What are we thinking? Ryder Block bumps up? Estrada? Voinovich? Someone else from the portal?
157 next year
- Thread starter so cal hawkfan
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Williams right now til he is actually picked up by another school. He would school the others in the room.......if he wants to. Give him a 83% chance of leaving or messing up so likely Estrada vs Voinivich at this point. Be ideal if the Larkings entered portal and had interest in Iowa. Now that Zepeda chose Michy, what is Catabrone going to do?
Is JW even an option? I doubt it.
Did anyone watch for who was in his corner while he was wrestling?
Reading some of JW's posts, I just dont see a path for him to return to Iowa - that ship has probably sailed. With the portal closing in a couple days and no real options out there, I think TNT run with who they already have available to them.
Highly doubtful but of the 3 on the current roster, he would have the most wrestling talent.
It's one of those things where he may have some hard feelings, but if he doesn't have any offers of significance, it may be his best option.
The other thing that I think people are discounting (to include Williams himself) is that he may have limited options due to NCAA academic eligibility requirements. He's not a grad transfer so he's got to be 80% towards a degree to be eligible next year. Between the major-specific requirements and potential credit hour losses with transfer, he may only have 3 viable options if he wants to wrestle D1 next year (Oklahoma State, Iowa, and Little Rock). Those three would only likely be viable because he's got credits from them so he's not at risk of having those credits not transfer.
Re JW:
1. The talent is there.
2. The desire is there (he clearly still wants to wrestle, based on last weekend).
3. His off-the-mat issues have alienated him from Tom, and vice-versa.
4. How do they get a fresh start? What will motivate him? What will de-motivate him? Get some second opinions: call Gable. Call Royce. Call Lewboo. Call Penrith. Who is he friends with? Gabe Arnold, you had a similar issue and came out the other side; what do we do? If there's a path forward, find it. Both guys need to earn their money here and figure it out. This boo-hoo-the-bridge-is-burned crap has gotten old. Suck it up and figure out how to get this guy in the finals next year.
I am not close to the program, so I don't know what I don't know. But that's my gut. Suck it up and figure it out.
1. The talent is there.
2. The desire is there (he clearly still wants to wrestle, based on last weekend).
3. His off-the-mat issues have alienated him from Tom, and vice-versa.
4. How do they get a fresh start? What will motivate him? What will de-motivate him? Get some second opinions: call Gable. Call Royce. Call Lewboo. Call Penrith. Who is he friends with? Gabe Arnold, you had a similar issue and came out the other side; what do we do? If there's a path forward, find it. Both guys need to earn their money here and figure it out. This boo-hoo-the-bridge-is-burned crap has gotten old. Suck it up and figure out how to get this guy in the finals next year.
I am not close to the program, so I don't know what I don't know. But that's my gut. Suck it up and figure it out.
And that's all moot if the coaches or admin say he isn't on the team.
I don't think the choice is his to make, and it's very unlikely he's with the team. (Is he even part of the team rn)?
I'm sure the question is not what will motivate him, or have him motivated to start again, it's more of how long can he stay motivated. Especially once the reason for motivation has become past tense. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
JW made his own bed and will have to lie in it. He had his chances and threw them away.
Not sure if it means still on the team but he is on the roster as of last week. Don't know how, when or who updates it.
Edit: Still on the Hawkeye Sports website roster today. And not sure if that means anything also.
I think the Brands' are two of the more forgiving coaches out there. They've got a track record of giving chances to people who others would not. They've also seemed to be good at giving an ultimatum and seeing it through to if the athlete has changed (Gabe's scenario). If he's still on the website/roster, I'm betting he's been told this is his last chance, but you will need to prove that you want it. I'm guessing he's in his prove it phase. I thought his post said he knew he was at fault, realizes that, and is doing what he needs to get people believing in him again.....
I did an awful job of explaining that
I understood what you were saying just fine.
I did, but didn't recognize them. No Iowa coaches.
Ryder Block certainly has the build for 157 (he’s listed at 5’11”), anything else in the portal at 149?
The door isn't closed.
As far as lifestyle & dedication JW has a lot to improve on.
He can tell the staff he will stay on the right path, but he has to prove it.
I believe he can do it short term, but can he truly live the right lifestyle & totally commit?
We all know the talent is there, but damn at times it was painful watching him.
He won't have many transfer options so it would be in his best interest to do some
soul searching and prove to Tom he is capable of being all in.
I have mixed opinions on the situation, but that really doesn't matter.
It all comes down to JW, Tom and the rest of the staff.
As far as lifestyle & dedication JW has a lot to improve on.
He can tell the staff he will stay on the right path, but he has to prove it.
I believe he can do it short term, but can he truly live the right lifestyle & totally commit?
We all know the talent is there, but damn at times it was painful watching him.
He won't have many transfer options so it would be in his best interest to do some
soul searching and prove to Tom he is capable of being all in.
I have mixed opinions on the situation, but that really doesn't matter.
