A lot of heavy hitting 149-pounders used up their final year of NCAA eligibility last season, including the champ Anthony Ashnault, three-time All-American Micah Jordan, and 2018's fourth-place finisher Mitch Finesilver. A solid crop of contenders return, however, to a weight class that is very much up for grabs. 

2020 Contenders: 125 Pounds | 133 Pounds | 141 Pounds

It's far too early to have much more than an educated guess as to what is going to happen in Minneapolis next March, but that won't stop us from speculating anyway! Below are our projected contenders for the 2020 149-pound NCAA title.  

Austin O'Connor, North Carolina

Could this be the Tar Heels' first NCAA champs since the great T.J. Jaworsky back in 1995? AOC is the highest returning placer at the weight class. He'll have plenty of competition, but he is the way-too-early preseason favorite.

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Matt Kolodzik, Princeton

Kolodzilla is a three-time All-American, however, it's likely that he will defer his eligibility for a season. But still, if he doesn't, expect him to be in the mix all season long.

Brock Mauller, Missouri

Mauller had his redshirt pulled after teammate, All-American Grant Leeth, suffered a season-ending injury. Mauller held his own and then some all season long, eventually finishing sixth at Pittsburgh. He could be due for a big jump up after another year in a D1 wrestling room. 

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Jerrett Degen, Iowa State

Degen surprised a lot of people outside of Ames with his seventh-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The Montana native could surprise a few more with a run all the way to Saturday night next March in Minneapolis. 

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Pat Lugo, Iowa

Lugo finally pushed through to make the podium as a Hawkeye after coming up just short on two trips while wrestling for Edinboro. A title run by the Florida native would go a long way to helping the Hawkeyes win a team title for the first time since 2010.

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Brock Zacherl, Clarion

Zacherl has yet to find the podium, but assuming he gets a an additional medical year (a pretty safe assumption) the Golden Eagle is poised for a deep run in March. 

Sammy Sasso, Ohio State

Slammin Sammy Sasso has yet to wrestle a varsity match, but during his redshirt season, the Cozy Boy defeated multiple All-Americans and a fellow Big Ten redshirt freshman contender, Brayton Lee.

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Brayton Lee, Minnesota

The aforementioned Lee may have lost to Sasso at the Midlands, but the Indiana native got the better of Sasso at the junior men's freestyle world team trials finals. Brayton had some impressive folkstyle wins as well, necessitating his inclusion on our list. 

This could be the weight class where we are most likely to make a grave error of omission. In this instance, 2020 is both literal and figurative hindsight, but we apologize in advance nonetheless. You are also welcome for the free motivation.