Rylan Rogers

[The Kid]

Around 50% of hot prospects never pan out? Why is that? I never knew Logan was that good in HS. I remember he looked better as a freshman than this year. One person said HEW. He did not look injured.

[LUEngineer]

Logan HS data posted in this thread. 2 time NY state champ & very good recruit. Don’t think he was HEW as he was always touted as one of hard est workers in the room.

Just one of those cases of not continuing to outperform at the college level for whatever reason. Many peak in HS. In many cases just mentally dealing with going from HS stud to “can’t take anyone down” in college wrestling rooms freshman year.

Loss of confidence feeds on itself. We have all been there.

[The Kid]

Logan HS data posted in this thread. 2 time NY state champ & very good recruit. Don’t think he was HEW as he was always touted as one of hard est workers in the room.

Just one of those cases of not continuing to outperform at the college level for whatever reason. Many peak in HS. In many cases just mentally dealing with going from HS stud to “can’t take anyone down” in college wrestling rooms freshman year.

Loss of confidence feeds on itself. We have all been there.

Interesting ... yeah confidence can snowball one way or the other.

[HFO]

Nothing against NY States. Since it has gone to multiple classes, it is not what it once was. When you look at NCAA data for NY for qualifiers and AA it is nothing compared to PA, NJ, OH. Do some good ones come out, absolutely. I would continue to focus on PA, NJ, OH, IL and once again try CA. The NE corner of IN is not bad around Crown Point/Merrillville area, similar mentality with former Bethlehem Steel Burns Harbor Plant and former Gary Works for Steel. These kids are grandchildren of steelworks and farmers, Tough kids. All those towns, Hobart, Merrillville, Lake Station, Crown Point, Cedar Lakes are worth sniffing around.

Nothing new in history of Lehigh wrestling for a multi time state champ not to reach what was thought their potential. Greg used to say, most guys come in with one move that couldn't be stopped in high school. Once you reach college, you better have three! Greg also spoke about you can only do 2 things well. So he expected academics and wrestling. That means giving up a lot of life that other college students do. Could mean no girlfriend, no parties, no sitting around playing video games.

The elites do crazy amount of extra work. I remember when Duane Peoples who was an elite freestyle age group AAU athlete would be running at 5am while at Becahi. Great on his feet, another guy who struggled in college in riding people.

Burley was working out 2x per day and running the Hill almost every morning. Not saying that current wrestlers are or are not doing enough, but if you are not winning, you are not doing enough. You either have not drilled a move 20,000 times to master it, your conditioning is off, or your mental state is off. Then there is the issue is that you just top out.

Many med school students arrive. The progress with dreams of organ transplant surgeons, neurosurgeon or cardiothoracic surgeons and being Gods of the operating room, only to find at some point along the way, they just do not have the hand skills, the stomach for blood, the stress of the performing procedures with exact perfection every time!

That is elite college wrestling and we see Olympic wrestling. Look at Zain Retherford. Faced a superior opponent and lost. Faced with a task of absolutely having to be at peak best for 4 matches in a row in the highest level of stress and did. Dave Craig is a wrestler Lehigh had who likely just did not have the mental aspect of performing at an absolute peak every match. Coming out of FL in his career he would not have had as many high pressure bouts as a PA wrestler year in and year out. The depth of talent was not there. Once he got to college, had skills, potentially wrestling up a weight, but could not elevate to meet the level of the absolute elites in his 4 years. Could beat anyone ranked below 10. Once he was facing a Top 10, it was a mixed bag of results.

We have guys we see who can rise a new level. Crookham and Stanich. I would also say Taylor also. He just keeps getting better at a high learning rate and that is what you want. I can only image what these 3 could be by March 2025.

[lu_alum]

Dave Craig is a wrestler Lehigh had who likely just did not have the mental aspect of performing at an absolute peak every match. Coming out of FL in his career he would not have had as many high pressure bouts as a PA wrestler year in and year out. The depth of talent was not there. Once he got to college, had skills, potentially wrestling up a weight, but could not elevate to meet the level of the absolute elites in his 4 years. Could beat anyone ranked below 10. Once he was facing a Top 10, it was a mixed bag of results.

Craig was a 2003 Cadet national FS champ and a double champion (FS & Greco) at Junior Nationals in 2005. The lack of depth in Florida does not discount what he did on the national scene - as he surely had his share of high pressure bouts. There's a difference between not having the mental aspect of a champion and HEW. By most accounts, Craig did not like wrestling but recognized its value as his ticket to a good education.

[Mountain Hawk]

The NE corner of IN is not bad around Crown Point/Merrillville area, similar mentality with former Bethlehem Steel Burns Harbor Plant and former Gary Works for Steel. These kids are grandchildren of steelworks and farmers, Tough kids. All those towns, Hobart, Merrillville, Lake Station, Crown Point, Cedar Lakes are worth sniffing around.

You forgot Griffith