2016 Lineup Look: Oklahoma State

2016 Lineup Look: Oklahoma State

Over the next week or two, FloWrestling will roll out preliminary looks at next season’s lineups (in no particular order) for many of the top Division I tea

Apr 20, 2016 by Christian Pyles
2016 Lineup Look: Oklahoma State
Over the next week or two, FloWrestling will roll out preliminary looks at next season’s lineups (in no particular order) for many of the top Division I teams.

Oklahoma State is a fun team to consider. They're losing a hammer in Alex Dieringer, who just won his third NCAA title. But something tells me these Cowboys aren’t done making noise just because their Hodge Trophy winner is gone.

These lineups are best guesses — as we all know, nothing is ironclad in April.

125 Likely Starter: Nick Piccininni, Redshirt Freshman
This one shouldn't be a surprise — he’s coming off a dandy redshirt year, and will have the potential to wrestle with some of the nation’s best right away.

133 Likely Starter: Kaid Brock, Redshirt Freshman
We're hoping to see a healthy Kaid Brock next season. His past year was a burst of excitement, hope and then sadness after he suffered a season-ending knee injury. Brock, like Piccininni, is a fantastic talent with the tools to wrestle with the greatest in the country.



141 Likely Starter: Dean Heil, Redshirt Junior
I don’t see any changes here in terms of weight — Heil is perfectly sized for this class and he’s a great fit in this spot for the Cowboys. Coming off a one-loss NCAA championship season, Oklahoma State's lightweights will cause a lot of headaches, but Heil will be the migraine. He will be darn tough to beat next year.

149 Likely Starter: Anthony Collica, Senior
As expected, his move up to the 149-pound weight class was indeed productive. Collica put it all together for Oklahoma State, placing fourth and beating hammers Jason Tsirtsis and Lavion Mayes in the process.  

157 Likely Starter: Joseph Smith, Sophomore
He still has a redshirt season to burn, but due to the team's talent, I can’t imagine Coach Smith would leave this sophomore's points on the table next year. Although Smith didn’t have his best-possible NCAA performance, it’s important to recall he was a true freshman at the time. He’ll be a fixture of the top four next year.

165 Likely Starter: Chandler Rogers, Redshirt Sophomore
With Crutchmer set to return, Rogers could be out of a job at 174 (though he has shown he can contend with Kyle and many of the 174-pound elites). That said, Chandler wrestled his entire true freshman season at 165. He was very strong that year, and even pinned Missouri All-American Daniel Lewis. There’s a lot to get excited about with Rogers down at 165. It’s a common-sense move for the Cowboys, especially in the wake of Chance Marsteller's likely departure.  


174 Likely Starter: Kyle Crutchmer, Redshirt Senior
It was a bummer to see Crutchmer’s season cut short last year. There’s not a whole lot to say about Kyle (in the best way): he’s outstanding, he’ll be ranked high all year, and has a chance to win NCAAs next year at 174. He’s the clear choice to start.

184 Likely Starter: Nolan Boyd, Senior
Nolan Boyd started as an unheralded (and unheard of) recruit, became a solid starter, and is now a bona fide top-five guy at the NCAA’s most difficult weight.  He isn't a flash in the pan — he has beaten Gabe Dean, Nate Brown, Willie Miklus, Blake Stauffer and Hayden Zilmer. Boyd is the guy for the Cowboys, and short of injury, I don’t see anyone stopping him from manning the post.


197 Likely Starter: Preston Weigel, Redshirt Sophomore
Weigel came on in a major way at the end of last year. At the beginning of the season, he battled for the starting spot, but was ultimately given the nod later. He took out Pat Downey, Nate Rotert, Jake Smith, Anthony Abro and Sam Wheeler. Most of these wins went down late. If he continues to make improvements, he could place next year.

285 Likely Starter: Ethan Anderson, Freshman
This is a shot in the dark, but Anderson may be thrust into duty right away. I’m unsure about Tanner Allen and Garrett Beier, but their results certainly don’t point to them being viable options next year. If Anderson isn’t ready to go next year, I’m not sure what they’ll do. Allen beat Beier head-to-head, so conventional wisdom suggests he could be in the drivers seat.

Overall:
125 - Nick Piccininni
133 - Kaid Brock
141 - Dean Heil
149 - Anthony Collica
157 - Joseph Smith
165 - Chandler Rogers
174 - Kyle Crutchmer
184 - Nolan Boyd
197 - Preston Weigel
285 - Ethan Anderson

Here’s where it gets absurd for Oklahoma State — they have insane, crazy depth.

125 - Kyle Garcia
133 - Gary Wayne Harding (redshirt still available)
141 - Boo Lewallen, Mike Magaldo, Tristan Moran
149 - Davey Dolan
157 - Ryan Blees
184 - Jordan Rogers
197 - Andrew Marsden

Please note that I only went through some of the big names and the wrestlers who had or have had solid seasons. There could be some more Nolan Boyd-type talents waiting in the wings as well. There’s a serious amount of depth here, especially with the 141 weight class. And a lot of these guys could be solid starters at other schools. The iron-sharpening-iron motif has worked well for Oklahoma State. When guys go down with injury, the next man up is almost always reliable. This bailed Oklahoma State out last year when Rogers was able to fill in for Crutchmer.

So what you have here is a lineup with nine strong and dependable options. The degrees of strength vary from title-contending powers (Heil, Crutchmer) to potential All-Americans (Weigel, Piccininni, Brock) and everything in between. If you're thinking about writing Oklahoma State off as a title contender next year, do so at your own risk.