The incoming class is highlighted by Chris Perry (Stillwater, Okla./Stillwater), Jon Morrison (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg), Dallas Bailey (Catoosa, Okla./Catoosa) and Albert White (Lynwood, Ill./Northern Iowa Area Community College), all of whom are considered blue chip national recruits. Both Perry and Morrison are ranked by major national publications as the No. 1 wrestlers in their respective weight classes going into their senior year, with Bailey ranked as the preseason No. 2 prep in the nation in his weight class. White is a 2008 junior college national champion who was 200-4 during his prep career at St. Rita HS in Chicago and has a Fargo national title on his resume.
Perry (No. 3), Bailey (No. 6) and Morrison (No. 9) are all ranked among revwrestling.com's top 10 recruits in the nation, regardless of weight class. No other school in the country has more than one wrestler from that list signed as part of this year's class.
This year's group of prep wrestlers in the state of Oklahoma is considered to be one of the best in recent memory, and the Cowboys succeeded in keeping the homegrown talent in-state, with Perry, Bailey, Blake Rosholt (Ponca City HS), Ladd Rupp (Perry HS) and Zach White (Woodward HS) all signing on to continue their wrestling careers at Oklahoma State.
"History has always told us that without good in-state wrestlers, it's almost impossible to win a national championship," Smith said. "If you look at our championship teams, it has been important that Oklahoma wrestlers are a key part of what happens. It's nice that we had an in-state group like this and it's something we should expect and work hard for, not something we should settle for every four or five years."
Perry, Bailey, Rosholt and Zach White all have family connections to Cowboy wrestling. Perry's father Mark was a two-time All-American at Oklahoma State in 1984 and 1985 and he is the nephew of John Smith. Bailey's father was a Cowboy All-American in 1983 and 1986. Rosholt's oldest brother Jake was a three-time NCAA Champion for OSU and his older brothers Jared and Adam both currently wrestle for the Cowboys. Zach White is the nephew of OSU coach John Smith.
"There are a lot of reasons to be excited about this class," Smith said. "There are legacy wrestlers whose dads wrestled here in Chris Perry and Dallas Bailey. I wrestled with their fathers and it is exciting to see their kids coming into the program now. It shows that people believe in the program."
All tolled, Oklahoma State's incoming group of recruits have won 15 state championships between them and that number should increase when they wrestle at the state championships at the end of this coming season.
"Overall, this is a very strong class and it comes at a time when we need to have a class like this," Smith said. "My staff has worked hard in recruiting and they deserve a lot of credit. Developing a strong room is the start of being able to compete for championships. Each of the wrestlers we are bringing in as part of this class is being brought in on a need basis. We really feel like this class fills slots that will give us strength and more options as we move forward."
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