Michigan's Adam Coon is a multiple-time All-American at heavyweight (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)During this season there are many veterans of the college wrestling game that are sure to make an impact that you may have not seen much of last season. Due to injuries, being a backup, or redshirting, people you may not know or may have forgotten about will be back in the college wrestling world looking to take home titles and All-American plaques. Here is the list of some of the non-freshman wrestlers coming off redshirt that will make an impact immediately for their team.
Adam Coon (Michigan)
Adam Coon took a redshirt in 2016-17 after a season in which he finished third at the NCAAs, behind two-time NCAA champ Nick Gwiazdowski and Olympic champion Kyle Snyder. Coon has made Junior World teams in the past and has challenged Robby Smith for the Senior World Team Greco-Roman spot. Going into the 2017-2018 NCAA wrestling season expect Coon to be ranked in the top four in the weight class and should be a finalist contender for the Wolverines.
Alec Pantaleo (Michigan)
Alec Pantaleo is part of the crew of Michigan wrestlers that redshirted this past season to make this team loaded this coming season. Pantaleo was an All-American in 2016 at 149 pounds. He followed that up by making the Junior World Team in his first year of training full freestyle. Pantaleo recently has wins over Jason Welch and Jason Chamberlain in freestyle just last week. Expect Pantaleo to either slot in at 149 pounds or 157 pounds for the Wolverines next season and be a finalist threat at either weight class.
Zeke Moisey (West Virginia)
Zeke Moisey is best known for his run in the 2015 NCAA Championships where he knocked off Cornell's Nahshon Garrett and Iowa's Thomas Gilman on his way to reaching the finals. Moisey went on to lose to Ohio State's Nathan Tomasello in the finals. So far to this point Moisey has had an up-and-down career at West Virginia where he has shown he can beat anyone, but has had some surprising losses as well. In 2016, Moisey battled injuries and that is how his season ended. He will be looking to join the Mountaineers and bring an All-American plaque back to West Virginia.
Pete Renda (NC State)
Pete Renda redshirted this past season after becoming an All-American for the Wolfpack. Renda took third at the NCAAs at 184 pounds, where he was the 13th seed and went 5-1, only losing to Cornell's Gabe Dean. This past year during his redshirt season he went 13-2 and had a win over Ohio State's 2016 NCAA champion Myles Martin. Renda will join the already talented group at 184 pounds looking for an All-American plaque.
David McFadden (Virginia Tech)
David McFadden burst on the scene for the Hokies with a good freshman season, becoming an All-American at 165 pounds. In the 2015-2016 season McFadden went 27-11 with a third-place finish at ACCs and sixth at the NCAA Championships. McFadden will continue to grow as a wrestler and now after recovering from a knee injury expect him to be even better. McFadden will slot in nicely for the Hokies at 165 and is an immediate All-American threat during the 2017-2018 season.
Dom Abounader (Michigan)
Dom Abounader is the last of the Wolverine pack to redshirt this past season. Abounader fell short of becoming an All-American back in 2016, losing in the blood round. He does have some impressive wins on his resume throughout his college tenure though and has captured the Big Ten title. Abounader will be one of many quality guys at 184 pounds looking to get on the podium come the end of the season.
Ryan Millhof (Arizona State)
Ryan Millhof was an All-American at Oklahoma in 2016 at 125 pounds. He was the Big 12 champ and seventh-place finisher at the NCAA Championships. Millhof has quality wins over Eddie Klimara for the Big 12 title and other wins at NCAAs, including an All-American in this year's NCAAs, Sean Russell, and the NCAA champ from this past season, Darian Cruz. Now Millhof is at Arizona State under the Zeke Jones regime and will slot in nicely at 125 for the Sun Devils.
Geo Martinez won a Pac-12 title for Boise State before transferring to Oklahoma State (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Geo Martinez (Oklahoma State)
Geo Martinez transferred out of the recently dropped Boise State wrestling program after the 2015-16 season. He is now at Oklahoma State. Martinez seems to be the clear heir apparent to Oklahoma State's Anthony Collica at 149 pounds. One thing that could throw a monkey wrench in this situation is if Oklahoma State's 141-pounders Boo Lewallen and Tristan Moran challenge Martinez for the 149 spot. While at Boise State, Martinez beat Oklahoma's Davion Jeffries and Nebraska's Jake Sueflohn during his All-American run in 2016.
Richie Lewis (Rutgers)
Richie Lewis of Rutgers will be back in the lineup after suffering an injury this past season. He only got the chance to wrestle two matches in the 2016- 2017 season before suffering the injury -- one of which was a victory of Missouri's NCAA finalist Joey Lavallee. Lewis is not only looking for a coveted All-American plaque he is quoted on Twitter saying, "If anyone wanna bet on my title holla @ me." He went on to tag Jason Nolf and Vincenzo Joseph who were Penn State's NCAA champs at 157 and 165 pounds respectively. It is unclear what weight class Lewis will be at this coming season, but will be sure to make some noise for the Scarlet Knights.
Ronnie Bresser gets in on a shot against Connor Schram in the Pac-12 finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State)
Ronnie Bresser is coming off redshirt this year as a two-time NCAA qualifier. In 2016 Bresser fell just short of reaching All American honors as he lost in the blood round. During the NCAA tournament in 2016 Bresser had wins over Eddie Klimara, Sean Russell, and Tim Lambert before eventually losing to Connor Schram in the blood round. Now as a redshirt junior Bresser will be looking to push through and get on the podium for the first time in his career.
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