Kaid Brock, Jacobe Smith, and Derek White to Wrestle in NWCA All-Star Classic

A few weeks ago it was announced that Derek White along with two other Cowboys would be wrestling at the NWCA All-Star Classic. The other two have now been announced.

Looks like a solid lineup to us. #AllStarClassic pic.twitter.com/ny7sl7NvcH

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) October 24, 2018

Kaid Brock will be wrestling Ohio State’s Joey McKenna at 141 pounds and Jacobe Smith will be wrestling Michigan’s Myles Amine.

Both are big time matchups. McKenna’s a proven commodity at 141, so we’ll find out quickly how Kaid is handling his jump in weight  (he’s up from 133 last year). Amine finished third at the NCAA tournament last year behind NCAA champions Mark Hall and Zahid Valencia. At this incredibly tough weight class there are those two guys, Hall and Valencia, then a bunch of other very good wrestlers jockeying for that top spot right behind them. Amine managed to get it last year. Smith will be aiming to achieve it and hopefully more in this season.

The interesting dynamic here, as good as the matchups are, is that there are also some really good ones at these weights in the room. The rest of the team will be wrestling at the OCU Open in Oklahoma City this same weekend. Before this announcement, I was personally hoping to see most of these guys at OCU, in hopes it would settle out some of the lineup questions.

I’m often asked what the lineup will be this season, specifically around these weights, and my ultimate answer is that I really don’t know. I’ve reached out to some of my best resources on it, and based on the feedback I’ve received I really think they’re still sorting it all out.

Kaden Gfeller will likely throw his hat in the ring for the spot at 141 and from 165-184 you have Joe Smith, Chandler Rogers, and summer transfer Dakota Geer who will all be jockeying for those spots. Rogers was wrestling all the way up at 86 KG (189 pounds) this summer, and looked very good doing it I might add. Joe Smith was up as high as 174 last year, and it’s really unclear where all these guys will wind up. My best guess is Joe cuts back down to 165, and Chandler does go for that spot at 184. But honestly it could be any of those combinations and many more.