Way Too Early Lineup Look: 2019-20 Ohio State Buckeyes

Way Too Early Lineup Look: 2019-20 Ohio State Buckeyes

Examining the 2019-20 lineup of the Ohio State Buckeyes that will be loaded with freshmen as they try to replace three All-Americans.

Apr 3, 2019 by Wrestling Nomad
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For five straight years, Ohio State has brought a team trophy back to Columbus. That's the longest current streak in the NCAA, including a title in 2015.

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For five straight years, Ohio State has brought a team trophy back to Columbus. That's the longest current streak in the NCAA, including a title in 2015.

The Buckeyes have finished second each of the past three years, and graduate a huge chunk of those teams. They lost three separate four-time All-Americans in 2018 between Kyle Snyder, Nathan Tomasello, and Bo Jordan, plus another four-time AA this year in Myles Martin, as well as three-time placers Joey McKenna and Micah Jordan.

Lucky for OSU fans, Tom Ryan and the rest of the coaching staff are voracious recruiters, so they're set up well for next season, though they'll be relying on a ton of young talent. Let's take a look at what that lineup could look like, which will probably feature seven starters from the 2017 and 2018 recruiting classes.

2019-20 Ohio State Projected Lineup

125: Malik Heinselman

133: Luke Pletcher

141: Ke-Shawn Hayes

149: Sammy Sasso

157: Jaden Mattox

165: Kaleb Romero

174: Rocky Jordan

184: Gavin Hoffman

197: Kollin Moore

285: Chase Singletary

For individual breakdowns of the weights, as well as potential roster battles, check out the breakdowns below.

125 Pounds

The decision to pull Malik Heinselman's redshirt was surprising, and although he ended up qualifying for NCAAs, he went just 1-2 at the big show. Both of his losses there were by major and he contributed just 0.5 team points, which is half a point more than he scored at Big Tens.

None of this is meant to criticize Heinselman, just stating the facts of his true freshman season. Another year in the Ohio State weight room should help him get to be a full sized 125, as well as some work on his top and bottom game. I think he can make a jump from the 25 seed, which is what he was this year, to being in the Top-16 seeds next year, but it may be until his junior year before the Colorado native is in position to finish on the podium.

133 Pounds

I am very curious to see what happens at these next few weights. Luke Pletcher still has a redshirt year available, and I'm sure the cut to 133 isn't always enjoyable. He more than tripled his number of bonus point wins from last year and clearly started to take more leg attacks and be more offensive towards the end of the year, so he has improved from his sophomore year.

If they do redshirt Pletcher, they have Jordan Decatur coming in who could start right away. They could also wrestle Decatur at 133 and bump Pletcher up to 141 to replace Joey McKenna, but that means Quinn Kinner and Ke-Shawn Hayes can't go that weight. I think Pletcher just finishes out his career and goes 133, but OSU does have some options.

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141 Pounds

No matter what they do, the Buckeye coaching staff will have to replace a guy who was second and third in his two seasons in Columbus. As mentioned above, they could potentially bump Pletcher up. But I think what is more likely is that either Ke-Shawn Hayes finally gets to go 141, or redshirt freshman Quinn Kinner takes hold of the spot.

Kinner went 16-2 this year, with his losses coming to Cole Matthews and Vince Turk. He was a two-time New Jersey state champ, won Beast of the East and made the FloNationals finals, so his pedigree suggests he can be very successful in college. Although Hayes probably hasn't been at the right weight, he's only scored three points between the past two national tournaments. Ultimately, they'll do what's best for the team, but Kinner should very much be considered a threat to start.

149 Pounds

Sammy Sasso walks into next season as a national title contender right off the bat. He won't be #1 to start the year, and he probably won't go undefeated, but Sasso is good enough to win NCAAs given the makeup of the weight. His only two losses this season were to his soon to be graduated teammate Micah Jordan and Jacori Teemer, who will likely be a 157 next year.

But he also beat All-Americans Pat Lugo and Alec Pantaleo, as well as Josh Heil and Brayton Lee. He also pinned Anthony Artalona the last time they wrestled in folkstyle. But to win an NCAA title, he'll also need to beat the likes of Matt Kolodzik, Austin O'Connor, Brock Mauller, and Jarrett Degen.

