A year ago this weight was the talk of the entire country. Ever since this year's CKLV, I think the conversation circled around "How can anyone beat Nahshon?" The way this bracket was drawn, the three most entertaining athletes in the weight all are on the top side between Nahshon Garrett, Ryan Taylor and Cody Brewer.

Get familiar with the landscape of this weight by taking a look at the NCAA Brackets Here.

As I did earlier today, I'll outline title contenders, dark horses and my top 12. For me, dark horse is a combination of low-non seeded guys with a combination of underrated talent and an ideal draw to out-perform.

Title Contenders:

Nahshon Garrett, Cornell
Cory Clark, Iowa
Zane Richards, Illinois
Cody Brewer, Oklahoma
Ryan Taylor, Wisconsin

Dark Horses:

Mason Beckman, Lehigh
Nathan Kraisser, Campbell
(10) Johnni DiJulius, Ohio State

I don’t know what it means that I have more title contenders than dark horses. Frankly, I think the list is far too long. Here’s how I came to it. It’s a 50/50 proposition in my mind that either Clark or Richards will make the finals. For that reason, they’re both included. Nahshon is the obvious favorite so he’s in. Brewer went HAM on this entire weight a year ago. However, the one guy that I think can athletically have a prayer of moving and making things difficult against Nahshon is Ryan Taylor. So I included him. Yes, the same guy that was 5-7 headed into Big 10’s.

Regarding the dark horses, there really is a very defined pecking order at this weight that I don’t see many guys with a chance to penetrate. Beckman and DiJulius have a long track record of big time wins, so they get included. Nathan Kraisser is more of a hunch/draw pick.

CP’s Final Predictions:

1. Nahshon Garrett, Cornell
2. Zane Richards, Illinois
3. Cody Brewer, Oklahoma
4. Cory Clark, Iowa
5. Ryan Taylor, Wisconsin
6. Jordan Conaway, Penn State
7. George DiCamillo, UVA
8. Earl Hall, ISU

Round of 12: Mason Beckman, Lehigh (Losses to Ryan Taylor and Nahshon Garrett), Dom Forys (Losses to Earl Hall and George DiCamillo), Johnni DiJulius (Losses to Cory Clark and Jordan Conaway), Nathan Kraisser (Losses to George DiCamillo and Nahshon Garrett)

Earl Hall has a nice path to the quarters provided he can get by All American Rossi Bruno. I think he does. I’ve always been a touch higher on Earl Hall than I should be, and that’s not going to stop now. He’s as talented as anyone, but he makes mistakes that keep inferior wrestlers in matches. Too many times he’s under the gun late in the match. That could come back to bite him here as the competition is extremely tough. I see him falling to Nahshon in the quarters then downing Dom Forys in the round of 12. I think he’ll fall to Taylor the next round then DiCamillo for 7th. He and DiCamillo have gone back and forth but by and large DiCamillo seems to have his number.

Here's why I'm not super worried about the Bruno match up with Hall:

DiCamillo is set up nicely to make a run to the quarters taking out Brady and likely Forys. Those are great match ups for George. Then he’ll have a very winnable match against Zane Richards, who he fell to a year ago. That said, I don’t think Zane falls there. So DiCamillo falls to a match against Nathan Kraisser in the round of 12. I have Kraisser beating Giraldo, losing to Garrett then beating Alber and Bruno before falling to DiCamillo. I think DiCamillo falls to Conaway again, though certainly their scuffle match indicates it’s very winnable for George.

Speaking of Conaway, his 5 seed is doing him no favors right now as he’ll have a very tough match against Ryan Taylor in round 2. Taylor beat Conaway not once but twice 2 weeks ago. I’m not expecting anything major to change on that front, so I have him falling in round 2. His path to place again is solid, however. I see him beating Dom Malone, Austin Eicher then Johnni DiJulius in the round of 12. Soon after he’ll have that DiCamillo match I discussed earlier before falling once again to Taylor in the 5th/6th match. It’s hard to beat a good guy 4 times in 2 weeks, so if there will be an upset, it may be in that match.

Conaway is NEVER out of a match:

Ryan Taylor is possibly the best athlete in this weight outside of Garrett. He can move incredibly well, is an excellent scrambler and has great hips. His season has not been great and he’s taken losses. He looked back to form to me at Big 10’s. If anything, I think 2 more weeks makes him all the more dangerous. I don’t think he’ll get the opportunity to test this out, but I believe he is the one guy who could make Nahshon at least SWEAT. He has the arsenal to put points up and can score in all three positions, including countering leg attacks. That said, the match up for Taylor against Brewer in the quarter is very difficult. He’s got the goods to do it, but I held off on that prediction. I believe Brewer will be a touch more disciplined in his exchanges whereas Taylor may be a tad too ballsy. After falling to Brewer I see Taylor falling to Clark. The last time they met was probably the best match of Big 10’s outside of IMAR v. Nolf. I think Clark gets it done again which sends him to the 5th place match against Conaway, which I already touched on. If there’s an out of nowhere, how’d he do that, how did this happen kind of finalist it could just be Ryan Taylor.

Check out his thriller with Cory Clark here:

The top 4 here is not as hard to sort out as you might think. I expect whoever loses the Richards/Clark semi to get 4th. I think Brewer is the 2nd best guy in the weight, but the bracket won’t allow that reality. I deliberated back and forth between Zane and Clark and wound up going with Cory. Their rivalry seems to go back and forth, and I felt Zane was doing a better job of getting to legs. It looks to me he’s a finish away from the finals. That sends Clark to the consolation semi’s where I like Clark to 2 on 1 and low single his way to the 3rd/4th place match. It was on full display last year that Brewer was a very tough match up for Clark. I don’t see that changing. Cory takes 4th, but is a hair away from the finals.

Here's the Richards/Clark Big 10 Final:

The Kaid Brock loss for Cody Brewer likely cost him a spot in the finals. When I watched his match against Nahshon, I saw a very one sided match that had one amazing throw by Brewer. The way Nahshon has looked and Brewer’s propensity to attack make it very tough road for Brewer. Perhaps Brewer tightens up his offense and picks his spots more, but I don’t see him keeping Nahshon off his legs enough. Combine that with Nahshon’s top ability and I just don’t see how he gets it done. Brewer’s path to the semi’s gets tough starting in the quarters where he’ll need to take out Ryan Taylor. In the consi semi’s I think Brewer handles Conaway, then Clark for 3rd. All this being said, you never know when Brewer could jump levels again like we saw last year when he torched the toughest weight in the NCAA.

Zane Richards has an incredibly high degree of variance for his tournament. I’m certainly predicting the very highest end of his capability by having him in the finals. The reality is he could go down in the quarters to DiCamillo, who beat him last year at NCAA’s. I think he is just a different guy from last years NCAA’s. Since that time he’s only suffered one loss and notched a win over Cory Clark. I think he wins the rubber match for this year's rivalry with Clark. Again, his ability to get to legs is just a little better than Clark’s. So that’s what sends him to the finals before being dealt with with little issue by Nahshon. Zane may be able to slow down things in the hand fight, but ultimately there’s too much offense from Nahshon. I do think Zane may be able to escape from Nahshon, however.

I mentioned in the Hodge Report, that while Nahshon hasn’t been quite as dominant in the bonus point department, he’s actually been the most dominant of anyone in the country. For nobody to have been able to come within a takedown of Nahshon is unreal. Guys haven’t been on his level all year, and I don’t see it changing the last week of the season. Nahshon cruises to the title, capping off an outstanding career for the Big Red.