Christian Pyles

It's a pretty ambiguous statement. What does it mean to "break out?” For me it’s about perception change. It could mean going from a borderline ranked guy to an All American contender, it could mean going from top 10 to a legitimate title contender. A few of my favorite break through guys from last year came through for me: Lavion Mayes and Kyle Crutchmer. I know some of these names are well known to wrestling fans.  I just think their stock is on the rise big time.

Who I view as potential breakouts typically are guys who lack the measurable evidence. There’s really nothing about Anthony Collica’s two years of competition in terms of wins/losses that suggest he’s going to break through and place, let alone place high. However, when you watch him compete you know every tool necessary to win is there. That was why I was super high on Mayes and Crutchmer last year. In the deed (#Willie-Ism) you could see this breathtaking potential. That’s what this is more about for me.

I don’t include True or Redshirt Freshman in this. It would be pretty dang easy to say Jason Nolf to have a breakthrough year, right? These are guys who have a year or 2 under their belt and don’t have overwhelming results. Enough about what a breakthrough guy is. Let’s get to who they’ll be.


Connor Schram, Stanford - The PA product has not produced as of yet for the Cardinals, but that doesn’t prevent me from thinking there are much better days to come for Connor. I believe a lot of Schram’s issues through his first two seasons (one of them as a redshirt) were battling through injuries. Is it a case of him just being injury prone, or a run of bad luck? I firmly believe if he gets healthy he will be in the mix.

Consider this little tidbit as well. Schram is making the cut down to 125 this year. I think this will much better suit his body type. He’s got the length, but I am not sure he had the horsepower to bang with those 33’s week in and week out. If the cut is manageable I think we see Connor shoot up the rankings into the top 10. Recall that even with a shortened season he knocked off Eric Montoya as well as Jade Rauser. Don’t get me wrong, he lost some doozies. That’s why he’s a breakthrough guy. There’s not many measurables that suggest this will happen. His top game and stinginess on his feet will be his greatest ally.

Randy Cruz, Lehigh - Big year coming for Randy, big year coming for Lehigh.  Through his first several years Cruz's results have been marred with inconsistencies (his redshirt season may have had more google losses than any good wrestler I’ve ever seen). The wins might not be there, the losses may scare you, but I promise you this kid is ready to go and have a big year.

On his feet he’s truly an elite counter-wrestler at 141, but has the requisite attacks on his feet that prevent him from simply being a one-trick pony. Cruz can scramble as well as anyone and on top he’s simply lethal. Looking at the field I think his style will match up well with this group. Him breaking through and placing and potentially knocking off a top 5 type of guy (Mecate, Jack maybe Heil) shouldn’t stun any of you. However, Cruz gonna Cruz and he will drop a match here and there that could shake your confidence. Fret not, Randy is the real deal and will recover.  Watch a vintage Cruz win in the EIWA semi's against Hudson of Hofstra. 

Thomas Gantt, NC State - Another one of my longtime favorites, I fully expect Thomas Gantt to turn heads for the Wolfpack this year.  He redshirted last year, notching several impressive wins over Dylan Alton (when Alton was clicking), Aaron Walker, Mitch Minotti and Archie Colgan.  In Freestyle he bested Daniel Lewis, Marcus Schiedel and Nestor Taffur at Universities.   

Gantt has a unique style and uses his length incredibly well.  He can operate in ties but can pull the trigger from space as well.  Gantt knocked off Blaise Butler,  Austin Matthews and Sal Mastriani 2 years ago.  Don't be surprised if Gantt has a HIGH spot on the podium for his senior campaign. 

Nathan Kraisser, Campbell - Kraisser followed Campbell Head Coach Cary Kolat from UNC. Nathan fell victim to a pretty vicious Sophomore slump after a True Freshman year that had many projecting stardom for Kraisser (recall he was a few seconds away from knocking off Jesse Delgado at NCAA's). Whether it was the weight cut, a culture issue, something else or a combination of the three something prohibited Nathan from progressing in year two at UNC. In fact, from a results standpoint, he went backwards.

Kraisser was able to take a much needed redshirt last year for Campbell up at 133 pounds. His results were just fine, though there wasn’t a win you could really hang your hat on for him. As I’ve said though, it’s not really about that. Though he’s outside the rankings for now, I don’t expect it to take very long before we see him tilting, cradling and out-scrambling the competition to inside the top 10. 

Archie Colgan, Wyoming - Potentially the least household name of this list. Archie is coming off of a True Freshman season where he failed to qualify for NCAA’s. I got to watch him up close at Northeast Duals last year and that’s when I first became aware of him. You could tell he wasn’t quite there yet, but that he was brimming with potential. Colgan brings lots of tools to the table. He can attack the legs well and is fantastic on top with tilts.

