James Hackney
#5 Oklahoma State (4-0)
Now that the first semester is finished, it’s a good time to look at how wrestlers are performing based on expectations and assigning a grade is a simple way to do that. These are individual and based on individual expectations for each wrestler, so they vary. January is an intense month for the Cowboys, with six duals in just around 3 weeks.
125: #22 Troy Spratley: B+
One of three transfers coming in this season, Spratley had high expectations after a solid redshirt year at Minnesota. He started the year hot with five techs in a row, but has slowed down since a DNP at CKLV. He hasn’t taken any bad losses, and all of them have been close to ranked opponents. However lately he hasn’t been able to get his offense going, only scoring two takedowns in his past three matches and showing some issues on bottom. Spratley is young and the season is long, but his recent performances still have some concern.
133: #3 Daton Fix (2-0): Incomplete
Daton is one of the most veteran wrestlers in the NCAA right now, in his seventh year. There’s no need for concern for him, but right now he’s only wrestled in two matches which makes it hard to grade. He missed out on scoring bonus in his last match as well, although it was close. 133 is relatively weak outside the top three, and especially in the Big 12. Fix likely won’t have too many tests until NCAA’s.
141: #8 Tagen Jamison: A+
The other young Minnesota transfer, Jamison was more of a question mark. A blue chip recruit out of high school, he hadn’t wrestled any college matches in over a year due to injury. There was an expectation he would have to win the starting spot over fellow transfer Sammy Alvarez, but after beating him at Lindenwood it looked like he may have the spot locked up. He followed that up with an outstanding performance at CKLV to make the podium. An elbow injury at Bedlam may keep him out of some competition, but he already looks like a podium contender….
