ILLINI Recruits on the Big Board and ILLINOIS Wesleyan Wrestling

THE BIG BOARD

Intermat has released its final Big Board for incoming recruits, and the ILLINI did exceptionally well. Of course, I think some of the guys were criminally under-valued, and there are two others who should've made the rankings. If you have a Rokfin sub, you can read the entire list here. 

Here is the list of ILLINOIS recruits:

10.    Kannon Webster  (They have him at 149, but the lad's still growing!)

30.    Braeden Scoles (At 174? Seems high, but weight room? Wisconsin 4-timer and WNO wrestler)

60.    Will Baysingar (At 141, but isn't he growing as well?)

111.   Chris Moore (At 165. Maybe. We'll see.)

177.   Logan Swaw (At 165/174)

178.   Brandon Morvari (125)

INJURED Peter Marinopoulos  (probably at 197, maybe 285?)

INJURED Hudson Goebel  (perhaps at 141?)

As you can see, the ILLINI have a very nice class even with some criminally under-valued wrestlers, and two wrestlers who should be on the list but were injured. Peter Marinopoulos and Hudson Goebel dealt with injuries last year, and so will sneak up on people next year.

Of immediate concern for the ILLINI will be to find folks who can fill in for the Brawlnagels after next season. That could be Chris Moore or Logan Swaw at 165, and perhaps Peter Marinopoulos at 197, although he'll have to beat another big-move Brawlnagel and a sharp Isiah Pettigrew to do that. Additional competition comes from Chase Waggoner. 

There will be some great competition and some keen wrestle-offs for 141-157 as well. The folks currently at 141 and 149 and 157 will need to work their butts off to keep Kannon Webster, Hudson Goebel and Will Baysingar out of the lineup. Finally, 125 is one of the hardest weights to recruit, and the ILLINI shored that up with a multiple Minnesota state champion in Brandon Morvari from powerhouse Simley High School. 

The ILLINI loaded up with studs from the home state as well as picked a few gems from Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota. So excite! 

ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WRESTLING

It is very possible that I was the last CCIW conference place-winner for IWU Wrestling before they shut down the program. To know that I left such a pitiful legacy is pretty ******* sad and embarrassing, but yesterday every Titan rejoiced! The school hired a new Men's and Women's wrestling coach in Brett Robbins. 

Robbins comes over from the University of Northern Iowa where he was an assistant coach for seven years. Before that, he was a schoolboy wrestler from Bloomington, ILLINOIS, wrestled for the United States in the World Championships as a Junior, and then headed off to college at UNI. 

Having somebody with deep roots in the Bloomington-Normal community is very good. The Twin Cities were the home to college teams at ILLINOIS State and IWU in some golden past. Although he will be recruiting nationally, there is a nice base of high school wrestling squads in the area.

As coach of both the Men's and Women's teams, I would imagine this is a full-time position, which is also nice. Good luck to Coach Robbins, we will be rooting for you! 

You can follow him here on Twitter.