Maryland at Rutgers | 2017 NCAA Men's Wrestling

How Legit Is Rutgers? Get A Look Saturday

How Legit Is Rutgers? Get A Look Saturday

We'll get our first look at Rutgers on Saturday against Maryland live from High Point Solutions Stadium.

Nov 3, 2017 by Christian Pyles
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Rutgers and Maryland are set to open the 2017-18 DI wrestling season in style on Saturday, as the Scarlet Knights host the Terrapins in a football-wrestling doubleheader at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, NJ.

The wrestling dual begins at noon EST and is streaming live on FloWrestling.

One year ago, Rutgers took out Princeton at High Point Solutions Stadium, which is home to the Scarlet Knights' football team, in its fourth dual of the season. This year, Rutgers will set its sights on a Big Ten rival in Maryland.

There are a few matches of particular interest coming into this season-opening dual. At 141, there's definite upset potential with Scarlet Knights redshirt freshman Mike Van Brill taking on No. 11-ranked Ryan Diehl, a Terrapins redshirt junior. Van Brill will be filling in for the injured Anthony Ashnault for the time being. During Flo's visit to Rutgers last month, both Ashnault and head coach Scott Goodale were particularly complimentary about Van Brill's skill set.

Every Rutgers fan is ecstatic about the debut of Nick Suriano. The third-ranked sophomore is back in his home state and will take on a serviceable, but likely overmatched, Brandon Cray from Maryland at 125.

At 184, ninth-ranked Rutgers redshirt senior Nick Gravina will be looking to take out Jaron Smith for the second time in his career. The last time the two faced, Gravina was a nine-point winner. Finally, Richie Lewis is among the more interesting storylines for the Scarlet Knights coming into this season. After redshirting last year, Lewis (if U-23 trials are any indication) has jumped levels. He took out Lavion Mayes, Anthony Collica, and Tyler Berger (in two straight matches) in October. Though Justin Alexander is not a candidate to finish as an All-American at this point, he was able to beat Lewis' teammate John Van Brill last year. We'll get our first glimpse of Lewis on a folkstyle mat in nearly a year.

Rutgers has a squad that can potentially contend for a top-10 finish this year, and you can get your first look at its squad LIVE on FloWrestling at noon EST on Saturday.

Projected Lineups
125: Brandon Cray (Maryland) vs. No. 3 Nick Suriano (Rutgers)
133: Tyler Goodwin (Maryland) vs. No. 12 Scott Delvecchio (Rutgers)
141: No. 11 Ryan Diehl (Maryland) vs. Mike Van Brill (Rutgers)
149: Adam Whitesell (Maryland) vs. Eleazar DeLuca (Rutgers)
157: Justin Alexander (Maryland) vs. No. 7 Richie Lewis (Rutgers)
165: Josh Ugalde (Maryland) vs. John Van Brill (Rutgers)
174: Idris White (Maryland) vs. No. 15 Jordan Pagano (Rutgers)
184: Jaron Smith (Maryland) vs. No. 9 Nick Gravina (Rutgers)
197: David-Brian Whisler (Maryland) vs. Kevin Mulligan (Rutgers)
285: No. 17 Youssif Hemida (Maryland) vs. Razohnn Gross (Rutgers)