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A Word on Meredith

You guys have hit the nail on the head. We often let fandom dictate our thoughts instead of slowing down and realizing just how hard this sport is. I won two state titles in high school and had a damn fine high school career. I wrestled at the D1 level on a very good team, but by team standards I was not very good at all. I could always do very well at tournaments where redshirts and lower division guys made up the bulk of the bracket, but had my head kicked in more often than not against the top 10 type guys from other D1 schools or my own. I remember feeling like my parents were embarrassed after I was beaten 14-3 in a dual I was a fill in. I sheepishly hinted to my dad after the dual that I wish he didn't have to take heat from my failure. He set me straight with one of his best speeches of all time. The short version is that "anyone good enough at this sport to beat you like that would kill me" Remember just how hard this thing is when you judge a young man giving every piece of himself to chase an improbable dream. I was Meredith with less success.

Same comment I’ve made before. Every one of of your posts is well worth reading.
 
Most fans forget about the guys that have to work hard and success not come right away. This is a little different .I forget the year but remember that James English had to fill in for your team at I think was 149. Some Penn State fans where at the same hotel as I was at Wisconsin and James dad was with them .
One guy introduce me to him and I told him I was impressed by his son wrestling for only have a few varsity matches..Well he qualifed for Nationals and If I recall he even ended up making AA.These kids put in lots of hard work and time so it is great to see some who get what they deserve..
 
c'mon, the diet, work ethic, clean living and dedication alone...and talent...
 
Most fans forget about the guys that have to work hard and success not come right away. This is a little different .I forget the year but remember that James English had to fill in for your team at I think was 149. Some Penn State fans where at the same hotel as I was at Wisconsin and James dad was with them .
One guy introduce me to him and I told him I was impressed by his son wrestling for only have a few varsity matches..Well he qualifed for Nationals and If I recall he even ended up making AA.These kids put in lots of hard work and time so it is great to see some who get what they deserve..

Beat Kendric Maple for 7th. One of my favorite pics him in the tunnel. What the sport is about.

Meredith is an unheralded freshman who toughs out matches. Had some great wins this year, just didn't work out at the end. Nothing to sneeze at
 
Beat Kendric Maple for 7th. One of my favorite pics him in the tunnel. What the sport is about.

Meredith is an unheralded freshman who toughs out matches. Had some great wins this year, just didn't work out at the end. Nothing to sneeze at

His dad was a great guy to visit with also..
Must have been about 8 of them in the bunch all fun guys his dad came up after big tens that year and told me thanks for telling him to keep the faith that James would get the job done..See us wrestling fans on the computer act like well you know bad but really when we get together in hotels or bars we just love to talk wrestling.
 
Obligatory:

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Many people believe Howard will start next year.

Nobody thinks Meredith will make it easy for him. If Howard does start next year, he will have earned it against a guy who has beaten NCAA qualifiers and always gives full effort..
 
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You guys have hit the nail on the head. We often let fandom dictate our thoughts instead of slowing down and realizing just how hard this sport is. I won two state titles in high school and had a damn fine high school career. I wrestled at the D1 level on a very good team, but by team standards I was not very good at all. I could always do very well at tournaments where redshirts and lower division guys made up the bulk of the bracket, but had my head kicked in more often than not against the top 10 type guys from other D1 schools or my own. I remember feeling like my parents were embarrassed after I was beaten 14-3 in a dual I was a fill in. I sheepishly hinted to my dad after the dual that I wish he didn't have to take heat from my failure. He set me straight with one of his best speeches of all time. The short version is that "anyone good enough at this sport to beat you like that would kill me" Remember just how hard this thing is when you judge a young man giving every piece of himself to chase an improbable dream. I was Meredith with less success.
Man, you do add some serious truth to help clear up a lot of the nonsense. Thank you.

Nit
 
cowbell I respect your opinion... what do you consider worthy enough improvement to warrant a shirt for Howard? Please define in terms of wins and losses because we both know that you can't advance to Nationals unless you can win.
Fair question. Work on finishing the outside leg attack without needing a scramble would have put 4-5 more wins on his ledger this year alone. If the outside leg can finish to a double a longer ride usually occurs. He had a decent ride this year and he does have a gas tank. Note in the match v Aguilar his defense had improved, though I think he could use both more lateral on D and move more away from his heels (which allows opponents shots to be deeper and appear quicker). Consider also his quality wins during the year and was 30 seconds from qualifying for nationals in the Auilar match. He appears very coachable.

Im not actually commenting about Howard’s abilities with my statement. What I am saying is that kind of wrestling, and finish to the year, gives a coach options they like to have.

A fresh start with new confidence would make a difference too. Another year in a weight room. Off season opportunities to roll with guys from other teams. Stuff like that matters.
 
Your guy will have a chance to win the spot fair and square next season. If he wants the spot then beat Howard and it's his. I am sure all of our young men will compete hard to be the starter.
Meredith isn't my guy.Im just trying to explain to you that just because a kid is a high school stud doesn't mean it's gonna immediately transfer to D1.Let the kid get to campus and practice before he's named the starter
 
Harder than hitting a 104 mph fast ball?

Yes. And if even CC Sabbathia could hit a home run once in a while, then it isn't as hard as scoring a takedown on, say, Jordan Burroughs.

And let's think about this: the best pitching season of the past 60 years was probably Pedro Martinez in 2000. Pedro's opponents' collective batting average was absolutely remarkable that year: I think it was something like .167!

On the other hand, how many college wrestlers, going up against Zain Retherford for example, were even scoring on 10% of their shots? That's assuming they even could shoot on him! You see my point? And remember, the best wrestlers are so good that they don't get taken down much of the time even when their opponents get to a leg. As Jim Gibbons endlessly reminds us, the last 5% or so of finishing a shot is often the hardest part.

