Clues to the 2023-2024 Fighting ILLINI Lineup? And Wrestle-Offs!

We found a clue to this season's Fighting ILLINI lineup at Trackwrestling. That organization keeps records on who on the various NCAA teams has certified at the various weights. Because this is the first cert of the year, most of the guys are above their likely weights that they will end up wrestling. 

Most significantly, though, there were some omissions from the certification process. Will these omissions mean that the individuals won't wrestle during the season? Hmmmm. We will be interviewing Coach Poeta before the season starts so we'll have a better idea about what's going on. 

In the meantime, who is missing from this Trackwrestling list:

If you said Zac and Danny Braunagel, you win! Additionally, Lucas Byrd is not listed as "eligible," whatever that means. I had thought that the Braunagels would think about an Olympic redshirt, as they qualified through the USA Wrestling national tournament process. 

As for Lucas Byrd, the last picture I saw of him showed a large wrap or cast on his wrist/hand. Will he take an injury redshirt or grayshirt year? 

This is huge news!

Of course, speculation should be tempered until we hear from the Coach. Additionally, there is the example of Mikey Carr last year to remind us that a wrestler can change his mind even in mid-season. 

133, 165 & 197

If this is all true, who wrestles at these weights for the ILLINI during the year? It seems to us that 197 is pretty clearly going to be resolved in the room and at the just-announced wrestle-offs (see below) between Joey Braunagel, Isiah Pettigrew (misspelled by Trackwrestling), Chase Waggoner, Richard Ryu and possibly Peter Marinopoulos (but he's more likely to keep his redshirt on, right?). 

At 133, the transfer of Anthony Madrigal now makes sense! He transferred in from Oklahoma at a weight dominated by Lucas Byrd. With Byrd out for the season, that gives Madrigal a chance to use his last year of eligibility at his home state flagship university. But not so fast! You can bet that Kole Brower and Brian Beers will want a piece of that action. Again, this is likely to be settled in the room, at the wrestle-offs and at the Midlands. 

At 165, the ILLINI don't have an obvious answer on the team, but there are clues in the weight certifications. First of all, Caden Ernd has certified at 174, which means he weighed somewhere between 165.01 and 174.00 at the weigh-in. I expected him to cert at 184 and work his way down to 174 right before the season started. He has pretty obviously made a play for that 165 starting role. Also, Luke Odom and Cooper Wettig have put on some muscle and certified at 174. This also looks like a three-man race. 

As the true freshmen will have some five free matches without losing their redshirt this season, it is likely that Blue Chippers Chris Moore, Logan Swaw, Braeden Scoles or Peter Marinopoulos will see a match or two in the starting lineup at those weights. 

THE SUPER TEAM

It looks like this year will have its share of bumps and bruises without Lucas Byrd and the Brawlnagels in the mix. However, the next season will be fire. The Top Ten recruiting class will get more work than expected this season, while veterans like Danny Pucino, Jake Harrier, Joe Roberts, Edmond Ruth and Dylan Connell will get another year of experience. 

Luke Luffman will come back for his final season. 

Then, add the Brawlnagels and Lucas Byrd into that mix, and you have a team that can make a lot of noise in March. Of course, Caelan Riley will need to step up at 125 for a graduating Justin Cardani (unless he gets an injury redshirt year, which could very well be possible, as he was injured the entire 2022-2023 season). Yes, this would be a Super Team!

A WRESTLE-OFF

Coach Poeta, probably in light of the matters discussed above, has scheduled a public wrestle-off for this Saturday at 11:00 am (Central). The ILLINI face off against Wisconsin in football at 3:30 pm in Memorial Stadium.