We're just one week from the official start of NCAA wrestling practice. On October 10th, six wrestlers in the great white north will start the year ranked for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Head coach Brandon Eggum took over as the interim coach this time last year, and was named the official head coach on January 26th. His first full offseason saw him graduate two All Americans and pick up two transfers.

In total, eight NCAA qualifiers return to a squad with six ranked wrestlers. They start the year ranked 9th as a team.

Minnesota Projected Lineup

125: #4 Ethan Lizak
133: #5 Mitch McKee
141: #7 Tommy Thorn
149: #7 Steve Bleise
157: #10 Jake Short
165: #10 Nick Wanzek
174: Chris Pfarr
184: Owen Webster
197: Bobby Steveson
285: Rylee Streifel

Somehow returning NCAA finalist Ethan Lizak continues to be able to make 125 pounds. Backpack is probably the best guy on top at this weight, perhaps best illustrated by his Southern Scuffle performance. In his first matches of the season as an attached wrestler, he scored 61 total points en route to winning the tournament, including three victories over eventual All Americans. Of that, 37 came from nearfall or riding time.

Lizak's Scuffle semis win over Nick Picininni


It probably wouldn't surprise many people when you see a true freshman had 20 losses. But Mitch McKee wrestled maybe the country's toughest schedule last year, and had no "bad" losses. His confidence should be sky high after making the Junior world finals in August, and now enters his second year ranked fifth in a weight that cleared out pretty well.

Tommy Thorn is tough to pin down as far as where he stands in the 141 pecking order. It's an extremely deep weight, so the returning AA can be excused for some of his third tier type losses, but he also has tier one type wins over Joey McKenna (match below), Bryce Meredith, and Anthony Ashnault. The only top guys he has yet to beat are Dean Heil and Kevin Jack.



Steve Bleise transferred in from Northern Illinois and has two seasons of eligibility remaining. A Midlands finalist as a redshirt freshman, Bleise has twice qualified for NCAAs. All four of the Gopher's first four weights are currently ranked to be All Americans.

Jake Short is one of three seniors at the middle weights. Time and again, he has shown flashes of potential, such as his CKLV title last December, but has yet to finish on the podium. Watch him beat two-time NCAA qualifier Colin Heffernan below.



Nick Wanzek appears cemented into 165 after dropping from 174 halfway through last season. Both he and Short are ranked 10th, right on the cusp of giving Minnesota All American points. His wins over Brandon Womack and Myles Amine suggest Wanzek has the ability to place in his last year as a Gopher.

Chris Pfarr has bounced around between 165 and 184 in his career. The returning NCAA qualifier settles at 174 in his final season.He'll have his work cut out for him to qualify again though, opening as the No. 9 wrestler at his weight in the Big Ten.



Owen Webster was the other transfer, coming to Minnesota after spending a year at Augsburg. He placed third at Division III Nationals and is a past Cadet world medalist. Webster was originally committed to the Gophers coming out of high school in 2016.

Bobby Steveson bumps up from 184 where he qualified for NCAAs. He won't have an easy task replacing NCAA finalist Brett Pfarr, but 197 is probably the right weight for him. The only Big Board recruit left from the 2015 class which he had ranked third at the time, Steveson will be anchoring this end of the lineup for the foreseeable future.

Streifel takes over for All American Michael Kroells with some notable wins over guys like Collin Jensen and Carter Isley. He won the 2016 Junior Open at 120kg and was second at 220lbs in Fargo in 2015. Streifel could only be a one or two-year starter though, depending upon if Gable Steveson wants to redshirt or not.

Get all of the hottest FloWrestling content!

Sign up for the FloWrestling newsletter for instant access to: breaking news, live events, results, rankings, archived matches and more!