2012-2013 Summer All American Predictions: 125-285 Posted

[JensenS]

I've been babbling about getting started on these for a couple of weeks now, but am only now finally starting to get around to these since I'm done with teaching for the summer.

I will say even though I'm just starting to put these together I'm really, really excited about this coming season. So many quality guys coming back off redshirt joining the guys who made their names last year.

As always post your own, advocate for who you think should be in mine, or explain how it doesn't matter because I'm an idiot who is bound to be wrong anyway.

[Snackem]

I'll be interested to see how you handle 165-184. Some of the top guys moving and others rumored to be.

[dutch134]

Looking forward to your predictions!!!!

[r.payton@att.net]

165-Taylor
174 -Howe
184 -Ruth

[TomWright25]

Is there a strong rumor that Howe is going up to 174, or just speculation at this point? I'm suspecting the latter, but am not sure.

[JensenS]

Get these rolling here.

125
1. Matt McDonough (Iowa)
2. Alan Waters (Missouri)
3. Nico Megaludis (Penn State)
4. Jesse Delgado (Illinois)
5. Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma)
6. Jarrod Garnett (Virginia Tech)
7. Steve Bonanno (Hofstra)
8. Zach Horan (Central Michigan)
R12. Nikko Triggas (Ohio State), Evan Silver (Stanford), Anthony Zanetta (Pittsburgh), Matt Snyder (Virginia)

Talk has been kind of quiet this off season but you have to wonder if talk will spring up about McDonough possibly moving up to 133 like its done the past several years. If it does I think this is going to be the first time where I don't buy into it, I think McDonough has proven that he's a 125 and coming into this year he's the undisputed best 125 coming off his second career NCAA title. I imagine next year will unfold much like the last two have where he'll come out and have some matches that are closer than one would expect while he gets used to the weight cut again but as the season progresses (around Midlands or so) and he gets his legs under him I expect the scores to open up. Doesn't really pin enough in comparison to some of the other top guys to where I'd call him a Hodge favorite but he's got a great shot in my mind this year to record his first career undefeated season.

It may seem odd to some people for me to have Waters here given that he's coming into his junior season with a grand total of 0 All American finishes, but I think if he's able to do one thing this year he should be primed for finishing off his stellar regular season with a performance at NCAA's more in line with what people have expected. That one thing he needs to do is just stop wrestling Anthony Zanetta at NCAA's because he's done it for two years in a row and it hasn't worked out very well for him yet. He came out last year and had done a really nice job in becoming more comfortable getting to his offense which he demonstrated early in the year when he completely took Nic Bedelyon apart. One of the few top guys at this weight class who McDonough hasn't wrestled. In my mind that has the possibility of being an interesting match up given Waters' comfort wrestling from a knee on his feet and his ability on top. Still obviously favor McDonough but if this match comes around next year I'll definitely be paying attention.

Megaludis comes back this year off his surprise run to the NCAA finals as a true freshman as someone who I'll be interested to see how he's received. He's someone who will obviously be championed by Penn State fans as a breakout guy (as much as a guy who made the NCAA finals can be), someone who will be more consistently dominant against his other opponents and possibly a threat to challenge McDonough for a title, I think he might slide below the radar just a little bit given that his finals berth last year surprised a lot of people and people kind of forget just how he did it in beating Sanders in the quarterfinals (and as much as it hurts me to say out wrestling him in the match) and then grinding Perrelli down in the semi's. Then he also sits as a guy who might fill that Public Enemy #1 role for Iowa fans as they bizarrely raged about his supposed stalling after last year's NCAA's.

For a period of time last year Jesse Delgado was defined just as the guy who shocked Matt McDonough in a wild early season match that he took to overtime before winning with a takedown and back points. As the season wore on though it became pretty apparent that Delgado was actually good, really good even. Great aggressive style. Has a firemans carry that he showed he could use to put lots of points on the board very quickly, he put it really prominently on display in a match against Zach Sanders. Unfortunately for him that match against Sanders didn't work out how he wanted as Sanders stormed back to win a wild match. If he's able to tighten things up a little bit in my mind Delgado is a definite challenger for a finals berth.

Unfortunately for Patterson he was Megaludis' first victim last year at NCAA's going down in the second round, after winning a couple of matches in the consi's on day 2 he ran into Ryan Mango in the round of 12 and wrestling Mango that long after weigh ins didn't work out very well for him as he missed out on the podium after recording an All American finish the prior year. Not the most exciting guy in the world but he's been able to make his money with his scrambling ability and his ability on top with his legs in. He comes in this year in a weight that isn't quite as tough as its been in his conference recently, but he's still a decided #2 to Waters there.

Garnett comes in this year after redshirting last year, and sadly I'm sitting here thinking that this is the last time I'm going to be able to pick him as an All American in my set of summer picks. He had a solid year last year as a redshirt highlighted by his finals berth at Midlands where he wound up falling to McDonough. Book on him is the same its always been. Explosive athlete, aggressive. Is a guy who might move up to 133 given that he's always been a pretty big 125 and the news that Devin Carter is going 141. Probably would have been an easier decision (both for Dresser and for me in making these picks) were either Mitch or Spjut still in Blacksburg.

Like Megaludis, Bonanno was one of the surprises at this weight class last year at NCAA's as he improved off a quiet but solid regular season where he came in as the 12 seed and wound up securing his first All American finish placing 8th as a junior. Has had some issues with injuries in the past but he managed to stay out on the mat last year. Not really superlative from any one positon just super solid in general.

This is one of the picks that may wind up different when I do these in the fall but not because I sour on the guy that I'm picking, really high on Horan as a breakout guy coming into this season. He did a nice job last year improving as the year went on and since the year ended he's had a really nice spring wrestling age group competition in freestyle. I say this pick could be different because Horan has a redshirt available so he might not be in the picks at all, also he spent time at 133 last year and has wrestled as a 60 kilo guy in freestyle in some of his competitions this summer so he may still be in the picks but up a weight.

[jammen]

Eggum says Thorn will be a national title contender. Do you disagree or was his omission an oversight?

[JensenS]

Kind of neither.

I remember you and others making mention that David was on his way down, and I think he's going to be great. I just want to see him down there first before I stick him in my picks here.

[Gantry]

Like the Horan pick...