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BobCorker

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BobCorker last won the day on January 25

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  1. You might be surprised but some on this board did wrestle DI. I don't believe anyone said they were disappointed in you. You are one of the few that actually made it. You should be proud that you made it. It was mentioned that everyone here knew you had DI potential. There are people who realize how tough it is just to start and to qualify. I believe ocean made it clear that it takes a special person to do what you just did. With all of that said, I don't think it changes the points that have been made. The vast majority of wrestlers in the United States should not wrestle D1. This includes TN. Many, but not all, would be better served by wrestling at a lower level. Those opinions are not based on you or what you did at UTC. Those opinions are based on looking at stats from the last 60 years of college wrestling. The DI attrition rate is very noticeable. The crux of the argument has been based around TN's attrition rate and how it relates to the progress the state has made. That leads to questions and discussion about what is best for most wrestlers. I do not see where anyone claimed they were disappointed in Brayden Palmer. I don't believe anyone here acted like it was easy; in fact, we have stated that the rigor has been unbearable for most.
  2. Getting kids to the biggest level possible and having them drop out and quit the sport in two years is not helping the state of TN, WrestlingGod. In fact, it is doing the opposite. It has been 96 years since the first NCAA tournament, and TN has produced 7 AAs. Pennsylvania produced more just this year alone. When UTC was DII, we had more local kids have success. Those successful wrestlers turned into many fine coaches in our area. Legendary TN coaches wrestled at MTSU. If we had more former successful college wresters in TN who returned to coach, then TN would grow immensely. I don't think anyone can tell one individual kid that he should not go DI. Every kid has to make that choice on his own- hopefully with as much historical information as possible. DI coaches need room/depth guys. They have to recruit those guys as well. The fact of the matter is that most TN kids in the last 15 years have been depth guys who did not pan out. Some depth guys are late bloomers and get to college and turn into studs. Happens every year. Some kids are happy going DI and being a depth guy with the chance of developing into a DI starter.
  3. Don't take it so personal. No one is telling you that you made a bad decision. If someone tells a kid: You could probably go to Nebraska and if you work really hard you might make the lineup and be an NCAA qualifier. You could also go to Washington and Lee and compete for DIII titles. You might win a DIII title. The time requirements are not the same, and it might allow you to get a degree in Economics and pursue a career with Goldman Sachs right out of undergrad. That conversation isn't dragging them down; it is most certainly not bad parenting. That is giving them options and setting them up for success. Plenty of kids have DI aspirations but realize that DII/DIII/NAIA are better options. We are not saying kids should never take the chance of cracking a DI lineup; we are simply looking at 60 years of results. If a kid has all of the information, then they can make their own decision. We are saying that most kids don't have all of the information, so they feel that it is DI or bust. The reality is it doesn't work for most kids across the country. Most kids who are ranked on recruiting big boards will never sniff AA. Only 8 kids per weight class can claim that distinction at the DI level. Each DI room is filled with Fargo AAs, Super 32 AAs, and 4x State Champs who never see the mat. Use Chase Horne at NC State for example. 4x champ, Fargo Finalist, Super 32 Champ- has yet to break the lineup and next year they have Isaac Trumble coming off redshirt at Heavy. Horne is awesome and may still make it, but it is not easy at that level.
  4. I think it is worse "life advice" to not be honest. One of the worst mistakes an adult can make is to put a kid in a situation where they are in over their heads. Adults make this mistake all of the time. They put kids in AP Calc when they should be in regular math. They try to sneak their way into an elite school when they should actually send them to a state school for half of the cost. They send them to college when they should send them to get their apprenticeship for a local electrician. Not only do life long outcomes change in this scenario but a kid's happiness also changes. Kids often have dreams that are not grounded in reality. They are making decisions based on 2-3 years of "real world" experience. Adults should be able to analyze 30-40 years of data/evidence/life experience in order to give young adults the best advice. While most won't admit it, it is more about the parents than the kids. Johnny's dad is sending his kid to Vanderbilt, so we can't send our kid to ETSU. Billy's dad posted on social media that Billy signed to Nebraska, so how could we possibly send our kid to Wabash College to wrestle. I also disagree on the current crop of TN kids. The crop of early 2000s kids was better. 5 of the 7 AAs from our state came out of that crop. In the same time frame we also had Rusty Blackmon, Jake Yost, Kevin Ward, Darren McKnight, Kyle James, Patrick Simpson, Corey Manson, Jason McCroskey, Brandon Wright, Shawn Cordell, John Lane, and probably more that I am forgetting. Almost all had meaningful college wrestling experiences.
