Top news, wise and learned wrestling friends! NCAA preseason rankings have dropped!
Did you see the link? Here it is again: CLICK FOR PRESEASON RANKINGS.
This is excellent, not just because each new set of rankings is bursting with multitudes of wrestling information and implications, but also because it means college wrestling season is starting soon!
Now let’s unpack all the rankings and the info contained within!
125 Pounds
Reigning team champs Penn State picks up right where they left off with a #1 ranking at 125, appropriately, as Luke Lilledahl was the 2026 NCAA 125lb champion.
Though the names are familiar, it may take some time to get used to the new uniforms wrestlers like #4 Vince Robinson will be rocking after transferring in the offseason from NC State to Nebraska.
Nic Bouzakis is listed at 125, which does not guarantee that Bouzakis will make the cut all season long, just that our rankers, Jon Kozak and JD Rader, are making their best educated guess as to what Ohio State’s lineup will look like, which they are doing without the benefit of wrestle-off results.
133 Pounds
Perhaps the most anticipated division in college wrestling. The Weight of Weights, many are calling it. Just look at that top 5!
Jax Forrest, Ben Davino, Aaron Seidel, Marcus Blaze, Ryan Crookham. A constellation of superstars!
Jax placed fifth in the world last year. Blaze made the senior world team this year. Davino beat Blaze twice last season. Seidel just won a U20 World gold medal. Crookham placed third as a freshman and since transferred to Iowa. This weight class will feed families. It will provide veritable feasts for families.
141 Pounds
The Bo Show finally makes its way to the collegiate circuit. Will the recently minted U20 World champ continue his meteoric rise to the top of the NCAA ladder?
Bo Bassett’s chief rival will be #1 ranked Luke Stanich, who beat him three times in freestyle during the summer of 2025. Stanich went on to win a U20 World gold medal. The Mountain Hawk by way of New Jersey will be in his third year of eligibility, already having finished 5th and 3rd at NCAAs.
Air Force’s Carter Nogle is ranked sixth following his breakout performance last March, when he made the podium with a 5th place finish. Can the Falcon soar to similar heights in his third collegiate season?
141 will also be a weight of intrigue for Penn State and Oklahoma State fans. 2026 141lb champ Sergio Vega is listed at 149 on the Cowboy roster, so it’s assumed that he will move up a weight. Will one of the Raney brothers fill the void? If so, will it be Jayden or Jordyn?
Penn State also has options at 141. Will Marcus Blaze move up, as has been rumored? The evidence is unclear at the moment, so Blaze is getting ranked at 133. The intrigue deepens with Masa Ono still on the roster. When will the mercurial Japanese world champ make his long-awaited folkstyle debut? Braeden Davis and Nate Desmond are also All-American caliber options. We’ll have to wait to see what Coach Sanderson decides. In the meantime, Davis is the assumed starter, though the ultimate lineup remains far from settled.
149 Pounds
Another incredibly top heavy weight class featuring three NCAA champs, and also Shayne Van Ness, all in the top four rankings.
The aforementioned Sergio Vega nabs the top spot, followed by 2026 149lb champ Aden Valencia. Shayne Van Ness, who thrice placed in the top 3 at NCAAs, is number three, one spot above 2024 149lb champ Caleb Henson, who is returning to the Hokie lineup after a redshirt season.
Add into the mix young rising talents like second year athletes #5 Jaxon Joy and #10 Seth Mendoza, along with veterans like #6 Anthony Echemendia (now at Nebraska, who were very active in the portal this offseason), and you’ve got a recipe for a delectably entertaining weight class.
157 Pounds
Here we have another conundrum for Penn State fans, but it’s a good conundrum to have. There are more title threats on the Nittany Lion roster than there are weight classes in their lineup. Does PJ Duke return at 157 after placing 3rd as a true freshman last season? Does two-time third-placer Tyler Kasak break back into the lineup after redshirting? Will blue chip recruit Joe Sealey fight his way into the postseason lineup?
Right now, our rankers penciled in Kasak, but this roster battle in Happy Valley may rage on until the end of February. Oklahoma State does not have a similar conundrum, but they do have returning 2026 champ Landon Robideau, who won the weight last season in his first crack at collegiate competition.
Three-time All-American and 2025 champ Antrell Taylor also returns to spice up a very deep weight class. Not to mention title threats like #4 Kannon Webster, #5 Brandon Cannon and #6 Ty Watters, etc, all kicking things up a notch in our cosmic gumbo of a weight class.
165 Pounds
A wide open weight with a lot of talent, but no returning NCAA champs. Penn State’s PJ Duke gets ranked at 165, which necessitates a jump in weights by Mitchell Mesenbrink. We’ll get to Mesenbrink’s new weight shortly, but remember, consider these rankings to be written in erasable ink. We’re still two months away from countable matches, things will change.
Nicco Ruiz, Joey Blaze, LaDarion Lockett, Cam Catrabone and Bryce Hepner round out the top 6, all returning to the same program, though Hepner started his career at Ohio State. So did Paddy Gallagher, who is now a Sooner.
