Tony Cassioppi’s name being projected through the speakers at Carver-Hawkeye Arena is hard to forget. Each syllable is drawn out, with the “o” in Cassioppi going for just a touch longer than anything else. 

He’s growing into his role as a fan favorite, aided by what head coach Tom Brands calls a “jack-o-lantern” smile and his keen ability to end meets with an exclamation point, no matter how big the stakes. 

Cassioppi proved as a freshman that he can compete with the best of the best, but his career path to glory will only get harder as the Big Ten features a logjam of the top heavyweights in the nation for at least the next two years. 

Atop the conference podium in March was Gable Steveson of Minnesota, who handed Cassioppi two of his three losses on the season — once in Iowa’s Feb. 15 dual vs the Gophers and again in the semifinals of the Big Ten championships. 

Cassioppi's third-place match vs Wisconsin's Trent Hillger:

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Tougher for Cassioppi at first glance this season was Michigan’s Mason Parris, who ended the dual against Iowa in Ann Arbor with one of his team’s only highlights of the day: a pin of Cassioppi in 4:31. 

Steveson and Parris both have two years of wrestling left on their collegiate time clock and together make Cassioppi’s path to a conference title – or even one in the NCAA – very difficult. 

After Cassioppi finished third behind Steveson and Parris in the Big Ten tournament, he earned the No. 3 seed going into NCAAs before they were canceled due to COVID-19. His path to any title until his senior year will likely take him through either Steveson or Parris, a feat that isn’t one to take lightly. 

And that’s not all the Big Ten holds. Top-ranked 2019 recruit Daniel Kerkvliet – who traded in an Ohio State singlet for Nittany Lions gear and will likely take the place of 2019 NCAA champion Anthony Cassar – could be just as difficult to get through and add to an already-stacked conference at heavyweight. 

Cassioppi, however, as the second bookend to a 2020-21 lineup that will begin with two-time NCAA champion Spencer Lee and will feature seven other returning wrestlers from last season, is no stranger to greatness or what he can achieve. 

In his first Big Ten dual ever and facing the then-No. 3 heavyweight in the nation, Wisconsin’s Trent Hillinger, Cassioppi used a first-period takedown to leap from No. 12 to No. 2 in the country. 

More notable in Iowa’s season as a whole, however, was putting the team on his back and earning a 7-0 decision to finish off a 19-17 dual win over Penn State to rightfully seal the Hawkeyes’ No. 1 ranking in the nation.

Despite the group that he’ll have to face going forward, Cassioppi’s growth through his freshman year alone shows promise and strength for more to come. When faced with a single-leg in the third session of Big Tens by Nebraska’s David Jensen, Cassioppi avoided a takedown and flipped Jensen onto his back to retaliate with a pin.

One thing is for sure: no matter where Iowa’s go-to man at heavyweight ends up with the group the Big Ten puts out, fireworks are coming at 285 in 2020-21.

Anna attended the University of Iowa, where she covered multiple sports from volleyball to football to wrestling. She went to Pittsburgh in March 2019 for the NCAA DI Wrestling Championships and did live coverage of the entire event and Spencer Lee’s second-straight NCAA title. Follow her on Twitter.