I will, of course, admit that something like blocking Lawrence Taylor in his prime might be as hard as scoring a takedown on an elite wrestler. But professional football players are complete freaks, so, whatever. And many, if not most, of those guys who participated in both sports admit that wrestling practice was harder than football. Finally, as for basketball, even that guy Michael Jordan schooled in training camp in about 1999 still scored a couple of times on the legend.

Wrestling is an AMAZING sport.
 
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Meredith isn't my guy.Im just trying to explain to you that just because a kid is a high school stud doesn't mean it's gonna immediately transfer to D1.Let the kid get to campus and practice before he's named the starter
Really? "You're mistaken if you don't think Meredith is not beating Howard right away”. And this shows you think everyone is equal, exactly how?
 
Really? "You're mistaken if you don't think Meredith is not beating Howard right away”. And this shows you think everyone is equal, exactly how?
Meredith will handle Robbie when Robbie shows up, but unlike DT not catching/passing Cyler Sanderson until December or 2 months for Carter Starocci to get his first PSU wrestling room takedown Robbie will pass Meredith fairly quickly. If he doesn't then our 125 issue will continue longer than many of us believe.
 
Meredith will handle Robbie when Robbie shows up, but unlike DT not catching/passing Cyler Sanderson until December or 2 months for Carter Starocci to get his first PSU wrestling room takedown Robbie will pass Meredith fairly quickly. If he doesn't then our 125 issue will continue longer than many of us believe.

Ooooh, this one's juicy & I hadn't heard it before. Any chance you can source it for this ole TrynaKetchup?
 
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Carter Starocci not getting a TD against Hall, Meatball, Nolf, etc is far more understandable than Howard not beating Merideth. I’ll take Howard out of the gate. JMO
 
Ooooh, this one's juicy & I hadn't heard it before. Any chance you can source it for this ole TrynaKetchup?
It was from a chat he had with his high school coaches when he was a bit down in the dumps. Maybe it was a slight exaggeration, but then again maybe not. ;) He was rolling with some tough dudes as SWP stated.
 
Can’t blame guys for not being crazy about having to start non recruited or scholarship kids. As long as there’s no bashing I can’t blame anyone who thinks that. Not that those kids don’t ever over achieve either.
 
I like the original post, and will add that similar comments could be made about every wrestler in the room. Brandon earned his way into the starting line-up, just doing what all the wrestlers do -- work hard every day to improve his wrestling, and be the best version of himself on the mat. His day just came unexpectedly.

Did you know he's balancing wrestling with an engineering course load (he's in Aerospace Engineering)? Tough for any reasonable person to criticize the kid. He'll never have Nolf-like talent, few do, and that's ok, Cael's "process" is the same for everyone in the room.

If there is one objective truth that I know it's that you get what you earn when you are a member of the PSU wrestling team. The fact that Brandon was the starter for Penn State should be evidence enough to anyone who follows this sport that he earned it. Criticizing the kid is an insult to the the hard work he put it and tries to diminish what he earned.
 
Carter Starocci not getting a TD against Hall, Meatball, Nolf, etc is far more understandable than Howard not beating Merideth. I’ll take Howard out of the gate. JMO
Would be an awesome practice match to see, while Howard will have some growing pains and Brandon isn’t of the talent level of other starts, both love to throw hands and scrap it out.
 
Honestly, Brandon was one match away from being a NQ this year and he has a lot of room to improve still. He was only a freshman this year and hung with every 125 in the Big Ten more or less (besides Spencer obviously). He also has the win over Colaiocco.

For a walk on who DNPed at PA States his Junior and Senior year who has an Aerospace Engineering workload? I am damn proud of Brandon.
 
Great take McScorley, and consider this: Meredith (like Schnupp, the all-time wins leader for his high school) comes from a family of 10 penn state alums, including father, grandfather and a brother currently enrolled. Point is, can you imagine how proud the entire Meredith clan is every time Brandon steps on the mat with that singlet?!
(This is my first-ever post; Former wrestler and long-time lurker.)
 
It's also a great measure of how spoiled we are as a fanbase. A one-time placer in PA (sophomore year at 105 at that) in his redshirt freshman year beats the #3 seed at B1Gs and is one match from qualifying (a narrow loss) for Nationals and a lot of people dismiss him. Aguilar, who was a three-time Cali finalist and one time champ and another redshirt freshman, gets the same points as Meredith at B1Gs without a win over a high seed and is viewed by his team's fanbase as a great potential wrestler in coming years.

If Meredith continues to improve like he has, we're in good shape with him at 125.
 
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It's also a great measure of how spoiled we are as a fanbase. A one-time placer in PA (sophomore year at 105 at that) in his redshirt freshman year beats the #3 seed at B1Gs and is one match from qualifying (a narrow loss) for Nationals and a lot of people dismiss him. Aguilar, who was a three-time Cali finalist and one time champ and another redshirt freshman, gets the same points as Meredith at B1Gs without a win over a high seed and is viewed by his team's fanbase as a great potential wrestler in coming years.

If Meredith continues to improve like he has, we're in good shape with him at 125.
I think he will improve the same way Schnupp improved. Hopefully maybe a bit more. We have not had a 125 pounder wrestling in nationals in years.
 
I sat behind the Meredith clan (5-6 of them) at Wisconsin in February. Great people who couldn’t be more proud of their wrestler.
 
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Great take McScorley, and consider this: Meredith (like Schnupp, the all-time wins leader for his high school) comes from a family of 10 penn state alums, including father, grandfather and a brother currently enrolled. Point is, can you imagine how proud the entire Meredith clan is every time Brandon steps on the mat with that singlet?!
(This is my first-ever post; Former wrestler and long-time lurker.)
Wow I bet you have seen some shit lol.
 
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