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The District XI native out of Nazareth high school in Pennsylvania is adept on top and will be able to get riding time in a good number of matches next year. He has also improved his offensive repertoire, including a duck under, to his excellent straight leg crackdown cradle defense. There are still plenty of guys who may beat him, but Buckeye fans should be in for a treat in Sasso's first varsity season. 

157 Pounds

Jaden Mattox appears to be the man waiting to take this spot, but the staff will likely have Elijah Cleary, who started two duals this year and is entering his fourth year in the program, battle him to be the starter. Not that one match will decide this, but Cleary did beat Will Lewan this year, who Mattox lost to. Again this is all assuming Ke-Shawn drops back down to 141.

Coming out of high school, Mattox looked like the best top wrestler Ohio State had recruited in several years. I think his top game will be the differentiator and allow him to start over Cleary, as well as why I think he could be a huge X factor to Ohio State's season. Some pins in duals and tournaments can drastically change a team score.

165 Pounds

The graduation of Te'Shan Campbell creates an opening that should theoretically be filled by Kaleb Romero. After all, Romero was recruited to do just that and wrestled in eight duals this year. But if Rocky Jordan hadn't been injured, he might have been their starter at 174 this season. How's that affect Romero? Well it might mean Ethan Smith tries to drop down to 165. I'm not sure how feasible that is, but I imagine they investigate to give themselves options at this weight.

174 Pounds

Rocky Jordan, the last of the Jordan brothers, was 80-0 and a Walsh Ironman champ during his last two seasons at St. Paris Graham. The three-time Ohio State champ was in serious contention to be the starter before undergoing season ending surgery and not being able to wrestle a single match. So there is some concern about health and putting him out after not getting any redshirt matches to assimilate to college, but the staff seems confident in his talent.

And lucky for Tom Ryan and his assistants, they do have an NCAA qualifier already at this weight. Similar to the the theme of the rest of this article, the folks in Columbus are relying on young talent to turn potential into results. Smith and Kinner are two guys who will have to use their roster battles as motivation to make themselves into All-American threats,

184 Pounds

What could be better than replacing Myles Martin? Not only was he a national champ and four-time All-American who was utterly dominant on his feet, he's also universally beloved and considered one of the nicest and hardest working guys in the OSU program. That task falls on the shoulders of Gavin Hoffman, a three-time Pennsylvania state champ who was #1 in the country at 195 coming out of high school.

The Montoursville native was 22-3 this year, with losses to NCAA champ Drew Foster and multiple time AA Emery Parker. His only "bad" loss was to Mason Reinhardt, who was an NCAA qualifier but the type of guy Hoffman will have to beat routinely to meet expectations. He beat two qualifiers this year and put up bonus in over a third of his matches.

197 Pounds

Kollin Moore was the picture for this article for a reason. He is the leader, the captain, the point scorer, and the man who needs to set the example for all of the young talent from the 2017 and 2018 recruiting classes. With career finishes of third, fourth, and second, as well as Bo Nickal, Preston Weigel, and Willie Miklus graduating, he enters the 2019-20 season as THE man at 197.

We should hopefully get to see him in multiple matches against Jacob Warner, as well as possibly meeting EIWA studs Pat Brucki and Ben Darmstadt. Beyond that, Josh Hokit is the only other potential threat, at least as it stands right now. So while they once again lose a ton of firepower, they still have two very real title threats heading into next year.

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285 Pounds

Of his 30 matches this season, 17 of Chase Singletary's were against other NCAA qualifiers. He went 8-9 in those matches, hitting three separate qualifiers twice over the course of the season. His bonus rate wasn't super high, with only three pins and three majors against D1 competition. In the postseason, he scored one team point at Big Tens and 1.5 points at the national tournament.

All in all, his first varsity season was maybe a bit underwhelming for the #10 overall recruit from the 2017 Big Board. Now, only one other heavyweight from that year has outperformed the Florida native so far, which would be Trent Hillger, who was an All-American for Wisconsin this year and beat Singletary twice. They've got the #1 prospect from the 2019 class in Greg Kerkvliet coming in, but he could probably use a redshirt year to get bigger and healthier, and might even wind up taking an Olympic Redshirt.

So it's not likely Singletary has to deal with competition for his starting spot next year, but he will probably have to increase his production. Some of that can be attributed to how difficult it can be for younger heavyweights to succeed, but at Ohio State, the expectation is to not just qualify for NCAAs, but score meaningful points in the hunt for a team title.