NCAA Prospect Rankings

149 Prospect Rankings Run Deep

The 149lb prospect rankings appear at first blush to be among the most loaded weights. It is hard not to recognize the folkstyle skills Sammy Sasso possesses, and he won't need to get too much bigger to be comfortable at this weight in college. We're going to see him cradle a lot of people at the next level.

Before we go on, a mea culpa on Robbie Howard. I thought a 15-year-old who weighed 125 on a day before weigh-in could grow into a 149, but one of his coaches told me he should be a 125 or 133, so that will be adjusted in our next set of rankings.

I really enjoyed watching Alex Lloyd in Fargo. He shoots with his whole body, forcing his opponent to commit to defense. It's difficult to get re-attacks on a guy like that, and with a little bit of time in a college room he can turn that into a consistent DI-level takedown.

We haven't seen Theorius Robison since his Colorado state tournament run, but he's another kid who jumps off the page. Robison is not only athletic but also can score in a variety of different ways. He is continuing Colorado's steady march upward as a state full of talent ripe for colleges to pick.

Brock Hardy is an intriguing prospect because he could end up doing a Mormon mission and become a 2020 recruit. Jesse Vasquez went from 113 to 126/132, and we see the California product hitting one more growth spurt before the end of high school.

It is unfortunate we won't get to see Fargo champ Ryan Sokol at Super 32, but at least we've seen him wrestle varsity matches -- Minnesota allows middle schoolers to compete in high school. Brock Mauller will look to continue the tradition of Missouri 149-pounders, which includes Drake Houdashelt and Lavion Mayes. Anthony Artalona is a tough prospect to assess. His freestyle resume is impeccable, but he has not proven himself to be on the same level in folkstyle.

We just saw Jojo Aragona in the Journeymen Fall Classic finals, and Jaden Abas took out Matt Olguin in the California World Challenge finals. FloNats finalist Jared Franek could be a career 149 for North Dakota State. Keep your eye on Aiden Medora going forward: He could rise into the top five in these rankings in a year or two.