Christian Pyles

149 pounds will be receiving an influx of new talent this season. Despite the departures of last years finalists Drake Houdashelt and Dave Habat, there are some new faces that I believe will have considerable success.  It also should be noted that this weight has hammers tied to teams that will be in the thick of the NCAA Team Title hunt.   

1. Zain Retherford - Penn State
2. Jason Tsirtsis - Northwestern
3. Anthony Collica - Oklahoma State
4. Brandon Sorensen - Iowa
5. Jake Sueflohn - Nebraska
6. Lavion Mayes - Missouri
7. Hunter Stieber - Ohio State
8. BJ Clagon - Rider


Round of 12: Lenny Richardson - ODU, CJ Cobb - Penn, Christian Pagdilao - Arizona State, Alec Pantaleo - Michigan

Round of 16: Joey Galasso - Cornell, Sal Mastriani - Virginia Tech, Collin Heffernan - CMU, Caleb Ervin - Illinois

Title Contenders:
Zain Retherford
Jason Tsirtsis
Anthony Collica
Brandon Sorensen
Hunter Stieber

Within the title contending realm I’m sure Anthony Collica and maybe Hunter Stieber jump out. In my opinion they should not. Certainly their inclusion to this list is more eyeball/potential than what can be measured. I acknowledge that. However, watching Collica compete closer to his ideal weight against legit 149 pounders and watching him knock off Jason Tsirtsis and Brandon Sorensen back to back gives me all the confidence I need in Anthony. With Hunter I even go back to his match with Sorensen in the dual that I really felt he squandered. He was right there to beat a guy as good as Sorensen despite humongous health issues. Hunter was my pre-season pick a year ago to win 149. Obviously he’s a bit of a hedge right now in my final predictions because of his recovery from 4 surgeries this off season. I just don’t know what to expect from him this year and knowing we won’t see him until 2nd semester scares me a bit as well.

Now to the big guns. I really think this year comes down to Zain against Tsirtsis. We’ve seen them lock horns before but that was some time ago. I view Zain as a completely different guy now. He’s put on the size necessary to brawl with these 49 pounders. I think the elite in this weight all struggle to score on their feet consistently. It’s a bunch of high level positional wrestlers (Collica may be an exception as I think he’s maybe as slick as anyone with leg attacks) at this weight. So knowing that the takedowns will be few and far between I look for something that separates. I think Zain’s top work is the difference. Even as a True Freshman we saw his top work was exemplary able to ride Logan in their dual meeting. Zain looked great (and stronger) at the UWW Junior Nationals and World Team Trials which gives me further confidence in picking him to win it.

Here's the last time Zain and Tsirtsis hit.  It wasn't pretty for Zain.  What a difference a few years can make!

A case can certainly be made for Jason Tsirtsis. Already an NCAA Champion and 2 time All American we know his ceiling is high. Tsirtsis shelled up a bit at times and wouldn’t pull the trigger. I”ll never forget his semi against Habat. He kept it close and it bit him. When he HAD to score he got in deep almost immediately. I think this year we’ll see him cut loose a bit more. One interesting dynamic is that Tsirtsis sit-out series makes him all but unrideable. This could potentially neuter Zain’s advantage. We’ll see. 

I’ve talked at length about Collica and how great I think he is. Anytime you make predictions based strictly off eyeball test it can backfire. I don’t think it will this year. Skill for skill Collica can go with anyone. Him placing high will be essential for Oklahoma State this year. I don’t think Anthony truly wanted to wrestle at 157 next year and I believe that negatively impacted his performance. He’s pumped to be at 149 and I think with that we’ll see more points than ever.

Here's Collica's Freestyle win over Jason Tsirtsis. 

 

Curious to see the strides Brandon Sorensen has made this year. He knocked off Tsirtsis in Carver (interestingly on the strength of a rideout). Obviously I think he’s excellent but he’ll need to pull the trigger more for me to predict a finals trip. His loss to Cobb at NCAA’s displayed a part of the reason he makes me nervous. He holds back a bit too much. That could be Freshman jitters, or it could be something else. We’ll learn more this year.

Among the best guys in the nation to not place, Jake Sueflohn cannot be discounted. Sueflohn is not the most polished guy but his pace is relentless. He can give up a few points early and can run you down late. I love that about him. He may be one of the best scramblers at this weight as well able to turn both his shots and his opponents shots into his own points. He’s among the most solid guys to not place at NCAA’s across any weight. I think he gets it done this year though his ceiling may not be as high as others in front and behind him.

You guys know I’ve loved Lavion for awhile. His size advantage was so apparent at 141 it was almost unfathomable that he could make 141 again. For a while that was the plan, but now he’s at 149 for good it seems. It’s possible we see him transform into a better version than we saw at 141, able to eat and become all the more powerful. His double from space lulls you to sleep then hits you like a ton of bricks. He drops matches that I don’t think he should. At this weight I think he really struggles opening up guys like Sorensen, Tsirtsis and Retherford. That ultimately will limit his ceiling. Then again at Universities two years ago we saw him do quite well against Tsirtsis.

I’ve talked at length about Hunter already, so I won’t get too into the weeds. He’s a superstar who has had some bad breaks in his career (some avoidable, some not). As a 1 seed his Sophomore year he was up on Port who he historically had owned and just melted down. He very well could have won that year. Then he has the elbow injuries that derail him after a fine redshirt year. His leg attack finishes are among the best in the country and his pass by is nearly unstoppable when you bring forward pressure against him. It has always been curious to me how the Stieber brothers could be so different stylistically. Hunter is more/less indifferent for top wrestling, struggling to get turns. That is another aspect that limits how high I’ll predict him. He essentially wins matches exclusively on his feet. I think there are a lot of skilled neutral guys who can give him trouble in this field. Especially if he’s not healthy.

Jersey comes out for their guys en masse. I had to hear it for months how I was dumb to not have Clagon ranked (It was right call, by the way). The talent was undeniable but the wins weren't coming. Then they came. We all saw him push Tsirtsis hard at Keystone. He truly announced himself in conferences when he knocked off NCAA Finalist Dave Habat. He can wrestle with anybody, but he’s also shown he can drop matches too. He fell to Neff, Beitz, Pagdilao, Frisch, Cobb and Richardson. That kind of deviation makes me question his upside. Essentially, in one match you give him a shot against anybody. However, stringing them together 3 days in March may be a big ask.

The round of 12-16 is not as amazing as 141, but there’s still a ton of talent off the podium. All I’m hearing is great things about the progression Christian Pagdilao is making at ASU. We’ve seen Mastriani make strides at VT and Alec Pantaleo is arguably the best guy off the podium coming into this year outside of Lenny Richardson of ODU. There’s some fluidity between 6-12 so a guy like Lenny placing again and someone like Sueflohn or Hunter not placing should come at the surprise of no one. It’s not fluid like 141 but there’s potential for these predictions to LOOK very wrong but really it’s a ton of guys on a similar tier. This is a fun weight not only in terms of talent but from the team perspective. PSU, Oklahoma State, Iowa and Ohio State all have a big gun here that will need to produce to set up team success.

Tweet any questions/comments @CPyles8 or email christian.pyles@flosports.tv

Other Previews:
125
133
141
149
157
165