2023-24 NC State Preview

The Wolfpack added their fifth straight ACC Championship and a share of the ACC dual title last season and are looking to add to the trophy collection with a very dangerous lineup. It is a big compliment to Coach Popolizio and crew regarding their recruiting that they never seem to have any “holes” in their lineup. They mix experienced starters with talented newcomers and seem to consistently have a balanced team that is dangerous in both duals and tournaments. There will be some new faces in the lineup this year between redshirts and weight shifts but I don’t expect any dropoff from the Pack. They enter the season with nine ranked wrestlers, with six of those ranked in the top 10. TOP RETURNERS Jakob Camacho: Two-time ACC champ is returning from a redshirt year. Kai Orine: Orine was one of the top stories of the postseason last year. He punched through to the ACC finals by knocking off Sam Latona, then put the fans in Reynolds on their feet with a pin of Micky Phillipi in sudden victory to win his first ACC title. He continued that momentum into Tulsa on his way to an eighth-place finish and his first All-American honors. The coaches have always spoken very highly of Kai, it was great to see his breakthrough onto the national scene. Ryan Jack: Jack had a solid regular season, going 19-2 with his only losses to Cole Matthews and Brock Hardy; who he also beat earlier in the year. He made a second-straight ACC final, falling to Matthews 2-1. He went 1-2 at the NCAA tournament. Jackson Arrington: Arrington had a fantastic freshman season and immediately established himself as an All-American contender. Arrington went 23-9 on the season with 8 of those losses to All-Americans--Jon Millner (x2), Kyle Parco, Yahya Thomas, Caleb Henson (x2), Brock Mauller and Yianni Diakomihalis. He was 4-1 in ACC duals, only losing to Henson and made the ACC finals, again falling to Henson. He made a solid run in Tulsa but fell in the bloodround to Brock Mauller. It is going to be amazing to watch Arrington and Henson battle again to be at the top of the ACC--with both of them being true freshmen last year, there is a good chance we will see several years of this. Ed Scott: Coming off an impressive 2021-22 season, Scott broke through last season to become an All-American. He went 24-9 on the year, with 8 of those losses to All-Americans--Austin O’Connor, Bryce Andonian (x2), Will Lewan, Josh Humphreys (x2), and Peyton Robb (x2). Scott fell in the semifinals at the ACC tournament to Bryce Andonian, in a weight that contained NCAA Champion Austin O’Connor. Scott had a wild run in Tulsa, going 6-2 on his way to a 5th place finish. Scott will again have to contend with Bryce Andonian to get back to the top of the ACC, it has been a fun, back-and-forth rivalry to watch over the last two years. I'm looking forward to another year of it. Trent Hidlay: The three-time All-American will be bumping up a weight for his final run at the top of the podium. Hidlay is a three-time ACC Champion and four-time finalist and has placed 2nd, 4th, and 5th at the NCAA tournament. He is widely known to be one of the top wrestlers in the country at 184…now he is out to leave his mark at 197. Over the past three years, Hidlay has a record of 55-7, with five of those losses coming at the NCAA tournament to three different wrestlers. Kaleb Romero, and Parker Keckeisen both knocked Hidlay off at NCAAs, but he also holds wins over them in the regular and postseason. Aaron Brooks, however, has three wins over Hidlay that have not been avenged; in the finals in 2021 and the semifinals in 2022 and 2023. The good news is, Brooks is also moving up to 197 this season so Hidlay still has the opportunity to beat Brooks to get his NCAA title and what a storybook ending that would be for a phenomenal career. Owen Trephan: Trephan had a great year last year (despite cutting off his luxurious hair…) and captured the ACC title. He was 23-5 on the year and 4-0 in the ACC en route to beating Jonah Niesenbaum to win his first ACC championship. He went 2-2 at the NCAA tournament, with both losses to All-Americans. Trephan will enter as the likely favorite for the ACC title but will have some new challengers seeking the throne. KEY DEPARTURES The Wolfpack only had three seniors last year; Hunter