With the addition of Jaydin Eierman to Iowa’s 2020-21 lineup, things are shifting at the middle lightweights. 

Eierman is slotted in at 141, where he can make the biggest impact on Iowa’s chances to go to St. Louis in March as the NCAA favorite for the second straight year. That pushes two-time All-American Max Murin up to 149 for his — hopefully healthy — junior year. 

Murin ended last season as the seventh seed going into NCAAs after placing fifth in Big Tens the week before collegiate sports were shut down due to COVID-19. His success in 2019-20 came with the battle of a shoulder injury that hindered him in the form of a giant brace for most of the season. 

Now, breaking out of that injury-filled year, Murin could be another wall to get through as teams will have to face Spencer Lee, Austin DeSanto, Jaydin Eierman, and Murin at the top of the lineup. 

Last season, Murin showed a hint that he could be a big part of that powerhouse lineup. His start to the season was dominant. He won 10 straight matches, a career-high mark, and took home the title at the Midlands Championships just before the New Year with four decisions and a fall. 

Here’s what Murin had to say right after winning a Midlands title:

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After two big wins against Indiana and Purdue at the beginning of January, Murin jumped from No. 7 to No. 3 and settled himself in that spot through the end of February. 

But following a loss to then-No. 8 Chad Red on Jan. 18, something was off. Murin then came back with a vengeance a month later and took down then-No. 5 Mitch McKee in SV1 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. 

The Big Ten at 141 was a whole lot more contested at the top in 2019-20 than 149 will be this upcoming season, which only brings Murin an advantage to build on his success from 2020 and his seventh-place finish at 2019 NCAAs. 

Sammy Sasso of Ohio State — who beat Iowa’s former 149-pounder in the regular season dual last year but went on to lose as Pat Lugo took home the Big Ten title — holds the top placeholder in next season’s rankings. Also above Murin in the rankings from the conference is No. 5 Brayton Lee of Minnesota.

Murin sits at No. 7 entering the season and behind him are five straight representatives from the Big Ten that could make things interesting in the top 10: Michael Carr (Illinois), Kanen Storr (Michigan), Griffin Parriott (Purdue), Jarod Verkleeren (Penn State), and Yahya Thomas (Northwestern). 

Storr and Lee were two of the final four wrestlers standing in the main bracket of Big Tens as Lugo and Sasso went on to the finals. 

Of Murin’s 16 wins last season, seven came against ranked opponents. He’ll waste no time getting those matches under his belt, either. Just ahead of him in the rankings is Iowa State’s Jarrett Degen; the Cyclones should be one of the first dual meets of the year for Iowa. 

Also sitting at No. 4 is Boo Lewallen of Oklahoma State, who Murin will likely face in an end-of-season match between powerhouses. Both Lewallen and Degen lost to Lugo last season, Lewallen by first-period fall and Degen in an intense match that went down to a challenge in the final seconds.

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.