It all comes down to JW, Tom and the rest of the staff.
Well what is JW saying this time, this year that he wasn't already saying this time, last year?
If Brands is desperate enough to try this again because he couldn't fill it via the portal- then he takes all the blame when it flames out.
IMO this will be Brands last season so might as well ride the rented mule he should have never bought in the first place.
The lack of recruiting and portal desperation has painted this staff in a corner for awhile now that they have to entertain a crappy decision like this.
Brands acknowledged that he and his staff haven't done a good enough job vetting some recent transfers. That is a major priority this cycle.
“April 1, there will be a lot of activity. We’ll assess when guys start getting in the portal. We’ll talk to their people," Brands said. "When I’m talking about the portal, we’ve got to do a better job of looking at who those guys are, not just who’s in it. Who are these guys? What’s their lifestyle like? And go from there in a thorough, thorough way.”
If Brands is desperate enough to try this again because he couldn't fill it via the portal- then he takes all the blame when it flames out.
IMO this will be Brands last season so might as well ride the rented mule he should have never bought in the first place.
The lack of recruiting and portal desperation has painted this staff in a corner for awhile now that they have to entertain a crappy decision like this.
Brands acknowledged that he and his staff haven't done a good enough job vetting some recent transfers. That is a major priority this cycle.
“April 1, there will be a lot of activity. We’ll assess when guys start getting in the portal. We’ll talk to their people," Brands said. "When I’m talking about the portal, we’ve got to do a better job of looking at who those guys are, not just who’s in it. Who are these guys? What’s their lifestyle like? And go from there in a thorough, thorough way.”
That's kinda what I was getting at. He doesn't have many (if any) options.
The NCAA can't prevent someone from transferring every year that they are eligible, but those guys have to maintain their academic eligibility which means hitting credit hour minimums, GPA minimums, and degree progress minimums. Continuing to transfer year over year makes it very hard to maintain that degree progress because not every school is going to accept every credit hour towards degree completion and some schools have major pre-req's that need to be taken in order to maintain that pace. Maybe he's lucky and most/all of his stuff will transfer to a school the way he needs it to...but that is far from likely. It greatly, greatly reduces the number of potential schools that could be looking at him and once there's a transcript review, those suitors likely shrink again. It's not about whether or not he has decent grades...it's about whether or not his credits transfer the way that he will need them too.
His best bet may end up being a sit down with Brands to figure out what a path forward potentially looks like. If the options are stay at Iowa, transfer to Little Rock/Oklahoma State, drop down to the DII/DIII level, or leave wrestling...I would be exploring the first two options long before I looked at the last two. Brands has shown propensity in the past to work with guys, define clear expectations, and give them a path forward. I am fairly confident that would be the case here...but the guy has to be asking for that path forward AND he's got to follow it once it's been laid out.
I agree that regarding his options being limited to schools he has credits at but Oklahoma State would very likely be out of the running even if they were interested because his classes there are probably transferring just fine since they are prereqs probably. Based on my understanding, his upper level classes are the ones that would have the most issues.
That leaves Iowa and LR.
I would be all for it if he could come to an understanding with Iowa. Not much downside. If he doesn’t live the life the coaches want then he’s gone and they are where they are now with VV and Estrada. I do think a lot of the rumors about his lifestyle are overblown. Not saying he’s a model guy but there are quite a few former hawks who have had similar and much worse lifestyle issues…
Well said. I am kinda on the fence with whether JW is worth the hassle. Doesn't really matter what I think in the end anyway. If he comes back and gets another shot, fine. If not or Iowa says no thanks, I'm fine with that as well. JW is 0-3 on getting his **** together, so I'm not holding my breath that year 4 will be different, but that is something only JW can change in the end.
cats tone probably bumps up.
Taylor doesn’t need him and just kicked him off the team 2 years ago. In his statement after this weekend he made it sound like he wrestled well now that he’s away from our program and coaches. I didn’t recognize the two guys in his corner. Doubt we take him back. Doesn’t sound like he’s taking any responsibility for how things went this year. Just roll with Estrada. At least he give full effort on the mat.
Pure guesswork here, but I think what he's trying to say is that the Brands have completely dropped the ball on the entire recruiting lifecycle (both high school and rentals). They've botched identification, communication, fit, and retention for years and now the bill is coming due.
I'd rather forfeit the weight than watch Jordan Williams attempt to wrestle.
The difference between Jordan Williams and those "other guys", is that they were actually good and actually wrestled when out on the mat. HUGE DIFFERENCE.
I feel the same about Voinovich.
Bigger larkin going 174 this coming year per willie. Thats a big *** jump when he started the year at 149
You guys need to listen to the basch show according to those in the know it was grades coming into iowa and grades going out.
So you’re saying Zepeda can get a medical redshirt for his freshman year? Thought if you were injured and had regular redshirt you have to burn in first. Zepeda sitting out next year to use a medical for his injury this year, like Ryder at okyst?
Not all of them.