  5. I actually agree with oceansize42 for the most part. Every other state is still progressing and improving at a significant rate as well. While TN might be closing the gap a bit, it comes down to a numbers game. There are only 30-40 college programs that are actually competitive. Each school has 4-6 years of recruits and kids are pigeonholed to one weight class. TN puts 3-4 in DI every year. PA puts 30. If 25 of the 30 from PA never pan out, then they still have a good showing. If all 4 kids from TN fail to make it, then it looks like a barren landscape. Signing with a D1 college is the easy part. TN kids/parents act like they have achieved the pinnacle by signing DI. I suspect this is because most of the parents never wrestled DI themselves and they don't know anyone who did. The fact of the matter is that most kids who sign DI will never start. The ones who start will probably have a hard time of ever making it to the tournament. For some the opportunity to be on a good team or go to a good school like Stanford might be worth the risk of not ever having success. For many kids in TN and other states, they would have a much better experience if they went to Washington and Lee or Cumberland University. (Depending on academic aspirations). Look at Sammy Shires as an example: I would argue that he is having a much better experience of being a 2x AA in NAIA than some of our guys who are going off to be 3rd string at an ACC school. Having more kids have success at the lower levels would keep more in the sport for a longer time. This would translate to more of them returning home and entering the coaching ranks. Our state would actually grow more over time if our best didn't flame out in 2 years at a big school. There is a lack of education of the big picture landscape in TN.
  6. Tennessee D1 All-Americans With NCAAs concluding, I thought it might be fun to revisit the 7 TN natives who have made it on the podium. 7 AAs puts TN just below the country of Japan when it comes to NCAA All-Americans. The drought now extends to 15 years since TN had an AA. TN high school wrestling is traveling more and getting decent results, but it is not translating to college. If UTC would have stayed DII, the guys who qualified this year and many others who are buried on rosters could make up a pretty good team DII team. Any thoughts one who might be the next TN AA? My pick is Jarvis Little for App State. Bill Harlow- St. Andrews School/Oklahoma State 1964- 2nd 1965- 2nd 1966- 1st Howard Langford- Cleveland/UTC 1992- 8th Phillip Simpson – MBA/West Point 2003- 3rd 2004- 8th 2005- 2nd Matt Keller- Bradley Central/Nebraska/UTC 2006- 8th 2007- 4th Cody Cleveland- Tullahoma/McCallie/UTC 2008- 8th Jordan Leen – Baylor/Cornell 2007-8th 2008- 1st 2009- 3rd Nick Marable Christian Brothers/Missouri 2008- 3rd 2009- 7th
  7. He is too young. Word on the street is that he will do a Mormon mission followed by a redshirt to catch up.
  8. Perhaps an objective way would be to compile a list of Fargo, U15, U17, and U20 AAs in the last decade
  9. I think we need to get Cleveland wrestling its own soap opera! The melodramatic culture would be a hit!
  10. Notice that Cordero's dad didn't deny the looming wrestle-off... It's happening. They are also picking up the number one recruit in Grundy County.
  11. Rumor has it that a merge between Boom Ranch and Cleveland is happening. Apparently the Boom Ranch staff will be named recruiting coordinators as Cleveland looks to upend Wyoming Seminary next year. Sounds like they have a big pickup from Texas moving in!
  12. How will it work next year with little Chittum and your boys? Will we see Jose up at 120?
  13. 32 man bracket. Each state has an allocation of qualifiers. TN gets top 2. Anyone beyond that has to apply for a wildcard and acceptance is based on a kid from another region not entering and using an allocated spot. When it comes to wildcards, it has nothing to do with merit. It takes a little luck to get in the tournament if you don't qualify automatically
  14. I think we are actually in agreement. I don't care where their journey started. I have been on the record on here as saying kids should be able to move and transfer to get the best opportunities. I do care that idiots like TreyB and others who claim their program is 100% in-house. Every successful program benefits from kids moving around; some programs like to pretend it doesn't happen.
  15. I have been calling for McCallie to be the favorites since October. Nice job on getting it done! You are good down low and up top and that is hard to beat in a dual meet. By my account, you developed ~35% of your current lineup. Lane- 1st year at McCallie- Soddy club/Boom Ranch Ritiche- 2nd year at McCallie- Soddy club/Boom Ranch Connell- all you Williams- 1st year at McCallie- as mentioned above the family currently lives in NC, but they are doing a Deuce McKnight type deal. Pierce- 2nd year at McCallie- boarder from Atlanta Villars- 1st year at McCallie- Boyd/Boom Ranch Ledbetter- 1st year at McCallie- Boyd/Boom Ranch Morgan- 1st year at McCallie- boarder from Cookeville Ryan- 2nd year at McCallie- boarder from Charlotte, NC Voiles- 2nd year at McCallie- Gordon Lee Cross- all you McMahan- all you Gentle x2- all you
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