On this episode of the RUDIS Wrestling Podcast, the always controversial topic of college recruitment is discussed. With National Signing Day occurring this week it is only natural they also discuss their favorite wrestling recruitment classes for 2019.
De-commitments:
Ben and Matt jump into the most controversial topic surrounding collegiate athletic recruitment. The de-commitment process. In the past week alone, there have been two major de-commits, #1 ranked Devin Winston de-committed from University of North Carolina to become a free agent and Adam Busiello de-committed from Penn State after 2 years in favor of Arizona State. The change by Adam Busiello leaves #1 in the nation Penn State without a single recruit in this year’s top 100 Senior Big Board. In recent years the NCAA changed legislation to allow college coaches to reach out to and recruit underclassmen. It has become common for athletes to commit, de-commit and recommit to multiple institutions before they finish their senior year. Matt Dernlan sees the de-commitment process as a logical progression with the recent changes to the rules governing recruitment.
Underclassmen Recruitment Seemingly Encourages Multiple Commitments:
Before the NCAA changed the college recruiting rules to include underclassmen, athletes often didn’t commit until late in their senior year. This meant that, once a student committed to a university their recruitment process was over. Coaches will attempt to get young athletes to commit to their school by offering incentives like scholarships. Many athletes commit somewhere they are unsure about because they don’t fully understand their options and fear losing the opportunity they are being offered.
The Truth About Scholarships:
In reality a collegiate level coach cannot actually make a firm financial offer to an athlete until the summer before their senior year. Though, this doesn’t mean they aren’t still doing it.
Most high level athletes assume they will receive a full ride at the mention of the word scholarship. To their dismay, though, there is actually a limit of 9.9 total scholarships, broken up over 4-5 years to give to athletes. Unfortunately, a full ride isn’t as common as many believe. Often, coach’s offers are less than an athlete is expecting. It is also possible for offers to be less than the coach was initially planned due to outside factors. This can be a cause for an athlete to reopen their recruitment process in search of better options.
The Best Recruitment Classes of 2019:
After closing up discussions on the de-commitment process the conversation turns to the top recruitment classes of 2019. There are three universities that clearly stand out above the rest. Arizona State, Ohio State and Cornell have claim to some of the top wrestlers in the country. Cornell has 7 of the top 100 overall recruits. Ohio State has 3 of the top 5. Arizona State with nearly all of their recruits ranked in the top 10 in their respective weight classes. Virginia Tech also has an incoming class worthy of mention. While not as deep as the others, they do have two standout wrestlers, Connor Brady and Bryce Andonian. Finally, Northern Colorado comes into the spotlight with 3 top recruits in that of Andrew Alirez, Theorius Robinson, and Mosha Schwartz.
Show Timestamps
- 0:00- What to expect from RUDIS in the near future
- 3:16- Decommitments
- 5:35- NCAA Legislation Change
- 12:50- Truth About Scholarships
- 25:00- Best Recruitment Classes for 2019
Where to find the RUDIS Wrestling Podcast
The RUDIS Wrestling Podcast is hosted Ben Askren and Matt Dernlan. Ben Askren, World Champion and Olympic wrestler, joins RUDIS from the T-Row & Funky Show in an official partnership as a content provider for all things RUDIS. Matt Dernlan joins from a D1 college coaching background with family roots grounded in Ohio wrestling with a collective 10 state titles on the shelf.