Conversely, Carter Schubert left Norman, Oklahoma in the summer and joined the Hawkeyes. Ohio State will counter with Ethan Stiles, who we predict will move up two weights from 149, where he wrestled last season and made the podium two seasons ago wrestling for Oregon State.
Could this weight class be ripe for a dark horse to emerge and take command of one of college wrestling’s most storied divisions?
174 Pounds
And now we get to the monstrous Mitchell Mesenbrink, whose decision on what weight class to wrestle will be similar to how a 300 pound gorilla chooses where to sit.
The three-time NCAA finalist from Wisconsin will be the favorite to win his third NCAA title at either 165 or 174. Which is not to say there won’t be challengers. At 174, the top contenders are #2 Chris Minto and #3 Cam Steed, both of whom also reached the podium at 165 earlier in their careers.
You’ve also got Kaleb Larkin, who we’re expecting to move up three weight classes from 149, where he finished in the bloodround last March, and Gabe Arnold, who is moving down two weights from 197, where he placed 7th in Cleveland.
Other newbies to the division include Hunter Garvin, a two-time All-American at 165, and Jaxon Smith, an AA at 184 (then at Maryland, now at Ohio State). In contrast to his peers, Beau “BeauMan” Mantanona is returning at the same weight, having reached the podium at 174 last season (though he did start his career at 165).
184 Pounds
184 is another loaded weight class. #1 Max McEnelly has been a revelation for the Gophers. The 2025 U20 World gold medalist placed 3rd and 1st in his first two trips to NCAAs. Throw in his most recent victory over Bo Nickal at Real American Freestyle’s 12th event just a couple of weeks ago and you’ve got some sky high expectations in Minnesota.
But it won’t be a cakewalk for McEnelly. Two-time finalist Rocco Welsh is expected to be one of his top challengers, as will Aeoden Sincalir, who added a U20 World gold medal of his own to his trophy case this summer.
Angelo Ferrari will have Hawkeye Nation behind him, as the Texan is one of Iowa’s best bets for keeping their streak of NCAA finalists alive. At least one Hawkeye has wrestled for an NCAA title in the last 35 Championships.
197 Pounds
If Josh Barr is healthy, he’ll be favored to run the table again and secure his second consecutive NCAA title in his third year of eligibility. Beyond that, 197 may be looking at another year of chaos. Last season, light-heavyweight was one of the most volatile divisions in recent memory.
Oklahoma State’s second year NCAA finalist Cody Merrill will be in the mix, as will the veterans from Wyoming and Little Rock, Stephen Little and Joey Novak. And you can bet Nebraska’s Camden McDanel will have a say in the matter. Stanford is very bullish on their second year All-American Angelo Posada.
Beyond that? You’d be hard pressed to find a college wrestling pundit to give you a confident prediction. Maybe try asking Nostradamus, I dunno.
285 Pounds
A bevy of bonafide heavyweights ran out of eligibility last year, including the top three finishers at NCAAs. As such, last year’s fourth placer, Konnor Doucet, slides into the top spot for the 2026-27 season.
But with uber recruit Dreshaun Ross enrolling at Oklahoma State this year, many are wondering if Doucet will even be the starter. We’ll see, but if Ross does get the nod at 285, the Cowboy faithful should feel confident that they have a title contender in their young freshman from Iowa.
Penn State also has two options at heavyweight, and they’re twins, Cole and Connor Mirasola. Cole made the round of 16 at 285lbs last year, while Connor wrestled 197, where Josh Barr got the postseason nod.
Beyond the PSU/OSU roster questions, 285’s wide-openness is evident by the fact that besides Doucet, only three other returning heavies have earned All-American honors: #2 Ben Kueter, #3 Nick Feldman and #4 Christian Carroll. Kueter and Feldman’s highest career placement is 5th, while Carroll’s was 8th.
Will we see someone establish themselves as the heavyweight to beat before nationals? Or will the biggest weight remain the biggest mystery of the season?
Team Race
Penn State set a record for most team points in an NCAA Championship last season, breaking the record they set the year before that. The Nittany Lions return a large portion of their lineup and have their usual crop of blue chippers joining the roster. So a 13th NCAA title for PSU in the Cael Sanderson era should be a foregone conclusion, no?
If the Jaws theme song is playing in the heads of any Penn State fans, it’s because of the ground being gained by David Taylor’s Oklahoma State Cowboys, who, despite all of PSU’s returning firepower, are a mere 25.5 points behind the Lions in the preseason team rankings.
But before anybody climbs aboard anyone’s hype train, now is a good time to once again remind everyone that it’s still early September, and these are preseason rankings. The rankings will change between now and March.
That shouldn’t stop anyone from engaging in rampant speculation, just that all the offseason pontification should be taken with an appropriate amount of salt.
Rewatch of the Week
Preseason rankings got us jonesing for college wrestling, but to be honest we’re still buzzing from Team USA’s performance at the U20 World Championships.
All 10 men’s freestylers medal winners are either in college or will be shortly. So prepare for the NCAA season and give this supercut of every American medal match from Bratislava a watch!