Lewis, Alex Faison and Tyrie Houghton; however, Faison will be back in the lineup this season as a starter at 174. The biggest changes to the lineup this season will be related to redshirts and weight shifts. With Trent Hidlay moving up to 197, Isaac Trumble will utilize his redshirt year. Matty Singleton will likely also redshirt this year as he ended up as the starter for the back half of the season during his freshman year. Derek Fields and Alex Faison will be the likely starters at 165 and 174, respectively. NEWCOMERS Dylan Fishback Fishback was a top-10 pound-for-pound recruit coming out of high school and has an incredibly high ceiling. He went 15-6 as a redshirt, including a seventh-place finish at Midlands and a 1-0 record in ACC duals. The coaching staff has been very high on Fishback both with his ability on the mat and his leadership off the mat. Fishback also captured the U23 World Team spot and will compete in Finland at the end of October. A full year of training in the NCST room and a lot of time working with Trent Hidlay is going to make Fishback an immediate contender to be on the podium in Kansas City. WRESTLER TO WATCH Jakob Camacho Camacho returns to the lineup after taking a redshirt last year to rehab from a knee injury and surgery. He is a three-time ACC Finalist and two-time ACC Champion in 2020 and 2022; he is a three-time NCAA qualifier. He was an ACC Champion in 2020 and was positioned well for the NCAA tournament before it was canceled. In 2021, he dropped a tight match to Sam Latona (VT) in TB1 in the ACC finals, but made a run in the NCAA tournament before falling in the bloodround. In 2022, Camacho got revenge on Latona, winning 3-1 to take his second ACC title; he went 2-2 in Detroit, making the round of 16. Taking a year to get healthy seems to have been great for Camacho. I’ve spoken with him and when watching him in the room, he seems refreshed and refocused on making the podium in Kansas City. He won’t have to go through Latona to win an ACC title this year, but will have new challengers, including All-American Eddie Ventresca, looking to knock him off. REDSHIRT REPORT Troy Hohman (125) 10-5 Jacob Cox (133) 10-2 Aaron Faison (157) 7-5 Dylan Fishback (184) 15-6 1-0 ACC Duals Chase Horne (285) 17-5 TOP OUT-OF-CONFERENCE DUAL The Wolfpack will head back to Italy for a second dual against Oklahoma State, this time in Sicily. Coach Popolizio squared off with his former coach John W. Smith in the first iteration of this dual in 2018, a tight 19-16 win for the Cowboys in the first NCAA dual held outside of North America. While there will be some fantastic individual matchups, this dual favors the Wolfpack on paper. The out-of-conference dual I am most excited about is a late-season matchup when Cornell will visit Reynolds Coliseum. This will be a top-10 team battle with ranked matches up and down the lineup. Look at some of these matchups and tell me you’re not excited!?! 133: #5 Kai Orine v #1 Vito Arujau 141: #10 Ryan Jack v #14 Vince Cornella 157: #5 Ed Scott v Meyer Shapiro 184: #28 Dylan Fishback v #8 Jonathan Loew 197: #5 Trent Hidlay v #6 Jacob Cardenas 285: #8 Owen Trephan v #11 Lewis Fernandes This has the potential to be a very tight, back-and-forth dual in what will be a very rowdy Reynolds. Count me in. POTENTIAL LINEUP NC State #9 Tournament #6 Dual 125: #12 Jakob Camacho (RS) 2x ACC Champion - 3x ACC Finalist - 3x NCAA Qualifier (R12) Jarrett Trombley 15-8 4-0 ACC - ACC Champion - 2x NCAA Qualifier 133: #5 Kai Orine 18-8 4-1 ACC - ACC Champion - All-American (8th) - 2x NCAA Qualifier 141: #10 Ryan Jack 21-5 4-1 ACC - 2x ACC Finalist - 2x NCAA Qualifier 149: #8 Jackson Arrington 23-9 4-1 ACC - ACC Finalist - NCAA Qualifier (R12) 157: #5 Ed Scott 24-9 3-2 ACC - ACC Champion (2022) - 2x ACC Finalist- All-American (5th) 2x NCAA Qualifier (R12, 5th) 165: Derek Fields 10-8 0-1 ACC 174: #22 Alex Faison 16-9 4-1 ACC - ACC Finalist - NCAA Qualifier 184: #28 Dylan Fishback 15-6 (RS) 1-0 ACC 197: #5 Trent Hidlay 24-3 4-0 ACC - 3x ACC Champion - 4x NCAA Qualifier - 3x All-American (2, 5, 4) - NWCA All-American 2020 285: #8 Owen Trephan 23-5 4-0 ACC - ACC Champion - NCAA Qualifier (R16)

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2023-24 NC State Preview

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