NC State wrestling head coach and his staff have done nothing but make headlines since coming to Raleigh. This past season, the team won 23 of its 24 duals and spent the majority of the year ranked in the top five. The Wolfpack won the ACC championship. And now State has brought in an incredibly deep 2016 recruiting class that FloWrestling ranks first nationally.
That article is behind a paywall, but The Wolfpacker's Ryan Tice sums things up nicely here. NC State landed five grapplers ranked in the nation's top 100, including two ranked in the top 10. The Pack's highest-ranked prospect is Nick Reenan, who committed just last month.
Think about how insane that kind of haul would be in college hoops anywhere other than Lexington, Kentucky, and then consider that NC State is not exactly a traditional wrestling power. I don't think I can articulate how preposterous this is.
And this is not just a matter of NC State cashing in on a big season--momentum with this class had been building before the year even started. Pat Popolizio is very good at his job. He's got easily the best recruiting class in the ACC this cycle, which continues the general upward trend of the program during his tenure.
He's built the State program into one that can compete with just about anybody nationally. He has the defending ACC champs, and he's got a loaded recruiting class to help replace some of the guys who made 2015-16 such a resounding success. That ain't a bad place to be.
http://ift.tt/24zxANF
No comments:
Post a Comment