2023 NCAA champion Nino Bonaccorsi (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)Early last week, InterMat released its re-ranking for the high school Class of 2018. With recruiting on the mind, we decided to jump in and look at each individual weight class for the 2023 NCAA DI Championships.
As is customary in wrestling we'll start with the lower weights and work our way up.
This analysis will break down the 2023 NCAA qualifiers a weight class at a time, by their pre-collegiate ranking within their recruiting class, their year of high school graduation, transfers, home states, and, of course, rankings for the 2023 All-Americans.
Moving along to the penultimate weight class in our recruiting countdown, 197 lbs. This is an unusual bracket from what we've been accustomed to seeing in our previous eight weight classes. When it was all said and done half of the top six finishers in Tulsa came into college unranked in their respective recruiting classes. That was a trend with the entire weight class as 13 of the 33 national qualifiers were not on their respective Big Board's.
Another weird tidbit is that a third of this weight class came from either Illinois or Pennsylvania.
Ok, on to our look at the 197 lb weight class.
Past Weight Classes
125 lbs
133 lbs
141 lbs
149 lbs
157 lbs
165 lbs
174 lbs
184 lbs
2023 NCAA Qualifiers (197 lbs) by Recruiting Rankings
#1-#10
#3 (2020) Braxton Amos (Wisconsin)
#7 (2017) Jacob Warner (Iowa)
#9 (2020) Rocky Elam (Missouri)
#10 (2018) Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State)
#11-#30
#11 (2018) Michael Beard (Lehigh)
#15 (2019) Jacob Cardenas (Cornell)
#15 (2020) Sila Allred (Nebraska)
#24 (2020) Luke Stout (Princeton)
#29 (2020) Isaac Trumble (NC State)
#30 (2017) Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)
#31-#50
#36 (2021) Jaxon Smith (Maryland)
#43 (2020) Luke Surber (Oklahoma State)
#51-#100
#57 (2017) Andrew Davison (Northwestern)
#73 (2019) Max Shaw (North Carolina)
#74 (2016) Max Dean (Penn State)
#80 (2019) Austin Cooley (West Virginia)
#85 (2019) Cole Urbas (Penn)
#101-#200
#161 (2020) Nick Stemmet (Stanford)
Not Ranked by Willie Saylor/MatScouts; Ranked by The Open Mat
#93 (2018) Trey Rogers (Hofstra)
Not Ranked
Yonger Bastida (Iowa State)
Michael Battista (Virginia) - 2017
Evan Bockman (Utah Valley) - 2018
Zac Braunagel (Illinois) - 2018
Cam Caffey (Michigan State) - 2017
Michial Foy (Minnesota) - 2017
Tanner Harvey (Oregon State) - 2016
Levi Hopkins (Campbell) - 2019
Jake Koser (Navy) - 2018
Ethan Laird (Rider) - 2017
Owen Pentz (North Dakota State) - 2020
Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) - 2018
Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) - 2019
Bernie Truax (Cal Poly) - 2018
2023 NCAA Qualifiers (197 lbs) by Recruiting Class
2016
Max Dean (Penn State)
Tanner Harvey (Oregon State)
2017
Michael Battista (Virginia)
Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)
Cam Caffey (Michigan State)
Andrew Davison (Northwestern)
Michial Foy (Minnesota)
Ethan Laird (Rider)
Jacob Warner (Iowa)
2018
Michael Beard (Lehigh)
Evan Bockman (Utah Valley)
Zac Braunagel (Illinois)
Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State)
Jake Koser (Navy)
Trey Rogers (Hofstra)
Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State)
Bernie Truax (Cal Poly)
2019
Jacob Cardenas (Cornell)
Austin Cooley (West Virginia)
Levi Hopkins (Campbell)
Max Shaw (North Carolina)
Andy Smith (Virginia Tech)
Cole Urbas (Penn)
2020
Silas Allred (Nebraska)
Braxton Amos (Wisconsin)
Rocky Elam (Missouri)
Owen Pentz (North Dakota State)
Nick Stemmet (Stanford)
Luke Stout (Princeton)
Luke Surber (Oklahoma State)
Isaac Trumble (NC State)
2021
Jaxon Smith (Maryland)
Home States for 2023 197 lb NCAA Qualifiers
Alaska
Evan Bockman (Utah Valley)
Levi Hopkins (Campbell)
California
Bernie Truax (Cal Poly)
Cuba
Yonger Bastida (Iowa State)
Georgia
Jaxon Smith (Maryland)
Illinois
Zac Braunagel (Illinois)
Cam Caffey (Michigan State)
Michial Foy (Minnesota)
Nick Stemmet (Stanford)
Jacob Warner (Iowa)
Indiana
Silas Allred (Nebraska)
Andrew Davison (Northwestern)
Iowa
Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State)
Massachusetts
Austin Cooley (West Virginia)
Michigan
Max Dean (Penn State)
Minnesota
Trey Rogers (Hofstra)
Missouri
Rocky Elam (Missouri)
Nebraska
Isaac Trumble (NC State)
New Jersey
Jacob Cardenas (Cornell)
Oklahoma
Luke Surber (Oklahoma State)
Oregon
Tanner Harvey (Oregon State)
Pennsylvania
Michael Beard (Lehigh)
Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)
Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State)
Jake Koser (Navy)
Ethan Laird (Rider)
Max Shaw (North Carolina)
Cole Urbas (Penn)
Utah
Owen Pentz (North Dakota State)
Virginia
Michael Battista (Virginia)
Andy Smith (Virginia Tech)
West Virginia
Braxton Amos (Wisconsin)
197 lb NCAA Qualifiers Signed by Another Program
Michael Beard (Penn State)
Evan Bockman (California Baptist)
Austin Cooley (Pittsburgh)
Andrew Davison (Michigan)
Max Dean (Cornell)
Michial Foy (Harper College)
Tanner Harvey (SW Oregon CC)
Owen Pentz (Fresno State)
Recruiting Rankings for 2023 All-Americans
1st: Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) #30 in 2017
2nd: Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) NR in 2018
3rd: Rocky Elam (Missouri) #9 in 2020
4th: Bernie Truax (Cal Poly) NR in 2018
5th: Jacob Warner (Iowa) #7 in 2017
6th: Ethan Laird (Rider) NR in 2017
7th: Max Dean (Penn State) #74 in 2016
8th: Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) #15 in 2019
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