has worked on this summer, Smith responded point blank.

“Scoring,” Smith said. “It’s just getting Jarrett to believe that he has great offense — and he does. He’s like a different kid in the practice room and we even saw it during the Black and Gold scrimmage. He’s not thinking about where he’s putting his hands; he’s just moving and attacking instead of squeezing and slowing down the match.”

165 pounds — sophomore Keegan O’Toole (#1)

2021-22 Record – 25-0, National Champion

The 2021-22 season for sophomore Keegan O’Toole couldn’t have gone much better. In August of 2021, the Wisconsin native was crowned a UWW Junior World champion. He followed that up with a perfect season, just the fourth in program history.

O’Toole was the NCAA Champion, Big 12 Champion, twice named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week, the Hammer Award winner, a Dan Hodge Award finalist, and received Academic All-Big 12 First Team and NWCA Scholar All-American honors.

With the country now on notice, O’Toole begins the season as the #1 wrestler at 165 pounds. He sits ahead of Stanford’s 2021 national champion Shane Griffith, who O’Toole beat in the national championship and 2021 157-pound champion David Carr of Iowa State. Big 12 runner-up Peyton Hall (WVU) is also slotted in the Top-10 to begin the season. 

Still, Brian Smith says that O’Toole has aspirations to become not just the best wrestler at 165 pounds, but the best in the entire nation.

“It’s just amazing how he continues to improve,” Smith said. “If you talk to all 40 guys in our room [about how they can progress], they would give you a list, but Keegan would give you the biggest list because he’s so meticulous on wanting to become a better wrestler and works at it. Those are the things that people don’t see.”

174 pounds — junior Peyton Mocco (#9)

2021-22 Record – 18-7

Last season, Peyton Mocco just missed out on an All-American finish at the national tournament and lost a one-point match in the Big 12 conference final.

After a 3-3 start to the year, which included losses to the third-place All-American Hayden Hidlay of North Carolina State and national runner-up Mehki Lewis of Virginia Tech — which went to tie-breakers — Mocco went on a tear. In his final 19 matches, he went 15-4 and lost just once more during the regular season.

His one regular season loss during that stretch came against Cade DeVos of South Dakota State in the final at the Southern Scuffle. Mocco went on to beat him at both the Big 12 tournament and the national tournament.

Smith talked about what Mocco needs to get over the hump for a podium finish in Tulsa next March.

“Just believing in his offense,” Smith said. “He’s improved on top and towards the end of the year he was riding guys out. When he gets his offense going, he’s one of the most dangerous wrestlers in our room.”

184 pounds — sophomore Sean Harman (HM)

2021-22 Record – 20-7

With the departure of Jeremiah Kent, Sean Harman is tabbed as the Tigers’ starting 184-pounder for the first time in his career.

Last season, Harman had a stellar performance at 174 pounds while Peyton Mocco was down with an injury. The redshirt sophomore went 3-2 in duals, with all three wins coming against ranked opponents. His season was highlighted by a massive 5-4 upset over Big 12 Champion and All-American Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State. For his efforts, Harman was named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week.

The Tigers are deep at 184 pounds. Behind Harman are Junior World Team member Colton Hawks and four-time Wisconsin state champion Clayton Whiting. With Harman comes experience and Smith talked about how the talent at the weight has only helped Harman progress throughout the offseason.

“Sean just saw [the open starting spot] as an opportunity, and he’s already a thick kid, so he just got thicker.” Smith said. “He’s a tank. He got bigger and stronger. I’m excited for him — he’s a kid that does things the right way all the time.”

197 pounds — sophomore Rocky Elam (#4)

2021-22 Record – 24-7, All-American

In his second freshman season, Elam picked up where he left off as a true freshman. Beginning in August 2021 with a UWW Junior World title, Elam went on to take third at the Big 12 tournament and fourth at NCAAs.

Following a 14-4 regular season, Elam went on a 10-3 stretch through the conference and national tournaments. He was the only freshman to make the podium at his weight in Detroit.

As it was last year, Elam’s journey to the top of the Big 12 podium will be tightly contested with two conference opponents, Wyoming’s Stephen Buchanan (#3) and Iowa State’s Yonger Bastida (#7), both also holding Top-10 rankings while four more Big 12 197-pounders also received preseason rankings.

For Elam, whose only losses at NCAAs last year came vs. Buchanan, it’s the little adjustments — finishing takedowns at the end of periods — that Smith believes can take him to the next level.

“He has an opportunity to win a national title,” Smith said. “It’s finishing that takedown in certain positions that he’s worked a lot on. He’s close and he’s been close for two years. He’s been good on top, but I feel like he’s jumped a level [on bottom].”

285 pounds — junior Zach Elam (#7)

2021-22 Record – 18-7

While Smith dubbed Surtin as his firecracker to open duals, he talked of Zach Elam being the closer this team needs.

After drawing the tough assignment of having to face 2022 Dan Hodge Award winner Gable Steveson in the second round of the NCAA Championships, Elam lit up the backside of the bracket with back-to-back wins by fall. His 32-second pin against All-American Matt Stencel was also the quickest of the tournament.

Elam fell one win short of an All-American finish for the second time, losing to the #3 seed Tony Cassioppi of Iowa in the blood round.

The redshirt junior also had a strong conference tournament, finishing third with four wins on the backside following an overtime loss in his first match.

Elam enters the new campaign with more maturity, both mentally and physically. Now weighing in at more than 250 pounds, Smith says that he can build off of his stellar postseason using his length and weight to his advantage.

“It was like a light switch went off [at NCAAs],” Smith said. “He’s gained confidence with his length in his underhooks and things, so it’s exciting to see that. We’ve always known that he’s one of the top wrestlers in the country, but to be the top competitor, you gotta make that jump both mentally and physically. I see that in him.

“He’s going to score a lot of points in duals and tournaments the way he’s putting people on their backs, so I’m excited.”

Up Next

Smith’s team started the campaign Sunday with a dominant 55-0 win over new Division-I Lindenwood. Every starter recorded bonus-point wins, including six pins.

The Tigers will next head west to the Elams’ hometown for the Tiger Style Invite at Staley High School in Kansas City on Saturday, Nov. 12. The tournament will be streamed live on FloWrestling.