THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

  This strip is a natural extension of the last Sunday Funnies, which went a little something like this:

  WHAT:    NWCA ALL-STAR CLASSIC WHO:    ZAC BRAUNAGEL vs. STEPHEN LITTLE WHEN:   Saturday, November 16 at 7:00 PM (Eastern) WHERE: Rec Hall, University Park, Campus of Penn State University TV/STREAMING:   FloWrestling TICKETS:    $25 to $40 BACKGROUND Zac Braunagel will take on Little Rock's Stephen Little at the prestigious NWCA All-Star Classic in a nice kick-off to the wrestling season. According to Wrestlestat.com and FloWrestling, the Trojan from UA Little Rock is ranked #5, while the Brawlnagel comes in at #9. Both are returning All Americans with Little winning 7th last season, while Zac got his AA during the Covid year. Of course, the ILLINI has been a Greco Senior World Team Member.  WHY WE HATE ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK Okay, do we really care enough to do this? Guess we better. It's kind of customary now. Well, here's something, under the subheading of "Student Life" in its Wikipedia article you find this: " The student life at UA Little Rock is typi

 

There are a lot of exciting days when you report on ILLINI Wrestling, and one of those is seeing recruits visit the O&B. A group of absolute stud blue-chip monsters visited the campus over the weekend and got to see the unranked Fighting ILLINI football team become 3-0 and the new #24 team in the country.  That Altmyer kid is pretty good. His receivers may be even better.  But even that group might could not hold a candle to the Avengers Assembled by the ILLINI coaching staff for this glorious picture: Photographs from Jaxon Penovich's Instagram Feed I see a group that will win tons of All-American honors and wrestle for Championships. No shocker that the first actual commitment comes from Fargo Gold and State Champion Wyatt Medlin. And the guys had some time to fool around during the pictures: The first actual commitment ... Wyatt Medlin! We didn't have access to a single of Aaron Stewart but found the picture below on Twitter. It was from his first official home visit fro

 

Great picture of Lucas Byrd from the University of ILLINOIS   Other than lacking the Midlands or another holiday tournament, this looks like the full ILLINI nonconference schedule. Let's dive into it! There are return matches with SIUE, Missouri and North Carolina, so we have some idea about them, but how does the new ILLINOIS lineup match up with them? Who will be at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic and the Cougar Clash? We provide some answers below. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS Wrestlestat.com is calling for a 34-0 win for the ILLINI. There will be some interesting matchups in the dual, but the final outcome is not in doubt. #29 Jason Kraisser versus #63 Brock Woodcock at 157 is intriguing. Woodcock is a real good wrestler, and was a 3x Missouri state champ. He was 3-1 against ILLINI wrestlers last year as a Freshman with wins over Joe Roberts, Logan Swaw and Jake Recin. His loss was to an uninjured Joe Roberts.  At 165, Braeden Scoles takes on #138 Bradley Gillum, an ILLINOIS schoolboy

  NAME:  Jason Kraisser HOMETOWN:   Ellicott City, Maryland HIGH SCHOOL:  Centennial High School CURRENT RANKINGS:  #27 Wrestlestat.com LOOKS:  Like He's Gonna Steal Your Girl HIGH SCHOOL ACCOLADES:  4x State Champion; Fargo All American; 159-4 Record ACCOMPLISHMENTS:  NCAA Qualifier; Round of 16; UNI Open Champ QUESTIONS: Can He Beat Logan Swaw and Danny Nini in the Wrestle-offs HOT TIP Jason was a state medalist in cross country in high school. If he wants to bet you on who finishes first in the preseason five-mile run, I would decline. He also played lacrosse, which is a lot of running as well, but with a stick in your hands.  WRESTLING STYLE We watched a number of Jason's matches, and can say that he is very talented, likes to roll in the standing position, and if that doesn't work, a standing switch. Kraisser can hit both on quality opponents.  He's inclined to ride legs. When was the last time the ILLINI has had a big-time leg rider? Help us out in the comments. I

  This comic is Issue #1 of  Teenage Mutant Ninja Hoosiers . Someday it will be worth a fortune in mint or near-mint condition. That's because this is the first appearance of Edmond Ruth's leg in the JOMBO™ Comic Universe!

  NAME: Ramazan Attasauov HOMETOWN:  Nalchik, Russia HIGH SCHOOL: Wayland High School, Wayland MA CURRENT RANKINGS: #21 Wrestlestat.com LOOKS: Exactly Like a Russian HIGH SCHOOL ACCOLADES: 2x State Champion; High School All American ACCOMPLISHMENTS: U23 Nationals Champion, NCAA Qualifier, 3rd Place Big 12 QUESTIONS: Previous Leg Injury; Making Weight 2020 was a big year for Ramazan. He wrestled in the U23 National Championships and won. Along the way, he beat Danny Vega, Rayvon Foley and Patrick Glory. How did he do at the World Championships? Well, Covid won that year, unfortunately.  There were no championships.  WRESTLING STYLE His style is interesting. He loves the uh well the uh Russian tie. Typecasting perhaps? He threw a Gator Bacon in his championship match in the U23 Nationals. It didn't work, but he still won. He is excellent at gut wrenches, which would be fun to see in a folkstyle match, but are essentially worthless. On the other hand, he is also tough with the bow and

Image from the University of ILLINOIS of All-American Edmond Ruth THE BIG TEN SEASON The ILLINI's big ten schedule is out! Huge matchups with Ohio State, Stupid Iowa and Penn State in the offing! A tough schedule, but not that much tougher from recent years, as they've switched out Nebraska for Penn State, and Minnesota for Rutgers.  PSU is obviously a taller task than Nebraska, but Minnesota is usually tougher than Rutgers. No dates, times or tv/streaming information at this time. But here's a quick glance at each of the matchups: NORTHWESTERN Little brother is having some hard times since venture capitalist wrestling team Michigan swooped in and purchased their lineup last year. Still, the ILLINI needed last minute heroics from Peter Marinopoulos to salvage a tie and the win by criteria.  Expect less stress in their next matchup. Wrestlestat.com has it as a 26-9 win for the ILLINI. That's giving a win to Frankie Tal-Shahar, and Danny Pucino is 2-0 against him. The bes