Getting out on bottom is a common vice for freshman, especially true freshman. I believe the coaching staff will have that corrected. Another reason I’m bullish on Colgan is his fantastic Spring. He wins UWW Juniors over Micah Jordan (14-7) and Alec Pantaleo (7-0). Say what you want about freestyle/folkstyle but there were a number of exchanges that translate folk to free and those are legitimately good wrestlers. He can chain wrestle extremely well and his re-attacks and double leg are extremely dangerous. 

 

Lelund Weatherspoon, Iowa State - The graduation of Mike Moreno is enabling a few Cyclones to compete at their natural weight. Tanner Weatherman can move down to 165 and Lelund Weatherspoon can head to 174. I was high on Weatherspoon a year ago, but he never truly broke out. Wins over Gabel and Boyd were his best last year. However, if you look back to the year before he notched wins over Kyle Crutchmer, Bryce Hammond, Mike England and Mark Martin.

Mind you, those wins occurred with Lelund bouncing between 74 and 84 much of the year. He’s the guy at 174 and I think that will make a huge difference for him.

TJ Dudley, Nebraska - Dudley is probably the most D1 proven guy to hit this list. He managed to sneak on the podium last year, but I’m looking for and expecting much bigger things from Dudley this year. Despite placing 8th, it wasn’t exactly indicative of a complete turnaround for TJ. Just two weeks before at Big 10’s he fell to Ricky Robertson (twice) and Matt McCutcheon. When you also factor in Dudley’s losses from the regular season and the fact that he was ranked 18th coming into NCAA’s, you get the picture I’m painting here. Despite a nice NCAA’s, he really wasn’t a top 10 (or 15) guy for 98% of the season.

So it sounds like I’m tearing his resume down a bit, and that’s for a purpose. The recency bias may lead us to believe he was elite all year when it wasn’t the case. Now, for this year I really believe he will be a consistent top 8 guy and eventually will maneuver his way into the top 5 or even higher. He can wrestle with all these guys when he’s on. The word out of Nebraska is Dudley has made major strides since March. He gave Gabe Dean an absolute war in round 2, leading much of the match before falling 9-8. He’s got great leg attacks, top work and a mean slide by to boot. We’ve seen Nebraska develop guys at a high level and I think he’s poised for a big time jump. Top 3 potential with TJ. Seriously.

Anthony Collica, Oklahoma State - As I mentioned in the introduction, there’s not a lot (results wise) you can hang your hat on for Collica as of yet. His two round of 12 finishes in 2 years were decent results but neither contained an elite win.

A combination of a few things make me think Collica is a legitimate threat to the 149 crown. The first is that he finally will get to compete at his ideal weight class. He was too big for 141 as True Freshman (Wrestled 152 his Senior year), but was undersized at 157. He’s a great fit for 149. This was generally accepted last Spring but was further solidified when Collica notched wins over Jason Tsirtsis as well as Brandon Sorensen. I love Collica’s style because he’s got so many different ways he can beat you. He can attack both sides with a mean misdirection or a quick sweep. He has powerful hips that help him earn go-behinds as well as great scrambling when you’re in on his legs. He’s also extremely crafty with his ability to kick out/rubber knee when guys are on a single as well.

Watch Collica take out Jason Tsirtsis here:



Amarveer Dhesi, Oregon State - Americans became aware of Dhesi a few years ago when he knocked off Adam Coon a few years ago at FILA juniors. He debuted for Oregon State 2 years ago and missed last year due to injury. I got to watch him work at the OTC this Summer and noticed that he put on some serious (and effective) size and that he was moving incredibly well coming off of his injury.

His first year as a True Freshman was very solid. Dhesi is still a relative novice to the folkstyle game, but I anticipate year two will see many of those shortcomings rectified. He took out several hammers two years ago including Mike McClure, Ty Walz, and about 5 other ranked guys. I know he’s currently ranked 5th so how much can he really rise? I think he’s going to change the perception of the general public into a genuine contender for top 3 status with upside and athleticism to go even higher. Dhesi owns multiple Freestyle wins over Adam Coon, yet was handled by Coon in their ncaa meeting. What doesn’t make sense is that many of Dhesi’s scoring methods are folkstyle translatable. Yet, for whatever reason it didn’t happen in their one meeting. Dhesi was able to get to legs and score against Coon in the Junior World Semi.

I guess my point is I expect this battle to come more to center with Dhesi able to be competitive against Adam in folkstyle as well. Gwiaz is likely an unsolvable problem for Amar as they are similar but Gwiaz has the edge in almost every area. Look for Amar to go from fringe name known by a small sector of the community to a more household name in the d1 ranks. When he’s firing, he’s a blast to watch.

Here's Dhesi's heartbreaking win over Adam Coon last Summer.

So that's a wrap.  Those are a few of the guys I'd BUY stock in this year.  Who are yours?