THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

WHAT :  Duals with CMU & UNC WHERE :  Glorious and Historic Huff Hall WHEN :  Sunday, November 19, 2023 EXACTLY WHEN :  2:00 pm (Central) for CMU, 4:00 pm (Central) for UNC TV/STREAMING :  BTN+ (subscription service) ON THE CALL : Brian Swaw ALL-TIME RECORDS :  1-1 vs. CMU; 5-1 vs. UNC EXTRAS :  UNC will award Austin O'Connor his NCAA and ACC Championship rings before that dual ORDER OF EVENTS Based upon the various team schedules, it appears that the day will start off at Noon (Central) with a dual between CMU and UNC, while the ILLINI get to scout or sleep in.  Then, the ILLINI will wrestle CMU at 2:00 pm, while UNC gets to rest and scout. CMU can go home after this dual unless they want to defect and request political asylum in ILLINOIS. Finally, UNC and the ILLINI dual at 4:00 pm.  TV/STREAMING If you're from Michigan or North Carolina, and you've been taught to read, you can pay $9.95 and watch your team. You might even get a rebate ...

Coach Poeta and his amazing staff announced this year's class of ILLINI wrestlers: Anthony "Joey" Ruzic, Ryan Bennett and Jayden Colon. Since their verbal commitments, The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond has followed their progress. Among the well over 200 wins the ILLINI scored this Summer, you'll see these recruits with their hands raised.  We've celebrated their verbal commitments , again here  and here . There are five State Championships represented among the three wrestlers, and each has another year to possibly up that total to eight. That's on top of numerous other wrestling accomplishments.  WELCOME VIDEO You really can't say too much about three people in a two-minute video. But what you can do is to have fun! Great class! Congratulations to Coaches Mike Poeta, Jeremy Hunter, IMAR, Austin O'Connor and Bryan Medlin. Also, in preparing this video, we saw Zane Richards out there coaching at least one of these guys. A true team ef...

Okay. We're finally over our shockface from seeing Kannon Webster take to the mat for the ILLINI during the Navy dual. It was only temporary shockface. That means it's video time. Here ya go: This doesn't mean that Webster is going to forego a redshirt. In fact, the announcers have indicated that the ILLINI Coaching Staff will use his "five free matches" during the season that redshirts are allowed to wrestle without forfeiting their redshirt status.  For the record, the match took place o n November 4, 2023, as Kannon Webster made his debut as a Fighting ILLINI wrestler with a 20-5* technical fall win over James Latona of Navy. The Midshipman has already been in the Academy's lineup for a year, was a runner-up at the Mat Town Open, and before that, won three state championships in high school. None of that helped to stop Kannon's onslaught. Video credit to the Big Ten Network and the University of ILLINOIS Athletic Department. Audio credit in the outro...

KANNON WEBSTER SHOCKFACE It wasn't so much the win in his first ILLINI dual that was shocking. It would've been shocking if he lost. No, that wasn't it at all. It was the way he went about dismantling a kid who was a three-time state champ, who had wrestled for a year in college already, who came from a great wrestling family, who looked physically bigger, and who finished runner-up at the Mat Town open last season.  That's where most of the shockface comes from.  Of course, some shockface involved the surprise in watching Kannon step out on the mat for the dual. The tide had turned against the ILLINI in the Navy match after two consecutive losses, so Coach Poeta needed a game-changing moment, and Webster's win was just that, bringing the crowd to their feet. ILLINI spirits lifted.  I'm going to suggest that there are 149 pounders in the lineup for Wisconsin and Purdue who can sleep a little easier tonight. Those duals come later in the season for the ILLINI, an...