Andrew Campolattano was a two-time NCAA qualifier at Ohio State (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)"He kind of lost that passion along the way," head coach Scott Goodale said Wednesday at Rutgers wrestling media day. "Maybe he never really got it. We gave him an unbelievable opportunity, but the reality is he just wasn't into it."
Campolattano ranks as one of the most successful wrestlers in Garden State history, compiling a 178-1 record at Bound Brook High School, becoming only the second four-time state champ. A number of major wrestling programs actively recruited him; for a time, he had considered hanging up the headgear and focusing exclusively on football (he was a linebacker at Bound Brook). In fact, he initially made a verbal agreement to play football at Rutgers in January 2011, but, instead, Campolattano announced his decision to wrestle at Ohio State in late April of that year.
During his two seasons with the Buckeyes, Campolattano compiled a 40-26 record, competing at 197 pounds. He qualified twice for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships; at the 2012 NCAAs, he fell one win short of earning All-American honors as a freshman.
That was the extent of Campolattano's mat career in Columbus. He was "removed" (to quote Buckeyes' head wrestling coach Tom Ryan) from the Ohio State mat program in late April 2013. Days later, he was among 16 individuals facing felony drug charges in a Columbus, Ohio drug roundup. However, by mid-May, charges were dropped against Campolattano. He enrolled at Rutgers in Jan. 2014, and announced he planned to wrestle for the Scarlet Knights the following season. Campolattano returned to the mat in January 2015, scoring a win against Iowa. Ryan Dunleavy closed his story with this statement: "Stunning as it would have seemed at the time, it was the last win of his career."
"Andrew is doing great in school. He is doing great socially," Goodale said during media day. "The wrestling just never came around. We wish him all the best. Great kid. He'll do some good things. He'll get a great job and go on, but as far as wrestling goes his time here is (over)."
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