Going into his final postseason as a sixth-year senior, Nebraska’s #6 Silas Allred has one goal in mind — he wants to let if fly and go out on his terms. 

“This is the end of my folkstyle journey,” Allred said. “I’ve been wrestling folkstyle now for 18 1/2 years and after this it’s done. I have three weeks left, so just go out and wrestle free and have fun, and I’ve kind of submitted to the idea that if I lose, I want to lose sending it and trying to get to legs.”

In his first two years in the lineup, Allred was twice a round of 12 finisher at the NCAA Championships at 197 pounds, but he won a Big Ten title in 2023 as a redshirt freshman when he knocked off returning NCAA champion Max Dean of Penn State 7-2 in the conference final. Allred dropped to 184 pounds last season as a junior and punched through for his first podium finish, placing seventh at the national tournament. 

Ironically, Allred now finds himself the veteran going against a slew of upstart underclassmen in sophomores #1 Rocco Welsh and #4 Max McEnelly as well as freshmen #2 Angelo Ferrari, #3 Aeoden Sinclair, #7 Brock Mantanona and #12 Zack Ryder. So far this season, Allred has fallen to Welsh, McEnelly, Sinclair and Mantanona, but he earned two wins over Oklahoma State’s Ryder and split matches with #8 Dylan Fishback of Ohio State. 

“It’s weird because it went so fast —  I don’t feel like the old guy. I’ve taken on more of a leadership role on the team and a mentor role where I offer up advice and as much help of things that I’ve learned over the years to the younger guys on the team, but I still just feel like one of the guys,” Allred said. “Like six or seven of the Top-10 guys in the country are freshmen or sophomores, but it’s not something I’ve given a lot of thought to. There are definitely times when I feel it, like man, I wish I still had that pop I had when I was 19 or 20 years old.”

After taking a pair of losses at National Duals this year, Allred admittedly tightened things up in his matches, opting for closer defensive matches over getting to his offense. Many of his wins and losses this year have either been decided by one takedown or gone to overtime. 

“I started the year with big expectations and these ideas in my head on what I wanted it to look like, and I kind of fell into this kind of safe style of wrestling where I was trying to keep matches close and wrestling kind of defensive,” Allred said. “You start protecting your season and trying to play it safe. Starting the season off basically 2-2 at National Duals, that’s never really how you want it to go. It made me kind of subconsciously tighten up and not wrestle free and loose.”

However, a healthy Allred has made it a focus to get back to what got him to this level to begin with – forcing as many wrestling positions as possible. In his last match, Allred did just that in beating #14 Sam Goin of Indiana 11-2 by major decision.

“Just being that freshman kid who would get stuck on their stomach with his hands locked on a leg and somehow finding a way to finish a shot — that’s what I want to get myself back to because that’s just fun wrestling,” Allred said. “It’s what got me to Nebraska and that’s how I want to end my career.

“I’m to this point where I only have three more weeks of this, so who cares what happens and go out on my own terms — that’s genuinely how it feels. Not to sound morbid, but if you have three weeks left to live, are you going to sit and think about that 21st day the entire time, or are you going to live those next 20 like it’s all you got left? I have 21 days left of folkstyle wrestling, so instead of sitting around and worrying about what’s going to happen on the 19th or 20th day, I’m just truly just committed to wrestling as free as I can and having as much fun as I possibly can. There’s no fun in going out and being scared of getting taken down and wrestling a super defensive match and making things super sticky, but there’s a ton of fun in going out and just getting into some absolute heaters and having some brawls and trying to be the tougher man after seven minutes.”

For Nebraska, Allred and fellow senior #3 Brock Hardy at 141 pounds are looking to end their Husker careers on top.

“They’re hungry,” Nebraska associate head coach Bryan Snyder said. “Neither of these guys are picked to win it, and so they got a chip on their shoulder and they’re hungry to compete. We’ll see where they land on Sunday night. I think it’s just emblematic of the rest of our team, too. We have a team that’s hungry, and that’s a really good spot to be at this point of the year. We don’t have many people picked to win it, so they’re fired up. It all comes back to their mindset and what they want. How do they want to end their career? I just see them hungry to compete at the highest level.”

