OSU Wrestling: Five Things to Watch for at the OCU Open

The Cowboys sort of officially/unofficially kick off their wrestling season with the OCU Open this coming weekend. The reason I say it’s somewhat “unofficial” is 1) They have three guys wrestling at the NWCA All-Star Classic two days before it and 2) It’s an “open” tournament. So it really is an unofficial tournament in a number of ways as anyone can wrestle in it. Red shirts, graduated guys, club programs, anyone.

If one of you want to go give it a shot you’re even allowed to. If you choose to do so, best of luck in your endeavor. I’ll remain safely as far away as possible and keep an eye out from the stands.

Here are five things that I highly recommend you all keep an eye on for this one.

The Weights

Most Cowboys not wrestling in the All-Star match will probably be wrestling here. Some may not. I’m told a few are still deciding whether or not to go. That said, we all really want to know how the lineup is going to sort itself out. It now looks like Jacobe Smith is going 174 and Kaid Brock 141 based on the All-Star match, but where will Chandler Rogers and Joe Smith be? With Brock going up it looks like 125 and 133 will certainly be Daton Fix and Nick Piccininni, but in what order? I don’t believe this tournament will definitely indicate that, it could switch mid season. Simply finding out where these guys are weighing in at should give us some indication of the plans though.

Who wins from 165-184

First some context, at an open like this OSU will dominate most weights. Many finals will be “All-OSU” finals. As great as it will be to see Kaid Brock and Jacobe Smith in the All-Star match I sort of hoped all the guys at these weights that are up in the air, would be at OCU. It could’ve helped define the lineup a little better. We likely would have seen Brock-Gfeller and any combination of Jacobe Smith, Joe Smith, Chandler Rogers, and Dakota Geer. Even with Jacobe at the All-Star match we still could see some solid intra-squad matchups at least one of these weights. I’m not sure which one, but at least one will reveal a little about the lineup.

Heavyweight

With Derek White graduating at the end of this season there’s really not a definitive answer for the next few years at 285. Konner Doucet is a commit that could eventually end up there, but he’s just a high school junior. Barring a transfer or late commitment, someone on the current roster will be the starter at 285 next season. I think you’re looking at three possibilities here.

1. Cornelius Putnam — He’s the only “true heavyweight” on the roster and a redshirt freshman. He looked good this summer in freestyle. He’ll have to compete to win here, so it will be interesting to follow how he performs

2. Andrew Marsden –– Marsden may be at 197 here, but his big brother was the anchor at heavyweight for a long time. And the Cowboys have transfer Dakota Geer and freshman Anthony Montalvo that most are projecting to be 184-197 next year. Could Marsden do the bulk job and go up to 285? Maybe.

3. Austin Harris –– Harris could be the most likely answer here. He won the US Open in Greco this summer, he almost made a world team, and won the Pan-Am’s in both greco and freestyle. He’s not a big name recruit or anything, but he seems to be coming along. Harris is another redshirt freshman and he actually started out at 184. He’s a lot bigger now, a tall kid with a big frame that he could fill out and definitely could grow into being a full-size heavyweight.

Freshmen

It’s a big jump to move to the college level, so when you have recruits like Travis Wittlake and Anthony Montalvo that are expected to be in the lineup next season. It’s really interesting to see how they handle the transition to college, and these early tournaments can say a lot. To go along with these two you also have a bunch of other guys that just came in that will likely be wrestling here, but pay special attention to Montalvo and Wittlake. They both will likely eventually have a big impact on OSU’s lineup.

Fix-Fix-Fix-Fix-Fix

Daton Fix will be wrestling here. It’s a smaller tournament where he’ll be heavily favored, but the superstar redshirt freshman making his debut in the first official year as a Cowboy should be a lot of fun.