Now that practice has officially started for every Division I team, the rumors and whispers about roster battles will soon turn into wrestle-offs and open tournament placements.

For the Oklahoma State Cowboys, one of the nation's best teams, the most interesting roster battle is at 149 pounds between Geordan Martinez and Boo Lewallen.

The rest of OSU's roster features five All-Americans, and the Cowboys are ranked No. 4 to begin the year. If Geo Martinez takes the reigns, the team will feature six AAs. They had seven until the news broke of Joe Smith's redshirt, which also further complicates Martinez's place in the lineup.



We have Martinez projected to start in various places. He is third in the Big 12 rankings at 149, 13th in the national rankings, and I put him as the starter when I did a lineup look for the Cowboys last month.

It made sense to us. He was an All-American at Boise State, and typically All-Americans don't transfer to sit on the bench. With the graduation of Anthony Collica, Martinez slotted right into the 149lb spot with two years of eligibility remaining.

Watch Martinez beat fellow All-American Justin Oliver


Enter Lewallen. A redshirt sophomore, he's already one of the nation's best backups. Most recently at the U23 world team trials, he beat All-American Jaydin Eierman and university nationals champ Robbie Mathers. He won last year's Reno Tournament of Champions, beating NCAA qualifiers Javier Gasca and Joey Palmer, as well as All-American Bryce Meredith.

The monkey wrench is, of course, if Martinez moves up to 157 to fill in for Smith, a spot that could also be taken by Jonce Blaylock.

Both of these guys are good enough to start, be ranked, and place at NCAAs this season. John Smith and his coaching staff have very high value in whomever their replacement wrestler is at 149lb.

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