Big Ten Pre-Seeds Under Scrutiny

The Big Ten pre-seeds came out late Monday morning, and the Huskers are positioned nicely. Although some of the seeds could change from coaches’ challenges this week, Nebraska came away with six wrestlers seeded in the top 3. In eight weight classes, Nebraska is on the opposite side of the bracket from top-ranked Penn State. 

In an interview Monday morning before the seeds were revealed, Snyder seemed to have an idea of what was to come.

“I think it’s going to make a lot of people’s heads spin,” Snyder said of the forthcoming seeding announcement. “It’s going to be a completely new seeding process and outcome than what Big Ten coaches are used to. I’d like to think that it’s going to benefit a team like Nebraska where we wrestle, but I don’t know. We’ll see here in a couple hours.”

As for the people in the wrestling media, Snyder knew our job was about to get busy.

“I know this: The wrestling media world is going to have a lot to write about in the next 48 hours,” he said. “The Big Ten coaches wanted to bring Wrestlestat in to do this, and we’ll see how it goes. It’s new terrain for all of us.”

No matter the seeds though, Snyder is confident that his team is ready to go regardless of the opponent.

“The overall narrative is we’re blue collar, and we’re not scared to throw our guys into the fire because we know they’re resilient,” Snyder said. “We don’t look at the season as a time to protect. We want our guys forged by fire and want to see where they’re at and get them tested so they’re ready for anything come March.”

Five Huskers Pre-Seeded First Or Second

Nebraska has five wrestlers looking at having first-round byes, led by top seeds Antrell Taylor at 157 and Christopher Minto at 174. Hardy, Camden McDanel at 197 and AJ Ferrari at 285 each earned the #2 seed this weekend.

The Husker carrying the most momentum into the postseason, top-ranked Taylor is 20-2 this season after winning his last 14 matches. Despite being the returning NCAA champion, Taylor placed fourth last year at Big Tens. Asked whether earning his first Big Ten title is any added incentive for Taylor going into the conference tournament this weekend, Snyder was adamant that it doesn’t change much for the junior.

“Trelly just wants to win every time he steps on the mat. If that means a Big Ten title, then yeah,” Snyder said. “If you know Trelly, he just doesn’t like to lose, so every match is very meaningful for him. He’s had to grit out some tough wins. He took those two Ls in Tulsa at the National Duals. He didn’t have a great day, but obviously Trelly’s goal is to be a Big Ten champ and an NCAA champ. 

“He’s consistent and he wants to scrap with everyone every single match. Obviously, if he does him, he takes care of the results. He’s going to find some more offense this weekend, and we feel good that he’s the toughest man in the arena when push comes to shove.”

As for sophomores Minto and McDanel, Snyder is confident they have what it takes to win conference titles despite possible finals matchups against top-ranked wrestlers Levi Haines and Josh Barr of Penn State.

“I feel like our team is on an up trend right now, and I’m just looking forward to going out, being aggressive and scoring points. We preach it all the time, and we’ve done a really good job of it the last month,” Snyder said. “Just to approach the mat with excitement, aggressiveness and the courage to step forward when the whistle blows. There’s always tactical and technical adjustments that you make throughout a season for this guy or that guy, but overall I’m looking forward to Minto and Cam going out and lighting up the scoreboard. Those guys are bulls — very tough individuals that when they’re pulling the trigger have a lot of offense.

“Cam has been doing a really good job of pulling the trigger a lot more, and his counter offense is becoming elite. That’s the thing, you score early and your counter offense comes in as the match unfolds.”

Last but certainly not least, Ferrari has won five straight since his second loss of the season to Nick Feldman of Ohio State. After missing time early in the year due to injury and going through some legal troubles off the mat, Ferrari is looking as good as Snyder has seen him, spelling trouble for the rest of the conference.

“AJ is as locked in and dialed in as I’ve seen him – he’s just hungry. We hinted at it early on, but he didn’t have a lot of consistent training because he had injuries that were nagging, then the other stuff, but now he’s very locked in on his training,” Snyder said. “He’s hungry, so he’s moved the needle a ton, and I’m really pumped to see AJ this week and then three weeks from now. He’s fired up. When AJ flurries, he’s really tough to beat, so we’re trying to extend that. Obviously, he knows that when he’s on his offense he’s best.”