Four of Northwestern’s 10 wrestlers went into the season with the same exact amount of collegiate experience: none.
Despite their inexperience, the Wildcats’ freshman class has had an immediate impact in their first few months on the mats in the most difficult wrestling conference in the nation.
Four of the team’s week-in, week-out starters are either true or redshirt freshmen. The four freshmen have gone a combined 41-37 in their co-baptism by fire.
“If they all continue to improve like they have this year,” coach Tim Cysewski said, “they’ll be really, really good.”
The star of the class is the 157-pound true freshman, Jason Welch, who was touted as the No. 1 recruit after winning the Junior Dan Hodge Trophy, awarded to the nation’s best high school wrestler. After going undefeated in his junior and senior years of high school, Welch is currently 18-6 and ranks No. 14 in the country.
He’s joined by redshirt freshmen Robert Kellogg (174 pounds) and John Schoen (197 pounds), as well as true freshman Paul Rands (heavyweight), who is currently replacing the injured redshirt freshman Ben Kuhar.
Although they enjoy competing at the highest level, each of the freshmen agrees that it’s not easy.
“It’s a big adjustment, it’s the real deal,” Schoen said. “As a younger guy, you’ve got to take some bumps, but when you get older, you’re going to be the guy giving them out.”
Going from the oldest wrestler in high school to the youngest in college is a tough transition.
“It’s totally different,” Rands said. “The speed of competition and just the amount of endurance you need, it’s a whole different level.”
After 19 seasons in Evanston, Cysewski understands the nature of the task.
“In high school, you were the stud of your team,” Cysewski said. “The last two years in high school, you pretty much did it your way, pretty much dominated. Now you come to college, and it’s not starting over again, but you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game all the time.”
The higher level of competition seems to require not only a physical improvement, but also a different mindset about competing.
“Basically, the Big Ten is a grind,” Kellogg said. “And it’s different because you have to get up for each match, every week, sometimes twice a week.”
With so many differences between the levels of competition, wrestlers generally take a redshirt year. Wrestlers like Welch – who come in, fresh out of high school, ready to be nationally ranked – are the exception rather than the rule.
“You just fine-tune your skills and get yourself ready for the difference between high school and college,” Kellogg said. “Redshirt season makes you grow as a wrestler and a person.”
On the plus side, one thing is easier about college wrestling: finding someone to practice against who won’t be a pushover.
And with freshmen, the question is never about how good they are now, but how good they can become. Look no further than junior Brandon Precin, who is currently ranked No. 3 in the country at the 125-pound weight class with a 23-1 record. Precin lost 15 bouts his freshman year. Welch, over halfway through the season, has lost only six.
“It’s really fun to see how the kids improve, both intensity-wise and technique-wise,” Cysewski said.
After wrestling the No. 10 and No. 19 wrestlers in the country back-to-back and losing both times, Rands sees his opportunity in a positive light, starting with facing No. 18 Indiana on Sunday.
“It’s hard,” Rands said, “but it’s what we work for.”
