Virginia Tech Wrestling 2019/2020 Preview

Time to talk about the best trending sports program in Blacksburg; Hokie Wrestling. My one wish for TKP, is to be more of a forum for all Virginia Tech sports. If it did, then I believe it could be the premier VT sports forum on the web. But what better way to get your wish, than to do it yourself. So this is gonna be your quick season preview of Virginia Tech Wrestling.

Recap of '18/'19 Season:

It was arguably the most exciting wrestling season in program history; Virginia Tech had its first individual NCAA champion in r-FR Mehki Lewis. The 8-seed went through a gauntlet of talent, beating the 1st-seed, 4th-seed, and finally the 2nd-seed to win the title for 165lbs.

As a team, they began the season ranked 10th and ended 14th, with an overall dual record of 9-5 and a 3-2 dual conference record. VT finished 2nd in the ACC Tournament with 81 points (NC St was 1st) and 11th in the NCAA Tournament with 50 points. If you ask a fan, last season was a little disappointing with the conference record. This was mainly due to the roster being an enigma. They had three wrestlers that were transfers: Korbin Meyers, Tom Sleigh, and Billy Miller.

Examining the '19/'20 roster and schedule

Projected Lineup:
125lbs: #7/#9 Korbin Meyers, r-SR
133lbs: #18/NR Collin Gerardi, r-FR
141lbs: #18/#15 Mitch Moore, SO
149lbs: #18/#7 Brent Moore, r-JR
157lbs: #17/#18/ B.C Laprade, r-JR
165lbs: #4/#4 David McFadden, r-SR
174lbs: Cody Hughes, r-SR
184lbs: #8/#11 Hunter Bolen, r-SO
197lbs: Cody Howard, r-FR
285lbs: John Borst, r-SO

A quick look at this line up shows a healthy mix of youth and experience. The Hokies "officially" return seven starters. I say "officially" as Brent Moore (2018: 141lbs) and Hunter Bolen (2018 ACC Freshmen of the Year: 174lbs) took redshirt years for 2018/2019, after previously starting. Cody Hughes also has a couple spot starts under his belt from the 2018/2019 season. But, the elephant in the room is how our defending champ is off the projected lineup. This is due to him taking an Olympic Redshirt as he gets ready for the Olympic Trials. This is different from a regular, school issued redshirt (which Lewis has already been granted) which allows him to participate in Olympic training and practices. This year, the strength of Virginia Tech's line up is more focused on the lower to mid weights. This is going way from the usual murders row at heavy weights, which Virginia Tech rolls out.

The biggest weight changes to focus on are Korbin Meyers cutting from 133 to 125 and David McFadden returning to 165 from 174. I'll discuss more on individual wrestlers with independent posts in the future. But, for me, the wrestler to watch is Collin Gerardi. He went 17-6 wrestling unattached last year

Schedule
#15 Missouri- Sat, Nov 2nd HOME Blacksburg, VA
Southeast Open- Sun, Nov 3rd at Roanoke, VA
#16 Northwestern- Sun, Nov 10th HOME Blacksburg, VA
#8t Ohio State- Sun, Nov 17th AWAY Columbus, OH
Navy Classic- Sat, Nov 23rd AWAY Annapolis, MD
Cliff Keen Invite- Fri-Sat, Dec 6-7 at Las Vegas, NV
#51t Chattanooga- Sat, Dec 21st HOME Blacksburg, VA
#26t Central Michigan- Fri, Jan 3rd AWAY Mt Pleasant, MI
#41t West Virginia- Sat, Jan 11th HOME Blacksburg, VA
#33 Binghamton- Sat, Jan 18th AWAY Binghamton, NY
#24 Cornell- Sun, Jan 19th AWAY Ithaca, NY
#20 North Carolina- Sat, Jan 25th HOME Blacksburg, VA
#23 Virginia- Fri, Jan 31 AWAY Charlottesville, VA
#21t Old Dominion- Sunday, Feb 2 AWAY Norfolk, VA
Duke- Saturday, Feb 8 HOME Blacksburg, VA
#17t NC State- Saturday, Feb 15 AWAY Raleigh, NC
#11 Pitt- Saturday, Feb 22 AWAY Pittsburgh, PA
ACC Championship- Sun, Mar 8 at Pittsburgh, PA
NCAA Championship- Thur-Sat, Mar 19-20 at Minneapolis, MN

Flowrestling and WIN preseason rankings put Virginia Tech #17. Intermat and NCAA has yet to update its rankings for the NWCA. I will not be putting the Wrestle Stat or Open Mat rankings. Wrestle Stat focuses on head-to-head competition as well as records between similar competition (it's a great analytical site).

I will give a quick synopsis of the bouts on their individual match dates. The matches to circle on the calendar are: Missouri (first match, at home, revenge), Cornell (perennial power, has four Olympic Redshirts this year), and NC State/Pitt (both AWAY matches and ACC Championship contenders). Overall the schedule is solid. It's not overly daunting and provides plenty of marquee match ups in Blacksburg. One thing to note, is that the Virginia Duals has been left off the schedule. Nothing has been mentioned as of why, but I believe it will help. It will give the team a chance to rest before coming back to the home state and challenge the ACC teams.

I hope this provides some insight and breeds more Hokie Wrestling fans. Quick plug, if you wish to see wrestling continue its success either support by attending matches (it's free) or donating to the Southeast Regional Training Center (SERTC) where our wrestlers train all year round!